I had a budget of $85 per week for groceries and could have easily charged it, but I find that I make better choices if I pay for cash out of my grocery envelope. Take a simple printable envelope and add cash to cover the planned expenses for that category. I look at my budget every single month to keep myself on track.Ĥ.

As I noted above, I made coffee from home and watched Netflix instead of going out to the movies, and saved a lot of money each month. I start by thinking about my goals and then think about how I can adjust the planned monthly expenses to reach my goal. What expenses were higher than expected? Which ones were lower? Where did you not spend any money? Are there any surprises? Did you forget to track anything? These are some of the questions that you should answer before filling out the printable expenses tracker.ģ. Carve out 20 to 30 minutes during the 1st week of the month to look at the previous month’s expenses. Don’t just input the numbers and leave them to move on to the next month. Don’t leave out anything! You might not like the result, but it is so important to write it down.Ģ. Your goal when you start budgeting is to track it all. Remember that by tracking everything, you have the opportunity to make changes. The most common mistake is to quickly jot down your monthly expenses and realize later that you forgot about a few. With this freebie, you can take control of your finances.ġ. If you’ve never budgeted before, this is a great time to start. We use a lot of our monthly calendars to keep track of when we check our charges and expenses. These are fun, fast and effective ways to save money! Check out the Penny Challenge and the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge. Seriously! It can be a lot of fun, and we all like to cross off our goals as we achieve them. Note: I like to play games to motivate me and my family to save money. You can add that money to an emergency fund, or invest in a retirement account. It shows you exactly how much money you have left over after you’ve paid for your expenses. Nugget of Knowledge: Take a look at the Totals section. The free worksheet will help you make decisions to spend money wisely. Sometimes, just writing down the expenses on a tracker and reviewing them will help to figure out where all the money goes. While I miss my daily Starbucks runs, my wallet thanked me immediately! I am too embarrassed to tell you how much I spent. The other sneaky expense I discovered was the total cost of fancy coffee drinks. Of course, I don’t get the movie theater popcorn ! Sigh… I decided to subscribe to a streaming service instead which dramatically reduced this entertainment cost. Oops! I love the movie theater popcorn, but I didn’t like seeing how much I spent or how often I went. I realized that I was spending more and more money each month to go to the movies. Our family does Admin Monday so we know that is our time to routinely look at our bills so nothing sneaky can happen in 7 days. Set up a time using the 2024 Yearly Calendar. Are you seeing different categories of spending change significantly over time? It helps to pinpoint changes in expenses early and helps you to quickly adjust. Using a tool like this gives you the opportunity to review your monthly budgets. I am surprised how quickly I forget what I spent money on, so using the notes helps to refresh my memory and makes it easy to reference later. Make sure to use the notes to explain specifically the expense. It is those sneaky, unplanned expenses that can really derail your budgeting plans.

These may include rent or mortgage, utilities and estimated amounts for groceries or eating out.Ĭreate a Miscellaneous category (similar to what you do with the money envelope system) and include incidentals such as birthday or holiday gifts, or a car repair or anything else that you will pay for that doesn’t happen all the time. When you create a monthly budget, include all of the regular, recurring expenses. Ready to dig deeper and tackle your budget for this year? Snag theģ1 Day Savvy Budget Planner. We know that once you start to use these, you won’t be able to resist staying organized and on track! You don’t need anything complicated – print this one page to help you get started.īe sure to take a look at our other free budgeting printables, so you can find others that work for every personal finance project. This free monthly budget printable is a simple tool that you don’t need anything extra. I knew exactly how much income I had and knew where all of my expenses were going.

It is funny, but after a few months, I noticed that I stressed a lot less about money. It won’t take long before it gets to be a habit. It will take a little bit to get used to writing down all of your expenses.

Printable monthly budget planner