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• Small Business

Dave Ramsey Says to Take 6 Steps Before Starting a Business. Is He Right?

Published on Jan. 3, 2023

By: Christy Bieber

• Opening a business is a dream many people have, but there are steps you need to take to do it right.
• Dave Ramsey recommends six key steps for prospective entrepreneurs, including making a business plan and planning for taxes.

Could these six steps help you on the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur?

If you're thinking about opening your own small business, you may be surprised to find the process isn't as easy as hanging a shingle and starting to sell your goods and services.

Follow these six steps before starting a company

Before you start a business of your own, Ramsey recommends doing the following six things:

• Determining your why: Ramsey urges you to think about the motivation behind why you want to start a business, as this can guide you through inevitable tough times and help ensure your company is actually a success
• Making a business plan: According to Ramsey, your plan should include details about the product or services you'll offer; the schedule you'll work; what you will charge for your products and services; your company budget; and the policies your business will operate under.
• Officially launching your business: This doesn't mean opening the doors yet -- it means taking care of the technical stuff involved in opening up. Ramsey said this could include getting a license to operate your company; deciding how to structure your business; securing financing if needed; and opening up a checking account for the business so you can keep company money separate from your own.
• Planning for tax issues: Ramsey warned that business owners have to pay self-employment tax and pay into the IRS throughout the year. Many people who have only had employers haven't had to take care of these issues before, so Ramsey suggests planning even before opening your doors so you don't get hit with penalties or surprise costs.
• Creating a marketing plan and brand identity: According to Ramsey, these steps include developing a personality for your company and making a plan for how to get the word out using techniques such as social media marketing and more.
• Setting realistic expectations: Finally, Ramsey warned you need to be patient and realize that you will take time to get up and running and that you should make sure you have the right support in place in order to see you through the process.

Should you follow Ramsey's advice?

Ramsey is absolutely right that all of these steps are really important before you jump into starting a company of your own. In fact, his advice is invaluable to would-be entrepreneurs.

Often, it's all too easy to get caught up in the fact that you have a good idea or that you want to work for yourself and you may not think about the realities of all the hard work that goes into running a successful company.

Why a Business Credit Card Could Transform Your Small Business

These business credit cards that offer a convenient and efficient way to separate personal and business expenses, simplifying accounting and tax reporting.

Additionally, business cards can provide valuable perks such as rewards points, cashback, and expense tracking tools, enhancing financial management and the potential to help save money in the long run.

Our Research Expert

Christy Bieber is a full-time personal finance and legal writer with 15 years of experience. She has a JD from UCLA and is a former college instructor.

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More From Forbes

4 free tools to effortlessly create the perfect financial plan.

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Prioritizing financial goals is one of the hardest things in personal finance. Should you pay off all of your debt before investing? Should you save for a home or a child's education? How much should you save for emergencies?

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - JANUARY 28: Patrons at the Littleneck Outpost restaurant use their laptop ... [+] computers in the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York January 28, 2020. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

The challenge with these questions is twofold. First, they don't have just one right answer. There are a range of reasonable answers. And what's reasonable for one person may not be reasonable for another. Second, the "best" answer often depends on knowing the unknowable—the future.

To help tackle this thorny problem, here are four free resources and tools to help you create your sound financial plan.

1. Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps

I'll start with Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps because of their popularity. It's a simple approach to prioritizing financial goals that has worked for countless people. Here are the steps :

Step 1: Save $1,000 for your starter emergency fund .

Step 2: Pay off all debt (except the house) using the debt snowball.

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Step 3: Save 3–6 months of expenses in a fully funded emergency fund.

Step 4: Invest 15% of your household income in retirement.

Step 5: Save for your children’s college fund.

Step 6: Pay off your home early.

Step 7: Build wealth and give.

These steps work in large part because of their simplicity. They have helped families get out of debt and save for their future. There is a big downside to this approach, however. It leads to suboptimal results.

For example, these steps have you paying off all of your non-mortgage debt, even low interest debt, at the expense of a company 401(k) match. Even high interest debt can be refinanced to a 0% balance transfer card . Prioritizing paying of this debt is stupid on steroids. Still, for some individuals and families, these steps make a reasonable approach to financial planning.

2. Bogleheads Prioritizing Investments Plan

The Bogleheads, named after Vanguard's founder Jack Bogle, is a group that promotes the benefits of investing in low-cost index funds. The group's wiki outlines a plan to prioritize investments and pay off debt :

Step 1: Save an Emergency Fund

Step 2: Get the Maximum Match from an Employer Retirement Plan

Step 3: Pay Off High-Interest Debt (Credit Cards)

Step 4: Save in a Health Savings Account (if you have one)

Step 5: Max out an IRS and Employer Retirement Plan

Step 6: Pay Off Medium-Interest Debt (Student Loans, Car Loans)

Step 7: Invest in a Taxable Account

Step 8: Pay Off Low-Interest Debt (Mortgage)

This plan may not appear dramatically different than Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps, but it makes two important improvements.

First, it focuses on getting the benefits of an employer match, if you have one. This change alone is an important improvement. Focusing exclusively on debt repayment at the expense of an employer matching contribution is throwing away free money.

Second, the plan prioritizes debt repayment based on interest rates. The higher the rate, the more priority this plan gives to paying off the debt. While getting out of debt is an important goal, there’s no reason to elevate it above other important goals, particularly without considering the interest rates you are paying.

3. Personal Income Spending Flowchart

The Personal Income Spending Flowchart comes from the excellent subreddit on personal finance. I'll warn you that the chart can appear overwhelming at first. The steps and options are too many to list here. I've included it because it accounts for just about every possible financial decision one could face.

It starts with creating a budget and ends with saving for retirement. It includes a detailed description of each step in the chart. It walks through financial steps in detail, including the order in which one should pay their bills. It accounts for an employer match, health insurance and HSAs, saving for a child’s college education, and even early retirement.

4. ProjectionLab

The final tool on our list is an excellent financial planner. ProjectionLab is the creation of a solo developer named Kyle Nolan. I met him this month a FinCon, a conference for financial influencers (I'm not sure why they let me attend).

ProjectionLab has both a free and paid version. The tool enables you to plan out any financial goal you can imagine. After entering income and expense data, you can set any number of financial goals, such as achieving financial independence, retirement, getting married, paying of debt, and having children. The tool than analyzes the data and maps out when you'll achieve each goal.

One important benefit of a tool like ProjectionLab is the ability to create and compare multiple plans. For example, in one plan you could forego retirement savings and an employer match in favor of debt. In another plan you could take full advantage of an employer match, and then compare the outcomes of both plans.

You can check out my video review of ProjectionLab here .

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6 Free Budget Templates: One for Every Financial Situation

R.J. Weiss, CFP®

• Updated August 15, 2024

It’s no secret that budgeting works. In fact, the majority of millionaires keep a budget . 

That’s why we handpicked the best budget template for every type of person, goal and software preference (Numbers, Google Sheets, Excel, etc.).

Whether you’re looking to get out of debt , gain control of your finances, manage your money better or just need a simple free monthly budget template, we have you covered.

Know what you want? Use the table of contents button below to find the type of free budgeting template you’re looking for.

Table of Contents

The Best Free Personal Budget Templates

We ranked the best budgeting apps , but here’s a list of the best budgeting spreadsheets and templates for those who prefer a more hands-on approach. 

Best Template for Beginners: Kiplinger’s Household Budget Worksheet

If you’re brand new to budgeting and want to get things started right away without much thought or work, we recommend Kiplinger’s Household Budget Worksheet .

Here’s what you get with this free budget worksheet:

• You can fill it out online and then download the template to your favorite spreadsheet software, whether that’s Numbers, Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. You can also download it first and start working on it offline.
• It uses basic budgeting categories , which is a good thing for beginners who don’t want to get too detailed but who do want a general guideline as to where their money goes.
• You can choose from a one-month period to a 12-month period.

Related app : If you want a simple overview of your finances, Rocket Money is our top choice for a free budgeting app. It’s ad-free and displays key information right in the dashboard. Learn more in our Rocket Money review .

Best Advanced Budgeting Template (Google Sheets Only): Aspire

During our research, one budget template that really stood out was Aspire Budget . The template is free, but it comes with more features than many paid options.

Aspire Budget features include:

• Comes with in-depth video instructions and wiki docs to walk you through how to best use the spreadsheet.
• There’s a Reddit community with over 5,000 members to help answer your questions.
• Uses an envelope-style budgeting method that allows you to keep track of every penny.
• Outputs a dashboard with key metrics for the month.
• As you use it over time, it builds trend reports to compare month-over-month income and expenses.

Related app : Budgeting can be time-consuming, especially if you’re leveraging the envelope method Aspire uses. If you want something that automatically pulls data from your bank account and tracks how much money is coming in vs. going out, check out GoodBudget .

Best Template for Getting Out of Debt: The Ways To Wealth’s Free Budgeting and Debt Reduction Spreadsheet

If your goal is to get out of credit card debt, research has shown that the debt snowball method to be the most effective strategy.

With the debt snowball method, you’re paying off your debt in order of smallest to largest balance. That way, you see quick results and feel like you’re making progress with each payment.

We included a free budgeting and debt reduction template in our guide to getting out of debt , which can help you build your debt snowball. While the budget aspect of this template is simple, what’s powerful is what it outputs. Specifically, it shows you how many months until you’re debt-free.

If you’re struggling to get out of debt, the number of months it’s going to take you to become debt-free should be your guiding light. Every financial decision should be about reducing that number. So, it’s by knowing that number that you can prioritize your decisions to meet your goal to become debt-free as fast as possible.

App to try : Opt for YNAB . Tens of thousands of people struggling with debt have turned to YNAB (short for “You Need a Budget”) to help get control of their finances. The app has a very loyal user base with a dedicated community. In fact, their subreddit has over 135,000 members .

Best Template for Mac Users:  Numbers’ Simple Budget Template

While the Kiplinger’s Budget Spreadsheet discussed earlier in this article does download as a CSV file (making it compatible with Numbers), there are better options Mac users. In fact, Apple has created 10 specific personal finance Numbers templates you can access.

If you’re looking for a basic yet visually-appealing budget template, we really liked the Simple Budget Template from Apple. With this budgeting template, you’ll enter your paycheck amount and any additional money you have coming in. Then you’ll use the budgeting categories to plug in expected expenses for the upcoming month. 

Your expenditures will fall into a color-coded graph that gives you a percentage and visual on how much you’re spending in each category. Some of the categories include housing, groceries, transportation, utilities, and dining and entertainment.

What’s to like:

• Everything is on one page, so you have all the data right in front of you.
• The “money out” chart gives you a quick look at where the lion’s share of your money is going.

App to try : Mint is the original free personal finance budgeting app. It’s ideal for those who want to track expenses, watch their net worth grow, and get a quick glance at all their financial accounts in one place.

Best Printable Monthly Budget Template: Dave Ramsey’s Monthly Cash Flow Plan

Multiple studies have shown that tracking what you eat leads to successful weight loss . After all, there’s no lying to yourself when you’re writing down each and every bite you consume.

You can apply the same concept to budgeting by manually tracking your income and expenses. Specifically, that means writing down each and every dollar that comes in and out of your life. This is time-consuming, but it will give you the most insight into your actual spending habits out of any of the options mentioned in this article.

Our favorite printable budgeting template came from Dave Ramsey. An explanation of how to budget using the method and the printables themselves can be found in our in-depth article on Dave Ramsey’s allocated spending plan .

This ready-made template is all about budgeting based on pay periods. So, if you’re paid on the 1st and 15th of the month, you’re allocating every dollar that comes in and out of your life during each pay period.

If you don’t spend the amount you allocated, you zero out your budget and make a conscious decision about what to do with the money that’s left over (e.g., put it towards paying off debt).

This is called zero-based budgeting.

App to try : The EveryDollar app from Ramsey Solutions uses Dave Ramsey’s zero-based budgeting approach. The app costs $129 per year.

Best Template for a Low Income: The Poor-Man’s Budgeting Spreadsheet

The Poor-Man’s Budgeting Spreadsheet is designed for those who need to carefully watch each and every dollar. 

With this spreadsheet, you’ll be able to put in your income and your expenses. Here’s where it gets a little unusual: your amount that’s left over will essentially be divided by how many days are left in the month.

You’ll see a daily total that can be spent, so you’ll know that if you go over this total, you’ll have to make it up on a later day or your budget won’t survive the month.

• It breaks down your budget on a day-to-day basis.
• It’s accessible on Google Docs.
• If you know you’re going to have a more expensive day coming up, don’t spend as much in the days before that and your discretionary spending balance will build up and carry forward.

Budget Templates FAQ

What’s nice about free budget templates is that they allow you to build off the work other people have created. This way, you don’t have to start from scratch and you can customize the template as you please.  In terms of customizations, the best approach is to look back at your last two to three months of expenses and categorize each expense. This way, you get a set of budgeting categories that are customized towards your spending.

In our article on household budget percentages , one recommended set of budgeting categories was: – Saving: 10% – Food: 10% to 15% – Giving: 10% – Health: 5% to 10% – Housing costs: 25% – Insurance: 10% to 25% – Miscellaneous: 5% to 10% – Personal spending: 5% to 10% – Recreation: 5% to 10% – Transportation: 10% – Utilities: 5% to 10% Again, this is just one example of a personal budget and it’s not for everyone. Your expense categories will be different based on your financial goals .  However, knowing your budget percentages can allow you to see where your existing spending plan is out of whack.  For example, if you spend 20% of your income on transportation (10% more than what’s recommended), you’ll have to make up for that elsewhere.

We’ve listed our favorite here, but during our research we found a Google Image search to be our preferred method for finding the best templates. 

Tiller Money is a premium add-on for Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel that will automatically update your budget spreadsheet. This includes transactions, as well as saving account and investment account balances. The service costs $79 per year.

Final Thoughts on Personal Budget Templates

Because everyone’s financial situation is different, there is no one best way to budget your money. That’s why the best budgeting template is the one that works for you.

Here’s the thing: finding out what works for you takes time. And even then, it takes time to find a process of using that specific template that works for you.

Budgeting is a lifelong habit that takes some time to build. The key is to keep trying until you find a system and process that’s right for you.

You’ll know you’re on the right track when you’re enjoying the process and starting to see results.

Related reading : Seven insanely useful money management worksheets .

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The Best Budget Spreadsheets

Vertex42 Spreadsheets

• It's Your Money Budget Spreadsheets

PearBudget Budget Spreadsheet

Google sheets templates, tiller money, microsoft office templates, using budget spreadsheets, frequently asked questions (faqs).

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No matter what your income is, having a budget and tracking your expenses will make it easier for you to achieve your personal finance goals. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recommends creating a budget spreadsheet or worksheet to track your income and expenses.

There are many free or inexpensive budget spreadsheet options, so all you have to do is put in your income and expenses, and the spreadsheet will allow you to track how much you spend and how much you save. That way, you can see where you can cut costs and meet your financial goals. You may also be able to personalize these spreadsheets for your needs.

Key Takeaways

• You can use budget spreadsheets to plan for your daily life and regular expenses, like rent, groceries, and transportation.
• You can use budget spreadsheets to save up for events like trips, holiday shopping, or weddings.
• Some budget spreadsheets, like Tiller, can be connected with your bank accounts.

Vertex42 has over a dozen free budget and personal finance spreadsheets that work with Microsoft Excel, as well as some that are compatible with LibreOffice Calc, Apache OpenOffice Calc, and Google Sheets.

You can use the free Money Management Template to track your spending against your budget, plan for seasonal expenses, handle irregular income or expenses, record transactions for multiple accounts, balance your checkbook, and more. You don't need to understand macros to use this spreadsheet.

You'll also find spreadsheets for monthly and yearly household and personal budgets, holiday gift budgets, business budgets, wedding budgets, and money management for kids. Many of these spreadsheets also include a demo video or tutorials.

It's Your Money Budget Spreadsheets

Financial blog It's Your Money lists seven free budgeting spreadsheets, including a Cash Flow Budget Spreadsheet inspired by Dave Ramsey's budgeting methods. The Box Budget Spreadsheet breaks down each month into four weeks, giving you an easy visual of your expenses, savings, and income.

These spreadsheets work with Microsoft Excel with macros enabled. It's Your Money offers an assortment of free or low-cost personal money management spreadsheets.

PearBudget is a free, comprehensive spreadsheet designed to track your monthly household spending. It can be downloaded and used with Microsoft Excel or any other spreadsheet software that supports Excel files. An analysis tab analyzes expenses by different categories and shows the difference between actual and budgeted spending.

PearBudget also offers an updated online version of the budget spreadsheet that does not require a download and is available for a free 30-day trial.

If you go to the Google Sheets template gallery , you can find some free budget spreadsheet options. There is a monthly budget and an annual budget spreadsheet. You can put in your planned income and expenses, and your actual income and expenses.

That will allow you to track your actual income, and your actual savings, and you'll be able to see where you spent your money, and if your income and spending projects were correct.

Tiller is a company that offers spreadsheet integration with your bank account. That means you can see every single expense from every account. You can also customize the way transactions are categorized. That way, you can track your expenses in a way that makes the most sense to you.

Tiller offers a 30-day free trial so you can see if the software works for you.

Microsoft has a large number of financial templates that you can use. You can use the personal monthly budget or household budget for your ordinary budget needs. Other budget templates that Microsoft offers include a monthly food budget template, a holiday budget planner, and a business trip budget.

You can use one of these spreadsheets or templates to help you manage your finances. You can use them to budget for your routine expenses, like rent or transportation. These tools can also help you save towards a larger goal, like a trip, a new business, or college tuition.

You can try out multiple spreadsheets to see which one works best for you. You'll be able to streamline personal finance planning, and you can see where your money is going and where you might be able to cut down on spending. These spreadsheets can make budgeting much easier than it was in the past.

How do I create a budget?

To start a budget, the first thing you'll need to do is tally all of your monthly income and expenses. Once you have accounted for everything, you can determine whether you are spending more or less than what you make. Then, you can categorize your expenses, set goals for spending and saving, and monitor your progress each month. You can use this budget calculator as a guide.

What should I include in a budget spreadsheet?

Your budgeting spreadsheet should include categories for each of your income sources, along with categories for each type of expense you need to track. Add up your income and expenses separately, and then subtract expenses from income to get the difference. You'll also want to create a category for savings. Then, figure out where you can reduce expenses, if necessary.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. " Budgeting: How to Create a Budget and Stick With It ."

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Vertex42. " Google Spreadsheet Templates - Help ."

Vertex42. " Free Budget Templates ."

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Pear Budget. " Is the Old PearBudget Spreadsheet Still Available? "

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Tiller. " How Tiller Works ."

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The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness Hardcover – September 17, 2013

Do you want to build a budget that actually works for you? Are you ready to transform your relationship with money? This New York Times bestseller has already helped millions of people just like you learn how to develop everyday money-saving habits with the help of America's favorite finance coach, Dave Ramsey.

By now, you've already heard all of the nutty get-rich-quick schemes and the fiscal diet fads that leave you with a lot of quirky ideas but not a penny in your pocket. If you're tired of the lies and sick of the false promises, Dave is here to provide practical, long-term help. The Total Money Makeover is the simplest, most straightforward game plan for completely changing your finances. And, best of all, these principles are based on results, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies. This is the financial reset you've been looking for.

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition will give you the tools and the encouragement you need to:

• Design a sure-fire plan for paying off all debt--from your cars to your home and everything in between using the debt snowball method
• Break bad habits and make lasting changes when it comes to your relationship with money
• Recognize the 10 most dangerous money myths
• Secure a healthy nest egg for emergencies and set yourself up for retirement
• Become financially healthy for life
• Live like no one else, so later you can LIVE (and GIVE) like no one else!

This edition of The Total Money Makeover includes new, expanded "Dave Rants" that tackle marriage conflict, college debt, and so much more. The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition also includes brand new back-of-the-book resources to help you make The Total Money Makeover your new reality.

• Print length 272 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Thomas Nelson
• Publication date September 17, 2013
• Dimensions 7.6 x 1.02 x 9.55 inches
• ISBN-10 1595555277
• ISBN-13 978-1595555274
• See all details

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

About the author.

Dave Ramsey is an eight-time No. 1 national best-selling author, personal finance expert and host of The Ramsey Show, heard by more than 18 million listeners each week. He has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for the company, Ramsey Solutions.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas Nelson; 1st edition (September 17, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595555277
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595555274
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.36 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.6 x 1.02 x 9.55 inches
• #10 in Christian Stewardship (Books)
• #34 in Retirement Planning (Books)
• #75 in Budgeting & Money Management (Books)

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About the author

Dave ramsey.

Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business. He’s a #1 National bestselling author and host of The Ramsey Show, heard by more than 18 million listeners each week. Dave’s eight national bestselling books include The Total Money Makeover, Baby Steps Millionaires, and EntreLeadership. He has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people take control of their money, build wealth, and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO of Ramsey Solutions.

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Customers find the book worth the money and time to read. They describe it as a great, fun read that is easy to understand. Readers appreciate the information quality, saying it confirms their thought processes and offers good advice.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book great at confirming their thought processes and how to handle money. They say it offers good advice and is motivational. Readers also mention the language is clear and the concepts are explained in a way that makes financial sense.

"...I enjoyed his writing and found the information to be helpful so I decided to purchase my own copy to reference at home...." Read more

"Easy to read, and clear explanations . I wish I had known most of this stuff when I was younger." Read more

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"...In all, I really think the book is helpful , especially to people who have not ever tried to change their money habits or those who use credit cards..." Read more

Customers find the book readable, clear, and fun. They say it's great for students and contains no fancy verbiage.

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Best Budget Templates: 12 Great Options for Monthly Budgets

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A budget template is an easy-to-follow guide for creating a personal budget . Using a monthly budget template is a great way to accurately track your income and expenses every month. Most budget templates come with predetermined income and expense categories, although many provide room for customization.

There are dozens of budgeting templates available. You’ll find both printable budget templates and digital alternatives. Many are free, however, there are several premium options available for a small fee.

If you’ve struggled with creating a budget , you’re in luck. We’ve scoured the internet and created a list of the best budget templates we could find. Choose the one that fits your needs and get started right away!

1. Club Thrifty Monthly Budget Template

Shameless plug: We have our own free budgeting template! We created two linked Excel spreadsheets that make budgeting and tracking your spending a breeze.

We’ve already set up the formulas, so all you need to do is plug in your own numbers for each category. Excel then calculates your spending totals and shows you where you stand relative to your budget. There’s no math involved on your end whatsoever.

I love that our free template prompts you to budget for savings categories, including an emergency fund . Planning for your savings like a monthly expense is a great way to ensure that saving remains a priority.

If you like what you see, you can download your free Club Thrifty budgeting template here.

2. Tiller Money

Tiller Money is one of the best budgeting programs available. Even better, it has grown into more than just great budget templates.

Tiller Money has become a powerful financial tracking app that helps you create a budget, track your spending, and follow your net worth. The program makes it easy for you by automatically importing and sorting your data into a Google or Excel spreadsheet. You can even run various financial reports at the end of the year.

Some people consider Tiller Money to be the best of both worlds — you get the familiarity and power of a spreadsheet without the pain of having to manually enter your data. It also serves as a solid replacement for Quicken or other money management programs.

Tiller costs $6.58 per month (paid annually), but you can try it free for 30 days.

YNAB is a paid budgeting app that offers a simple, automated budget template.

YNAB is great for people who use a zero-based budget because it prompts you to plan for every dollar you earn. When you treat all of your expenditures and savings as budgeted expenses, income minus expenses should equal zero. If you overspend in one category, YNAB prompts you to take the overage from another category so that your budget stays balanced.

You can manually enter your income and transactions if you want, but it’s easier to connect to your bank account and let YNAB import them.

YNAB is on the pricier side at $84 per year (that is $7 per month when you pay annually), but you can try it out with their free 34-day trial .

4. Cash Flow Formula from Money Peach

The Cash Flow Formula from Money Peach helps you plan a zero-sum budget and track how your spending stacks up against your projections.

It’s available in three formats: a printable PDF, an interactive spreadsheet, and a larger version of the spreadsheet. The PDF is great if you want to print your budget template and stick it in a conspicuous place — like on your fridge.

I personally dig the large spreadsheet for two reasons. The first is a given: It saves you time by doing the math for you. Pop in your monthly income and your fixed expenses, and it tells you how much you have left to budget for variable expenses. That can be a real eye opener! After you enter those projections and input spending for each category, the balance tab keeps track of your position. If it’s positive, you have money to spend. If it’s zero, your budget is balanced. If it’s negative, you’ve overspent.

Additionally, I like the expanded version because it includes extra blank categories just waiting for your customization. This setup is ideal for people who have a bunch of spending categories or for people who just prefer to track their spending at a very granular level.

Download the Cash Flow Formula here .

5. PocketSmith

PocketSmith is another financial management app that helps you master budgeting and track your cash flow.

The two paid plans connect to your bank accounts, but the free version requires you to manually enter your transactions. All plans allow you to create custom budgets and see how your spending aligns with them.

PocketSmith’s claim to fame is its financial projection feature. Depending on your plan, it will project your complete financial out to 30 years in the future based on your current budgets. We think that’s pretty neat! Get started here.

6. Google Sheets Monthly Budget

Google Sheets has a free budget template and monthly expense tracking spreadsheet that’s ready for your personal touch.

It’s actually two sheets. The first is for planning your budget and the second is for tracking your spending . The budget sheet lists all the standard categories, plus you can input your own. The template also includes one column for planned spending and one for your actual spending. Simply toggle to the expense sheet to record your spending, and the actual column in your budget updates automatically. Super easy!

To find this free tool, hit up the template gallery in Google Sheets and look for “monthly budget” in the personal category (Google Sheets>Personal>Search “monthly budget”).

7. Financial Snapshot and Budget From Budgets Are Sexy

This colorful budget template is available for Excel or Google Docs. It’s great for couples because it includes fields for two paychecks.

This budgeting spreadsheet also includes space to plan savings, credit card payments, and several budgets. Additionally, you can track your net worth, which is the “financial snapshot” part of the name. You can find a copy here .

8. Frugal Fanatic Budget Template

Frugal Fanatic’s free budget template offers space to budget your income, a list of standard expenses, and room to plan for up to three savings goals. Yes, it’s basic, but it might be just what you need to get started. Grab the template here .

Here’s a hot tip for using this or other printable budget templates: If the categories don’t fit what you need, simply use whiteout on one category and write in a new one. For example, internet expenses didn’t make the list, but cable and phone did. If you don’t have cable or a home phone, just change one of those to include your internet costs.

9. Printable Crush Budget Template

Printable Crush’s free budget template groups spending categories into sections, so everything related to housing, transportation, etc. is together.

It’s visually appealing, but one thing I don’t like is that there’s no space to record any difference between your budget and your spending. If you’re using a zero-sum budget, we hope that difference is zero, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

You can find the Printable Crush budget template here .

10. Federal Trade Commission Budget Worksheet

If you’re looking for a good printable budget template, the Federal Trade Commission has one on their website.

The two-page template is very straightforward: Add up your income, tally your expenses by category, and do the math. If income minus expenses equals zero, your budget is balanced. If you have a surplus, you can save it or spend it. If you’re in the negative, you need to increase your income or reduce your expenses.

This template doesn’t include a category for savings. If that’s one of your goals (and it should be), you’ll want to earmark some funds for savings somewhere on the sheet. You can get the FTC budget template here .

11. Dave Ramsey Monthly Cash Flow Plan

You don’t need to subscribe to all of Dave Ramsey’s philosophies to appreciate his monthly cash-flow plan.

Like other monthly budget templates, this one gives you space to budget for each category and record your spending. It’s more comprehensive than most printable templates — there are 16 lines for debts, not including mortgage or rent!

It also includes a few Dave Ramsey touches — including a suggestion for the percentage of your income that should be spent on each category. For example, he recommends spending 5 to 15 percent of your take-home pay on food.

Beside some of the categories, you’ll see an envelope icon. If you’re using the envelope budgeting system, the icon means that category is a good candidate for a cash envelope. If not, just ignore it.

Download the Dave Ramsey’s Cash Flow Plan here .

12. Personal Capital

Personal Capital offers a robust (and free!) set of financial tracking tools. Included in that mix is a free budget template that is digital.

Unlike an Excel spreadsheet or a pen-and-paper budget, Personal Capital’s tool doesn’t require you to manually input your spending. Instead, you create your spending categories, set your budget for each one, and link your bank accounts and credit cards. Personal Capital will automatically track your spending and show you where are you are relative to your budget.

The budgeting tool isn’t as powerful as some of the others, but it does automate tracking your cash flow for free. The free net worth tracking, investment analyzer tool, and free retirement calculators make it a wonderful alternative to programs like Mint .

More importantly, Personal Capital also serves as an excellent complement to any of the budgeting tools listed here…and it is FREE!

Open a free Personal Capital account here .

How Does a Budget Template Work?

Budget templates are tools that help you plan for your monthly income and expenses. They help track your money so you can make the most of what you have. Most templates include:

• Categories for income and expenses
• Space to estimate your monthly earnings and expenses
• A place to record actual earnings and spending
• A place to record the difference between the two

A budget template can be as simple or sophisticated as you like. In fact, our family still uses a good old-fashioned pen and paper. While it might not look pretty or do anything fancy, it gets the job done. If you’re looking for something a little more substantial, though, one of the budget templates from the list above is bound to fit the bill.

Monthly Budget Templates: Final Thoughts

So, which budget template is the best? As always, the best budgeting tool is the one you’ll use consistently. Just pick one and give it a go! If it doesn’t work for you, you can always change things up later.

Sometimes it takes a little trial and error to find the best fit. The good news is that most of these monthly budget templates are free, and even the paid apps usually offer free trials.

So what are you waiting for? Grab one of these awesome templates and take control of your money today!

Do you have a favorite budget template or tool? Don’t keep it to yourself — let us know in the comments!

*Additional reporting by Sandra Parsons

Greg Johnson is the co-founder of Club Thrifty and an expert in personal finance, family travel, and credit card rewards. His work and commentary have been featured in publications like Newsweek , Kiplinger’s Personal Finance , Dough Roller , CreditCardReviews.com , and more. He also works as a freelance personal finance editor at Bankrate.com.

Greg travels the world for about 20 weeks each year and has visited over 40 countries. He holds two bachelor's degrees, is the co-author of the book Zero Down Your Debt , and owns his own independent travel agency. Learn more about Greg here.

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Fantastic roundup, Sandra! I’ve gone through dozens of apps and templates, and ultimately decided to make my own.

The biggest struggle I have with most budgeting tools is how rigidly they require you to formulate spending buckets. “Groceries: $100 per week” isn’t flexible enough for my lifestyle. Sometimes I spend $50 on groceries…other times I spend $150. So I figured out a way to budget more flexibly to support my spending habits and lifestyle.

Thanks, Jon! That sounds awesome, I’ll have to check it out.

The Cash Flow Formula is my favorite. Its been a lifesaver for me. Its simple and easy to use. Ive tried others but none of them worked out with me. Keep your receipts and punch in the total.

We focus on tracking after the fact rather than budgeting before, but in both cases, I think the most important thing is how you categorize your expenses — what is a necessity v. luxury, what constitutes self-care, professional development or other investments v. more frivolous expenses. For example, sometimes a meal out can be date night (relationship investment) or catching up with a professional colleague (business investment) or too lazy to cook (extravagance).

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