Make a budget spreadsheet in Google Sheets (with the formulas)
Short answer
Use two tabs: Transactions (date, category, amount) and Budget (category, planned amount). On the Budget tab, SUMIFS adds up each category's spending for the month and Plan - Actual shows what is left. Plan the month so income minus all categories equals zero, then check it once a week.
- Make the Transactions tab with a Date, Category and Amount column; use Data > Data validation for a category dropdown.
- List categories on the Budget tab with a planned amount each, including savings and a buffer.
- Paste the formulas and fill down.
- Every Sunday, type the week's spending and look at the Left column.
Copy-paste code
Budget tab (A = category, B = planned; month start in E1)
Spent this month C2: =SUMIFS(Transactions!C:C, Transactions!B:B, A2, Transactions!A:A, ">="&$E$1, Transactions!A:A, "<"&EDATE($E$1,1))
Left D2: =B2 - C2
Unassigned: =Income - SUM(B2:B30) (aim for 0: every dollar has a job)
Over budget flag: =IF(D2<0, "OVER", "")Good to know
Irregular costs (car insurance, holidays) work best as monthly sinking funds: divide the yearly cost by 12 and budget that every month.
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Does this work in Excel?
Yes, the same formulas work in Excel.
How many categories?
10 to 15 is enough for most households.
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