Create budget planner with Excel
Excel is great for creating a budget planner. In this practical tip, we will show you how to do this.
Income, expenditure, savings - plan your budget with Excel
The three basic elements of a budget planner are the income, the expenses and the remaining budget:
- Your monthly budget is usually made up of your earnings. You decide which elements to add exactly. In the following example, we list examples of maintenance payments, salary and interest.
- To make your budget planner clear, you should separate fixed and variable expenses. Rent, insurance, memberships and contracts are always the same expenses. Food, train tickets and other expenses vary. We therefore list you separately.
- What remains at the end of the month is your savings. At the same time, this field should show you at the beginning of the month how much money you have and how much you have left in the current month.
How to create your budget planner in Excel
This quick guide shows you how to create a budget planner. Instead of our information, you can simply insert your own information. But keep in mind that the fields specified in the instructions will differ.
1) Calculate monthly budget
- Enter "Monthly Budget" in field A2.
- In the adjacent field B2, set the formula "= total: (B3: B14)".
- Then list in line A under "Monthly Budget" the names of all your earnings. In our example, these are "salary", "maintenance" and "interest".
- In the adjacent line B, enter the respective amount of money. In the example, these are € 600, € 400 and € 5.
- Your monthly budget should now appear in field B2.
2) Calculate monthly expenses
- Write in field D2 "expenditure", in field D3 "fixed expenditure" and in field D9 "variable expenditure".
- Put the formulas "= SUM (E3 +: E9)", "= SUM (E4: E8)" and "= SUM (E10: E15)" in the adjacent fields E2, E3 and E9.
- List your rent and other monthly payments under fixed expenses. The example includes rent, insurance, mobile phone contract, tuition and membership xy.
- In addition to the respective description of an issue, you also enter the amount - as with the income.
- With the variable outputs, proceed as described in points 3 and 4.
3) Calculate your remaining budget
So far, the table only shows you how much money you get each month and how much you spend. Now add the element that gives you an overview: your remaining budget. So that this reliably shows you how much money you still have available, you must of course always keep the table up to date and enter new expenses.
- Write in field A15 "Remaining budget".
- Enter the formula "= SUM (B2-E2)" in field B15. How to subtract your expenses from your earnings.
The instructions refer to Microsoft Excel 2007. As an example, we calculate with a student budget. If you want it to be even more comfortable and possibly more detailed, an Excel template for budget planning is recommended.