The Google Sheets annual budget template is an easy-to-use and convenient expense tracking spreadsheet. The Sheet can be shared with others, updated from your mobile device and it’s completely free to use. I’ve provided a link to a to the template including a savings rate calculation, so you can get started quickly.
This Sheet is private and confidential unless you specifically share your link with someone.
Let’s get started.
1. Load The Template
Click this link to be taken to the Sheet.
A prompt will appear to choose an account. If you don’t have one, click create account.
Fill the details to create your Google account and click next. After completing the process, the annual budget template will open. Continue to step 2.
2. Rename The Sheet
Once the Sheet has loaded, the first thing I like to do is change its name. Click and highlight the “Copy of Annual budget” title to edit. I label mine an “Expense Tracker” instead of a “budget” since this isn’t used for forecasting or averaging any expenses.
The starting balance here is for any existing savings and is added to the ending balance in the Summary graph. This would be a good place to add any money in cash accounts like your emergency fund.
3. Add Your Income
At the bottom of the sheet, there are Setup, Expenses, Income, and Summary tabs. Start by clicking Income.
Adding income first provides a benchmark to measure against as the expenses are filled filled out.
If your sheet is using the wrong currency, you can highlight the cells and change it under Format -> Custom Currency.
Total up your incoming cash flows for each month. To add re-occuring paychecks or expected cash flows, you can click and drag the tiny box in the bottom right-hand corner of the cell.
4. Add Your Expenses
Click the Expense tab at the bottom of the sheet. Then start adding your expenses for each category. It’s OK to leave cells blank that don’t apply to you.
Tip: Export a .csv file with your transactions for the month from your online banking website. This is super easy to total your income and expenses using auto sum in Excel. Otherwise use a calculator and start categorizing. Each dollar doesn’t need to fit in a specific category. If you have a lot of transactions they can be lumped together and categorized as Misc. The most important thing is that the total expenses are accurate.
5. Review
Once all the expenses have been added, the Summary tab will have generated a nice chart. Click the Summary tab to continue.
Now you can see the chart and a full breakdown of your month-to-month expenses. I have added a handy savings rate percentage to keep you on track.
Final Thoughts
That’s it! These were some basic steps to get you started with tracking your expenses in Google Sheets. Do you already track your expenses, and will you try out this template? Let us know and share your tips in the comments below.