Google Sheets · Excel · 6 tabs · no macros
Personal Budget Spreadsheet
A tracker that shows you where your money actually went every month — not just what you typed in. Log the transaction once, and the dashboard, the overspend flags and the debt finish-lines update themselves.
EUR 19.90, intro EUR 15.00. Instant download, no subscription. Launching shortly — the link above gets you told first.
A budget you have to add up yourself is a budget you will abandon
Everyone starts the same way. A tab, some categories, a rough guess at what you spend on food. It survives about three weeks, because every time you log something you also have to work out what it does to the month, and eventually that arithmetic loses to scrolling.
The alternative is not more discipline. It is not doing the arithmetic at all. You type “Groceries, 62.40” and the category total, the month total, the net position, the savings rate and the debt plan all move on their own.
The 6 tabs
1 — Transactions
The only tab you touch daily. Log every euro in and out, with Type and Category dropdowns so the rest of the workbook can sort it.
2 — Categories
Rename any category and set your monthly budget amount against it. This is where you decide what a normal month should look like.
3 — Budget
Spent versus budget, per category, with an automatic OVER or OK flag. Go over and the row turns red while you can still do something about it.
4 — Dashboard
Income, expenses, net and your savings rate for the month. The one page that answers “how did this month actually go?”
5 — Debt Snowball
List debts smallest to largest with their balances and minimums. The sheet works out the months to clear each one, in order.
6 — Read Me
Setup in about ten minutes, plain English, plus the reminder about what this is and is not.
Three things it does that a printable cannot
Budget traffic lights
Every category compares what you have spent against what you set, and flags itself. You do not have to remember your grocery number and subtract in your head at the till. The row tells you, in red, while the month is still running.
Your savings rate, not just your balance
Knowing you spent less than you earned is pleasant but vague. The savings rate is the number that compounds — the share of what came in that you kept. It is the single figure that best predicts where you are in five years, and it is the one nobody calculates, because it needs the whole month in one place.
The debt snowball, with finish-lines
The snowball method pays minimums on everything and throws all spare money at the smallest debt until it is gone, then rolls that payment onto the next. It is popular because it works on momentum, not mathematics. What it usually lacks is a date. This workbook shows the month each debt clears, so the plan has an end you can see.
What you get
- DEMO workbook — the full 6-tab tracker pre-filled with a worked example, so you can watch every tab behave before you enter your own money.
- BLANK workbook — the same system with the sample rows cleared.
- Quick-start guide (PDF) — setup in about ten minutes, in plain English.
- Works in Excel and Google Sheets. No macros, so it works everywhere and nothing breaks.
Holds up to 500 transaction rows as supplied — delete spare rows or extend the formulas if you outgrow it. Nothing is locked or password protected.
Where it sits against the alternatives
| Option | What you get | Where it falls down |
|---|---|---|
| Bank app spending view | Automatic categorisation of what left your account. | Sees one account. No budget target, no debt plan, no savings rate, and no idea what you intended to spend. |
| Free template | Columns and a total row. | You do the arithmetic. No overspend flags, no debt finish-lines, no dashboard. |
| Subscription budgeting app | Reminders, syncing, phone-first input. | An ongoing fee, your full transaction history on someone else's servers, and you stop the day you cancel. |
| This workbook | One file you own, that does the arithmetic and the debt plan. | You type transactions in yourself. There are no reminders and no bank connection. |
Questions
What is the difference between this and a free budget template?
Free templates are usually a grid of boxes you add up yourself. This one carries every transaction through to a live dashboard, a budget that flags overspends automatically, and a debt snowball that calculates the month each debt is cleared. Change one transaction and everything downstream updates.
Does it work in Google Sheets and Excel?
Yes. It works in Microsoft Excel and in Google Sheets, where you import the file and save it as a Google Sheet. There are no macros, so it will not break and will not trigger security warnings.
What is a debt snowball?
The debt snowball is a repayment method where you pay minimums on everything and throw all spare money at the smallest debt until it is gone, then roll that payment onto the next smallest. This workbook calculates the month each debt clears so you can see the finish line.
How many transactions can it hold?
500 transaction rows as supplied. You can delete spare rows or extend the formulas if you outgrow it.
Does it send my figures anywhere?
No. It is a local spreadsheet file with no macros and no external connections. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is a spreadsheet. It does its own arithmetic on the figures you enter and files nothing. Confirm anything you rely on with your own adviser.
Important — not financial or tax advice. This workbook performs calculations on the numbers you type in. It does not file anything, does not connect to your bank, and does not know your circumstances. Confirm anything you rely on with your own adviser.
Get told when it is live
The Personal Budget Tracker is being prepared for sale. Leave your address and you will get one email the day it goes up — no list, no newsletter, no follow-ups.