--- title: "Free Excel budget template and the formulas behind it | PracticeExcel" description: "Get a free Excel budget template and learn the formulas behind it: money left over, yearly bills per month, spending by category, balance and savings goals." canonical_url: "https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template" locale: en meta: "og:description": "Get a free Excel budget template and learn the formulas behind it: money left over, yearly bills per month, spending by category, balance and savings goals." 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By Nicolaj Gajhede, founder of PracticeExcel · Updated November 2, 2026 · 14 min read A budget in Excel is a list of what comes in and what goes out, with a handful of formulas that work out the rest. You do not need special software or an app. One sheet with your income at the top, your expenses below it and a total at the bottom tells you how much money you have left each month and where the rest of it goes. This guide gives you a free Excel budget template with four sheets: the budget itself, your spending by category, a running balance and your savings goals. After that it walks through every formula in the template, so you can adjust it or build your own budget from scratch. Each formula comes with an example you can read cell by cell and an exercise where you write it yourself. **Free with an account** ### **Excel budget template** A ready-made budget in Excel: monthly bills, bills paid quarterly or yearly, spending by category, a running balance and your savings goals. **What's in the file** - **Budget:** Income and expenses per month and per year. Quarterly, twice-a-year and yearly bills are turned into a monthly amount. - **Spending:** What you buy, with a date and a category. SUMIF shows how much of the budget is left in each category. - **Balance:** Money in and out with a running balance: the balance above plus what came in, minus what went out. - **Savings:** Your savings goals, what is still needed and how many months are left, rounded up with ROUNDUP. [**Create a free account to download**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/signup?next=/learn/excel-budget-template%23download-budget) [Already have an account? Log in](https://practiceexcelonline.com/login?next=/learn/excel-budget-template%23download-budget) Excel file (.xlsx). It also opens in Google Sheets. The account is free and also saves your progress in the exercises. ## How the budget template is organized The template opens on a **Start here** sheet with a short description of the others. The same rule holds on every sheet: you type in the shaded cells, and the cells with formulas do the math. The headers sit in the first row and stay in view when you scroll down. - **Budget** is the monthly budget. You enter each item, the amount and how often it is paid. The sheet turns that into an amount per month and per year, shows how much of your income each item takes, and puts what you have left at the bottom. - **Spending** is what you buy during the month. Each purchase gets a category from a drop-down list, and a small table next to it shows how much you have spent in each category and how much of the budget is left. - **Balance** is money in and money out, with a balance that follows along from row to row, like a bank statement. - **Savings** is your goals, such as a vacation or an emergency fund, with what is still needed and how many months it will take to get there. The sheets are not linked by formulas. You can use each one on its own and delete the ones you do not need without breaking anything else. ## What is left over each month The most important number in a budget is what you have left once everything is paid. In Excel, that is your income minus the sum of your expenses: D2=B2-SUM(B3:B8) | | A | B | C | D | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Item | Per month | | | | 2 | Income after tax | 6200 | | **2500** | | 3 | Rent | 1800 | | | | 4 | Utilities | 200 | | | | 5 | Transportation | 300 | | | | 6 | Groceries | 700 | | | | 7 | Subscriptions | 100 | | | | 8 | Savings | 600 | | | Income goes at the top and expenses below it. $6,200 minus $3,700 in expenses leaves $2,500 each month. `**=B2-SUM(B3:B8)**` has two parts. SUM adds up all the expenses in B3 to B8, and the minus sign subtracts that total from the income in B2. You could also write `**=B2-B3-B4-B5-B6-B7-B8**`, but you would have to edit that formula every time you add an expense. SUM over a range picks up every row in it, including rows you insert in the middle of the range later. In the template, the total has its own row, **Total expenses**, with `**=SUM(D3:D17)**`. The range runs three rows past the last expense, which leaves room for new items without changing the formula. Empty cells count as 0 in a SUM, so the extra rows do no harm. The row below it, **Left each month**, is `**=D2-D18**`: income minus the total. If that number turns negative, you are spending more than you earn. That is not a mistake in the sheet. It is a sign that an expense needs to come down, or that savings will have to wait a month. Notice that savings is listed as an expense in the budget. That is a choice. When you pay your savings first, what is left is money you are free to spend. If you would rather see how much you could save, remove savings from the expenses and read the amount left over as what you can put aside. Try the formula yourself in the exercise [**What is left after the bills**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/monthly-budget-left-over). ## Fixed and variable expenses Before you type in any numbers, it helps to split your expenses into two kinds. Fixed expenses cost the same every time: rent or mortgage, insurance, internet and phone, subscriptions and loan payments. Variable expenses change from month to month: groceries, gas, clothes, gifts and going out. Fixed expenses are easy to budget because you can read them off your bills or your bank account. Variable ones are harder. The best guess there is an average of the last three months. Use the **Spending** sheet for a month or two, and you will have real numbers instead of a guess. Enter amounts after tax, and enter each bill the way it appears on the bill. If you pay for water every quarter, type the quarterly amount and pick **Quarterly**. The next section shows how the template turns it into a monthly amount. If you are paid every two weeks rather than once a month, a month does not equal two paychecks. There are 26 paychecks in a year, so your monthly income is the paycheck times 26 divided by 12, `**=B2*26/12**`. Type that monthly figure in the income row. ## Bills that do not come every month Some bills come once a year or every quarter: car insurance, renters insurance, water, property tax and memberships. Leave them out of the budget and every month looks fine until the month the bill arrives. The fix is to spread each bill over the months it covers, so the budget shows what it costs per month. In the template you enter the amount under **Amount** and pick how often it is paid under **Paid**. The **Per month** column does the rest with IF: D2=IF(C2="Yearly",B2/12,IF(C2="Quarterly",B2/3,B2)) | | A | B | C | D | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Item | Amount | Paid | Per month | | 2 | Car insurance | 1800 | Yearly | **150** | | 3 | Water | 180 | Quarterly | | | 4 | Rent | 1800 | Monthly | | Car insurance costs $1,800 a year. Spread over 12 months that is $150, and that is the amount that belongs in the budget. Read the formula from the inside out. If C2 says **Yearly**, the answer is B2 divided by 12. Otherwise the inner IF asks whether it says **Quarterly**, and if so the answer is B2 divided by 3. If it says anything else, the amount is already monthly and the answer is B2 as it is. The template also has the choice **Twice a year**. That one divides by 6, so the full formula has three IFs inside each other: `**=IF(C2="Yearly",B2/12,IF(C2="Twice a year",B2/6,IF(C2="Quarterly",B2/3,B2)))**` With Excel 2019 or later, you can write the same thing with IFS. It takes the conditions one after another without nesting them, and TRUE at the end catches everything else: `**=IFS(C2="Yearly",B2/12,C2="Twice a year",B2/6,C2="Quarterly",B2/3,TRUE,B2)**` The **Per year** column is simply `**=D2*12**`. It is useful when you want to see what a small expense costs over a whole year. $45 a month for streaming is $540 a year. If you keep a separate savings account for irregular bills, often called a sinking fund, the total of **Per month** for those bills is what to move into it every month. Then the money is there when the big bills arrive. Practice the formula in [**Yearly and quarterly bills per month**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/yearly-bills-per-month), and read more about conditions in the guide to the [**IF function**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-if-function). ### Why Paid is a drop-down list IF compares the text in C2 with the text in the formula. **Annual** or **Once a year** is not the same as **Yearly**, so the formula falls through to the last answer and counts the yearly bill as a monthly one. Upper and lower case do not matter, so **yearly** works, but any other spelling gives a wrong number with no error message. That is why the column is a drop-down list with the four choices the formula knows. You cannot type anything else, so a wrong number cannot sneak in. The guide to [**drop-down lists in Excel**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/drop-down-list-excel) shows how to make one yourself and how to change the choices. ## How much of your income goes to each item? An amount says the most when you see it next to your income. $2,100 in rent is a lot or a little depending on what you earn. The **Share of income** column divides each item by the income: C3=B3/$B$2 | | A | B | C | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Item | Per month | Share of income | | 2 | Income after tax | 6000 | | | 3 | Rent | 2100 | **0.35** | | 4 | Groceries | 720 | | Rent of $2,100 is 35% of a $6,000 income. The $ signs keep the income in place when the formula is copied down. The result is 0.35, and with the percentage format it shows as 35%. The important part is the $ signs in `**$B$2**`. When you copy the formula down, the top of the fraction should move to the next item while the bottom stays on the income. Without the $ signs, the row below would divide by B3, the next one by B4 and so on, and the numbers would be wrong. Read more about locked references in [**how to lock cells in Excel**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/lock-cells-excel). Shares make it easy to see where the money goes. A rule of thumb many people use is that housing should take no more than about a third of income, and the 50/30/20 rule splits income into about half for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings. But the most useful comparison is with yourself: if the share going to groceries climbs from 12% to 16% in six months, you know where to look. More on working with percentages in [**how to calculate percentages in Excel**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/calculate-percentage-excel). ## Spending by category with SUMIF The budget says what you plan to spend. The **Spending** sheet shows what you actually spent. You enter each purchase in a row with a date, a description, a category and an amount, and a small table next to it adds up the amounts for each category with SUMIF: F2=SUMIF($B$2:$B$7,E2,$C$2:$C$7) | | A | B | C | D | E | F | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Purchase | Category | Amount | | Category | Spent | | 2 | Grocery store | Groceries | 312 | | Groceries | **760** | | 3 | Bus pass | Transportation | 90 | | Transportation | | | 4 | Farmers market | Groceries | 85 | | | | | 5 | Movie night | Fun | 46 | | | | | 6 | Grocery store | Groceries | 363 | | | | | 7 | Gas | Transportation | 55 | | | | SUMIF adds up only the purchases with the category in E2. Three grocery trips give 312 + 85 + 363 = $760. SUMIF takes three arguments: where to look for the category, which category to find and what to add up. `**=SUMIF($B$2:$B$7,E2,$C$2:$C$7)**` looks through the categories in B2:B7, finds the rows that match E2, and adds up the matching amounts in C2:C7. The category sits in a cell instead of being typed into the formula. That way you can copy the formula down to the other categories, and E2 becomes E3, E4 and so on. The two ranges are locked with $, so they stay put. In the template the ranges run to row 51, which leaves room for 50 purchases a month: `**=SUMIF($C$2:$C$51,F2,$D$2:$D$51)**`. The drop-down list in the **Category** column takes its choices from the category table in F2:F6. Change a category there, or type a new one in an empty row inside the range, and it shows up in the list and SUMIF finds it. If you need more categories than the table has room for, insert a new row in the middle of the table. Both the list and the total grow with it. Practice SUMIF in [**Spending per category with SUMIF**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/budget-spending-by-category) and in [**SUMIF with the criterion in a cell**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/sumif/sumif-criteria-from-a-cell). The function is explained argument by argument on the [**SUMIF**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/functions/sumif) page. ### Budget versus actual Next to **Spent** are **Budget** and **Left**. **Left** is simply the budget minus what you spent, `**=G2-H2**`. A negative number means you have spent more than the budget for that category. To spot that at a glance, give the column conditional formatting that colors the cell red when the number is below 0. The categories where you are over budget then stand out without reading every number. The guide to [**conditional formatting**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/conditional-formatting-excel) shows how. ## A running balance The **Balance** sheet looks like a bank statement: date, description, money in, money out and a balance after each line. The first row holds your starting balance, which you type yourself. Every row below it works out its balance from the row above: D3=D2+B3-C3 | | A | B | C | D | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Description | In | Out | Balance | | 2 | Starting balance | | | 5000 | | 3 | Bike repair | | 750 | **4250** | | 4 | Paycheck | 3100 | | | The balance is the balance in the row above, plus what came in, minus what went out. $5,000 minus a $750 repair leaves $4,250. `**=D2+B3-C3**` takes the balance in the row above, adds what came in and subtracts what went out. Each row has either an amount in or an amount out. The empty cell counts as 0, so the formula works either way. When you copy the formula down, each row points at the balance just above it, and the balance follows along all the way. The formula must not have $ signs. It has to move down one row each time, or every row would work from the starting balance. That is the opposite of the share of income, where the bottom of the fraction had to stay in place. The balance in the last row should match your bank account. If it does not, a transaction is missing or an amount is in the wrong column. That check is a good habit, and it is the same kind of reconciliation a bookkeeper does every month. Try the formula in [**A running balance**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/running-balance). ## Savings goals: how many months to go? The **Savings** sheet has a row for each goal with the price, what you have saved so far and what you put aside each month. Two formulas work out the rest. **Still needed** is the price minus what you have saved, `**=MAX(0,B2-C2)**`. MAX picks the larger of the two numbers, so once you have saved more than the goal, the cell shows 0 instead of a negative amount. **Months left** divides what is still needed by what you save each month, and rounds up: E3=ROUNDUP((B3-C3)/D3,0) | | A | B | C | D | E | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Goal | Price | Saved | Per month | | | 2 | Vacation | 3000 | 900 | 300 | | | 3 | New laptop | 1200 | 150 | 100 | **11** | The laptop still needs $1,050. At $100 a month that is 10.5 months, and ROUNDUP makes it 11, because the 11th month is when you reach the goal. 1,050 divided by 100 is 10.5. After 10 months you are still a little short, so the answer has to round up to 11. ROUNDUP always rounds away from zero, and 0 as the second argument means no decimals. ROUND would also give 11 here, but 10.2 months would become 10, and you would be short in the last month. The template wraps the formula in IF, `**=IF(D2>0,ROUNDUP(E2/D2,0),"")**`. With 0 or nothing under **Per month**, the division would give a #DIV/0! error. IF shows an empty cell instead until you have entered an amount. Practice the formula in [**Months to a savings goal with ROUNDUP**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/savings-goal-months), and see more examples on the [**ROUNDUP**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/functions/roundup) page. ## Build your own budget from scratch The template is a good place to start, but a budget you built yourself is easier to understand and easier to change. Here is how to build a simple one on an empty sheet: 1. Type the headers in row 1: **Item**, **Amount**, **Paid** and **Per month**. 2. Enter your income after tax in row 2. If you have more than one income, give each its own row and add them up in a row of their own. 3. Enter your expenses in the rows below, one item per row, with the amount as it appears on the bill. 4. Under **Paid**, pick how often each bill comes, and type the IF formula from earlier under **Per month**. Copy it down with Ctrl+D. 5. Add up the expenses with SUM in a row below the last expense, and let the range run a few rows further down. 6. Subtract the total from the income in the row below. That is what you have left each month. 7. Format the amounts as currency, and freeze the top row so the headers stay in view when you scroll. After that you can turn **Paid** into a drop-down list and add a column with the share of income. Then you have the same thing as the first sheet of the template, and you know how every cell was made. For more shortcuts along the way, see the list of [**Excel keyboard shortcuts**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-keyboard-shortcuts). ## A chart of your expenses A chart makes it clear where the money goes. Select the items and the **Per month** column, and insert a bar chart. Sort the rows by amount from smallest to largest first. A bar chart draws the first row at the bottom, so the biggest expense ends up at the top, and the chart is easy to read. A pie chart is the classic choice for a budget, but with more than five or six items it gets hard to read because the eye is bad at comparing angles. Bars can be compared at a glance. See how to make and fix both kinds in the guide to [**Excel charts**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-charts). ## Common budget mistakes - **The big bills are missing.** Insurance and other yearly bills get forgotten because they do not come every month. Go back a year in your bank account and write down every bill. - **Monthly and yearly amounts are mixed up.** A yearly bill entered as a monthly amount makes that item twelve times too expensive. Enter the amount as it appears on the bill, and let **Paid** convert it. - **The total misses new rows.** An item typed below the total, or outside the range in SUM, is not counted. Insert new rows inside the range. - **Numbers stored as text.** An amount copied from your bank's website can end up stored as text. It sits on the left of the cell, and SUM skips it. Type it again, or see how to fix it in the guide to [**cleaning data in Excel**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/clean-data-in-excel). - **A typo under Paid.** **Annual** instead of **Yearly** means the bill is counted as monthly. Use the drop-down list. - **A denominator that moves.** Without the $ signs in the share of income, the rows below divide by the wrong cells. Lock the income with `**$B$2**`. - **A budget and no spending.** A budget that is never compared with what you actually spend is a guess. Enter your purchases for a month, and adjust the budget to match. ## Budgeting in Google Sheets The template works in Google Sheets too. Upload the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. The formulas, drop-down lists and number formats come along. If you would rather build the budget from scratch in Sheets, every formula in this guide works there as well. See the other differences in [**Google Sheets vs. Excel**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/google-sheets-vs-excel). ## Budgets at work A household budget and a company budget are built the same way: items in rows, periods in columns, a total and a variance between budget and actual. The difference is the size and where the data comes from. In a company, the actual numbers are exported from the accounting system and added up with SUMIFS instead of SUMIF, because there is both an account and a department to filter by. Read more in [**Excel for finance and accounting**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-for-finance). ## In short A budget in Excel is your income minus the sum of your expenses. Enter each bill the way it comes, and let IF turn yearly and quarterly bills into a monthly amount so the big bills do not catch you off guard. Divide each item by your income to see where the money goes, and lock the income with $. Enter your purchases and add them up by category with SUMIF to see budget and spending side by side. A running balance is the balance above plus money in minus money out, and ROUNDUP tells you how many months are left to a savings goal. The exercises below practice every formula from the template on a small sheet, from what is left over each month to the savings goal. Try the first exercise for free, and write the formula yourself. ![Nicolaj Gajhede](https://practiceexcelonline.com/authors/nicolaj-gajhede.webp) **About the author** ## **Nicolaj Gajhede**, founder of PracticeExcel I'm a software developer, and I built PracticeExcel to help others get comfortable with Excel, and the best way to get there is to work through the formulas yourself. [Nicolaj Gajhede on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaj-gajhede/) [More about Nicolaj Gajhede](https://practiceexcelonline.com/about#nicolaj-gajhede) ## **Practice what this guide covers** Graded exercises in a real grid, in the order the guide uses them. - [**What is left after the bills**Budget →](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/monthly-budget-left-over) - [**Yearly and quarterly bills per month**Budget →](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/yearly-bills-per-month) - [**Spending per category with SUMIF**Budget →](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/budget-spending-by-category) - [**A running balance**Budget →](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/running-balance) - [**Months to a savings goal with ROUNDUP**Budget →](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/budget-in-excel/savings-goal-months) - [**SUMIF with the criterion in a cell**SUMIF →](https://practiceexcelonline.com/practice/sumif/sumif-criteria-from-a-cell) ### **Function pages** - [**SUMIF**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/functions/sumif) - [**IF**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/functions/if) - [**ROUNDUP**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/functions/roundup) - [**SUM**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/functions/sum) - [**MAX**](https://practiceexcelonline.com/functions/max) ## **Questions**
### How do I make a budget in Excel? Type your income after tax at the top and your expenses in the rows below, one monthly amount per item. Add up the expenses with SUM and subtract them from the income. The result is what you have left each month.
### How do I turn a yearly bill into a monthly amount in Excel? Divide it by 12. Divide a quarterly bill by 3 and a twice-a-year bill by 6. If a column says how often each bill is paid, IF can pick the right number for you, =IF(C2="Yearly",B2/12,IF(C2="Quarterly",B2/3,B2)).
### How do I calculate what is left over each month? Subtract the sum of your expenses from your income, =B2-SUM(B3:B8). If you count savings as an expense, what is left is the money you are free to spend.
### How do I track spending by category in Excel? Enter each purchase in a row with a category and an amount. Then use SUMIF to add up the amounts for each category, =SUMIF($B$2:$B$51,E2,$C$2:$C$51) with the category in E2.
### Is the budget template free? Yes. You can see the whole template and every formula on this page. You download the file itself with a free PracticeExcel account, which also saves your progress in the exercises.
### Does the budget template work in Google Sheets? Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. The formulas, drop-down lists and number formats come along.
## **More guides** - [**How to calculate percentages in Excel: percent of a number, change, discount and VAT**Every percentage formula you need in Excel, from percent of a number and percent change to discounts, margins and adding or removing VAT, with the usual mistakes.](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/calculate-percentage-excel) - [**How to create a drop-down list in Excel, and make it update itself**Create a drop-down list in Excel from typed options, a range or another sheet, keep it up to date, make one list depend on another and write custom validation rules.](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/drop-down-list-excel) - [**Conditional formatting in Excel: highlight cells and rows with rules and formulas**How conditional formatting works, the built-in rules worth knowing, and the formulas that highlight whole rows, overdue dates, duplicates and anything a menu can't do.](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/conditional-formatting-excel) - [**How to make a graph in Excel: column, line and pie charts step by step**Make a chart in Excel in three steps, pick the right type for your data, and fix the usual problems, with the formulas that build the table behind the chart.](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-charts) - [**Excel for finance and accounting: the skills you actually use**The Excel skills finance and accounting teams use every day, from SUMIFS on a ledger and budget variances to rounding, month-end dates, PMT, NPV and check totals.](https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-for-finance) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#identity","@type":"Organization","name":"PracticeExcel","url":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/","logo":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#logo"}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#website","@type":"WebSite","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"PracticeExcel","url":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/","alternateName":["Practice Excel Online","PracticeExcelOnline.com"],"publisher":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#identity"},"workTranslation":{"@id":"https://excelopgaver.dk/#website"}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#webpage","dateModified":"2026-11-02","datePublished":"2026-11-02","description":"Get a free Excel budget template and learn the formulas behind it: money left over, yearly bills per month, spending by category, balance and savings goals.","name":"Free Excel budget template and the formulas behind it","url":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template","@type":["WebPage","FAQPage"],"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#breadcrumb"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#website"},"mainEntity":[{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/1"},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/2"},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/3"},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/4"},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/5"},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/6"}],"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template"]}],"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#logo"}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#breadcrumb","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Home","item":"https://practiceexcelonline.com","position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Excel guides","item":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn","position":2},{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Free Excel budget template and the formulas behind it","position":3}]},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#article","@type":"Article","dateModified":"2026-11-02","datePublished":"2026-11-02","description":"Get a free Excel budget template and learn the formulas behind it: money left over, yearly bills per month, spending by category, balance and savings goals.","headline":"Free Excel budget template and the formulas behind it","inLanguage":"en-US","thumbnailUrl":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/_og/d/c_Page%2Ctitle_Free%2BExcel%2Bbudget%2Btemplate%2Band%2Bthe%2Bformulas%2Bbehind%2Bit%2Cdescription_~R2V0IGEgZnJlZSBFeGNlbCBidWRnZXQgdGVtcGxhdGUgYW5kIGxlYXJuIHRoZSBmb3JtdWxhcyBiZWhpbmQgaXQ6IG1vbmV5IGxlZnQgb3ZlciwgeWVhcmx5IGJpbGxzIHBlciBtb250aCwgc3BlbmRpbmcgYnkgY2F0ZWdvcnksIGJhbGFuY2UgYW5kIHNhdmluZ3MgZ29hbHMu%2Ceyebrow_Excel%2Bguides%2Csite_practiceexcel%2Cp_Ii9sZWFybi9leGNlbC1idWRnZXQtdGVtcGxhdGUi%2Cs_J86Vv7W0yXgeK8LH.png","author":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#/schema/person/1"},"image":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#/schema/image/1"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#webpage"},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#webpage"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#identity"}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/1","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"How do I make a budget in Excel?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Type your income after tax at the top and your expenses in the rows below, one monthly amount per item. Add up the expenses with SUM and subtract them from the income. The result is what you have left each month."}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/2","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"How do I turn a yearly bill into a monthly amount in Excel?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Divide it by 12. Divide a quarterly bill by 3 and a twice-a-year bill by 6. If a column says how often each bill is paid, IF can pick the right number for you, =IF(C2=\"Yearly\",B2/12,IF(C2=\"Quarterly\",B2/3,B2))."}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/3","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"How do I calculate what is left over each month?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Subtract the sum of your expenses from your income, =B2-SUM(B3:B8). If you count savings as an expense, what is left is the money you are free to spend."}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/4","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"How do I track spending by category in Excel?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Enter each purchase in a row with a category and an amount. Then use SUMIF to add up the amounts for each category, =SUMIF($B$2:$B$51,E2,$C$2:$C$51) with the category in E2."}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/5","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"Is the budget template free?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. You can see the whole template and every formula on this page. You download the file itself with a free PracticeExcel account, which also saves your progress in the exercises."}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/learn/excel-budget-template#/schema/question/6","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"Does the budget template work in Google Sheets?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. The formulas, drop-down lists and number formats come along."}},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#/schema/person/1","@type":"Person","description":"I'm a software developer, and I built PracticeExcel to help others get comfortable with Excel, and the best way to get there is to work through the formulas yourself.","jobTitle":"founder of PracticeExcel","name":"Nicolaj Gajhede","url":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/about#nicolaj-gajhede","image":{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#/schema/image/2"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaj-gajhede/"]},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#logo","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"PracticeExcel","contentUrl":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/brand/practiceexcel/icon-512.png","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/brand/practiceexcel/icon-512.png"},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#/schema/image/1","@type":"ImageObject","contentUrl":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/_og/d/c_Page%2Ctitle_Free%2BExcel%2Bbudget%2Btemplate%2Band%2Bthe%2Bformulas%2Bbehind%2Bit%2Cdescription_~R2V0IGEgZnJlZSBFeGNlbCBidWRnZXQgdGVtcGxhdGUgYW5kIGxlYXJuIHRoZSBmb3JtdWxhcyBiZWhpbmQgaXQ6IG1vbmV5IGxlZnQgb3ZlciwgeWVhcmx5IGJpbGxzIHBlciBtb250aCwgc3BlbmRpbmcgYnkgY2F0ZWdvcnksIGJhbGFuY2UgYW5kIHNhdmluZ3MgZ29hbHMu%2Ceyebrow_Excel%2Bguides%2Csite_practiceexcel%2Cp_Ii9sZWFybi9leGNlbC1idWRnZXQtdGVtcGxhdGUi%2Cs_J86Vv7W0yXgeK8LH.png","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/_og/d/c_Page%2Ctitle_Free%2BExcel%2Bbudget%2Btemplate%2Band%2Bthe%2Bformulas%2Bbehind%2Bit%2Cdescription_~R2V0IGEgZnJlZSBFeGNlbCBidWRnZXQgdGVtcGxhdGUgYW5kIGxlYXJuIHRoZSBmb3JtdWxhcyBiZWhpbmQgaXQ6IG1vbmV5IGxlZnQgb3ZlciwgeWVhcmx5IGJpbGxzIHBlciBtb250aCwgc3BlbmRpbmcgYnkgY2F0ZWdvcnksIGJhbGFuY2UgYW5kIHNhdmluZ3MgZ29hbHMu%2Ceyebrow_Excel%2Bguides%2Csite_practiceexcel%2Cp_Ii9sZWFybi9leGNlbC1idWRnZXQtdGVtcGxhdGUi%2Cs_J86Vv7W0yXgeK8LH.png"},{"@id":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/#/schema/image/2","@type":"ImageObject","contentUrl":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/authors/nicolaj-gajhede.webp","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://practiceexcelonline.com/authors/nicolaj-gajhede.webp"}]} ``` ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](https://practiceexcelonline.com/sitemap.md) for all pages.