Budgeting software

Chances are, if you visit a stationary store, or do some research on line, you will find all kinds of budgeting software. In fact, you may have already tried all kinds of freeware, as well as trial versions of several popular programs. Unfortunately, once you start working with these programs, you may find that you will lose all sense of your fundamental budgeting goals.

Creating time periods and categories

If you decide to create an Excel budget template from scratch, you can use individual sheets within the book for specific periods of time. For example, you may want to create one worksheet for each month of the year, and then dedicate one book to each year. In addition, if your budget runs on a weekly or bi-weekly cycle, you can always include sub-sheets that will give you a higher level of detail.

Formulas and Graphs

When you make use of an Excel budget template, you can easily generate graphs, as well as make use of formulas that will help you gain all kinds of insight about your spending habits. For example, if you create expense categories, then you can find out exactly how much money you spend on each month for gas as compared to food. When you see this kind of information in a colorful pie or bar graph, you will have a much easier time deciding how to make changes in your financial habits.

Obtaining a pre-designed Excel Budget Template

As may be expected, if you do not know how to create formulas or generate graphs, then you may not feel comfortable with using Excel. Today, there are dozens of inexpensive templates that will help you achieve your goal. In most cases, these templates will work without any need for adaption. That said, if you find that you need to customize the template, finding how to do so will be as simple as looking in the help section of the Excel program.

When you create your own Excel budget template you can create a complete and fully customized budget planner. On the other hand, if you do not know where to begin, you can download a pre-designed template. If you find that you need to make changes to the template, you will find that doing so is far easier than you realized.