Free 50/30/20 budget template

What's inside

• Your take-home pay in one green cell at the top.
• A targets table: needs (50%), wants (30%) and savings and debt (20%), each with its dollar target, what you've planned, what you've actually spent and its actual share of your pay. A group shows in red when it's over its target.
• Editable shares: change 50/30/20 to 60/20/20 (or anything else). If your shares don't add up to 100%, the sheet tells you.
• 18 common items, already grouped, plus spare rows. Each row has a Need/Want/Savings dropdown, so the totals sort themselves.
• "Left to plan": how much of your pay isn't planned yet.

How to use it

1. Enter your monthly take-home pay: what lands in your account after taxes and deductions.
2. Enter a Planned amount for each item and check its group. Rename items or add your own in the spare rows.
3. Compare Planned with Target for each group. If a group is red, look for something to trim there first.
4. During the month, fill in what you actually spent. "Actual share" shows the real split of your pay.

An example

With a take-home pay of $4,200, the targets are $2,100 for needs, $1,260 for wants and $840 for savings and debt. Plan $1,500 for rent and $600 for groceries (both needs), $400 for dining out (a want), and $300 for the emergency fund plus $200 for retirement (savings). The sheet shows needs exactly on target at $2,100, wants $860 under, savings $500 of $840, and $1,200 of your pay still to plan.

Need or want?

A simple rule of thumb: count the basic version of something as a need and any upgrade as a want. A basic phone plan is a need; the unlimited plan with a new phone each year is partly a want. The 50/30/20 rule guide covers the grey areas, and what to do if your needs come to more than half your pay.

Opening it in Google Sheets or Numbers

• Google Sheets: upload the file to Google Drive, then open it with Google Sheets. The formulas, dropdowns and colors come across.
• Apple Numbers: double-click the file, or open it from Numbers. It converts automatically.
• Excel or LibreOffice: just open it.

Green cells are for typing. Everything else is calculated, so if a total looks wrong, check the green cells it adds up rather than typing over the formula.