BASIC HOUSEHOLD BUDGETING PERCENTAGE HOW TO

Instead of using that extra income to only pay-off debt or save for a down payment on a house, which is only benefiting one category, a percentage-based budget uses that money to increase all categories (more money for food, required expenses, debt, and saving). If you get a raise at work or a bonus, your take-home pay has increased, which means all categories in your budget benefit. There is a mental boost thinking about percentages rather than a specific dollar amount.Īll spending categories benefit when there are life changes. If you think about your food budget as 10% of your income, mentally, it seems limitless somehow.

When you dedicate a specific dollar amount to a category ($500 for food), it feels limiting. Some people believe that having a percentage-based budget feels less restricting. It uses and relies on the percentage of your income to determine how much you can spend and where.

BASIC HOUSEHOLD BUDGETING PERCENTAGE HOW TO

Read: How to Create a New Budget Every Month: A Detailed Step-by-Step Guide.

She suggests people spend 50% on required expenses (housing, food, utilities, transportation, etc.), 30% on “wants,” and 20% should be spent on paying off debt or saving.īoth of these examples make sense on paper, but the real question is does using these types of percentage restraints really work? There are a lot of articles out there that give you a very clear outline of where you should be spending your money, and what percentage of your take-home income should be spent on predetermined categories (saving, debt-payoff, and required expenses).įor example, Dave Ramsey recommends 10-15% on food, 25-35% on housing, 10-15% in savings, and 10-15% on charitable giving.Īnother example is Elizabeth Warren's book All Your Worth. This is where you may wish to take advantage of a household budget spreadsheet that’s already designed for you, like the ones mentioned above.One topic I'm frequently asked about by readers is “percentage budgeting.” Unfortunately, Google Sheets doesn’t have a specific budget template for household expenses under its basic templates.

Does Google Sheets have a household budget template? Also, it is advisable to have a row for savings to encourage you to build up your bank account for a rainy day. You should have another three columns – one for budgeted amounts for each category, another for what you actually spend, and another for the difference between the two (you can insert a formula to automatically calculate the differences for you). Below this, you can jot down streams of income. List all your necessary and discretionary expenses in one column so that you can track expenses more clearly. You only need a Google Drive account, and you can get started immediately! Simply sign in to your Google Drive, click on the + button on the below right-hand side, and select Google Sheets. It is fairly simple to begin creating a household budget in Google Sheets. You can apply similar formulas to other data as well.Įasy as ABC! Here is the result! How do I create a household budget in Google Sheets? In our case, it is the =SUM(C6:C15) formula. Finally, click on a blank cell where you want to get the calculation, then add the formula you need. To remove gridlines from the spreadsheet, go to the View tab, pick Show, and choose Gridlines. After that, select cells, go to the toolbar menu, click on the Border icon, and choose the color, style, and type of border you wish to apply. Change the color of cells using the Fill color option, and selecting the color from the palette you like. As a next step, you can change the font size, color, alignment, and many other aspects of your text using the toolbar menu. To merge cells, simply select these cells, then click on the Merge icon, and pick the Merge all option. Create a spreadsheet and add the text there. This guide will provide you with a step-by-step process to help you easily create the template you need. Open in Google Sheets How to Create a Google Sheets Household Budget Template Take advantage of the Percentage column to see how much you’re left over with to invest or save. This monthly budget template is not only excellent at tracking your monthly spending and income-earning activities, but it’s great to keep and refer back to year-on-year to see how much your budgeting skills improve over time. The categories of household expenses are so nicely spread out in the Household Budget Template from Smartsheet that’ll it be hard NOT to list every income and expense that affects your total budget.

Does Google Sheets have a household budget template?.

How do I create a household budget in Google Sheets?.

How to Create a Google Sheets Household Budget Template.

Basic household budgeting percentage