Budgeting for Beginners - How to Make a Budget in Google Sheets 2025 | Free Template!, by Personal Finance with Leila - Debt Over It on YouTube. 15 min 56 s.
- Video length
- 15 min 56 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 10
What you need
Steps
Open Google Sheets and create a blank spreadsheet. Name it something like Monthly Budget and add a tab for each month if you want to compare later.
In column A, list your income sources. Put your take-home pay in one row and any side income in another, then total them in a cell below.
Add a header row for Expense, Category, Planned and Actual. List every fixed bill such as rent, utilities, insurance and loan payments under Expense.
Add variable costs like groceries, fuel, eating out and subscriptions. Look through two or three months of statements so you do not miss small charges.
Enter a realistic planned amount for each expense in the Planned column. Base it on what you actually spent, not what you wish you spent.
Add a savings row and treat it like a bill. Even a small amount counts, and paying it first keeps it from being skipped.
Use a formula such as =SUM(D2:D20) to total planned expenses, then subtract that total from your income total to see what is left over.
Adjust the planned amounts until income minus expenses is zero or positive. If it is negative, cut the lowest-priority variable costs first.
During the month, type real spending into the Actual column. At month end, compare Planned and Actual to spot where you overspent.
Copy the sheet to a new tab for the next month, keep the category names the same, and update the planned amounts using last month's actuals.
Tips and common mistakes
Round your income down and your expenses up so the budget has a small cushion.
Do not create dozens of categories. Five to ten broad ones are easier to keep up with.
Update the Actual column weekly instead of saving a pile of receipts for month end.
If you share money with a partner, build the budget together so both of you agree on the numbers.
Questions
Do I need to pay for a template?
No. You can build the whole budget from scratch in a free Google Sheets file, and the video also points to a free template if you prefer a starting point.
What if my income changes every month?
Budget using your lowest recent month as the base. Put anything extra above that into savings or debt payoff rather than into fixed expenses.
How many months of spending should I review first?
Two or three months is enough to see patterns. Check bank and card statements so annual or quarterly charges do not slip through.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
