This Google Spreadsheet Helped One Family Save 60% of Their Income Last Year (2024)

Two years ago, I left my full-time job when my husband’s job gave us the unique opportunity to move to Bavarian Germany for a few years. Travel the world or work the 9-5? The decision was easy, but the budget ramifications were not. How, exactly, were we going to live on a single income?

Fast forward two years, and we’ve had our first child. We’ve traveled around Europe on long weekends and holidays, and we’ve made two trips home to the U.S. We’ve adopted a second dog, we’ve moved into a larger home and we’ve still managed to save more money each year than we did before I left full-time employment.

Before I left my job, we spent money more freely because we could afford to. Afterward, we buckled down because we needed to. Last year we put approximately 60% of our income into long-term savings and investments, and we’re on track to do the same this year.

The trick? Our family’s Epic Google Budget Template, which you can download for yourself right here.

Our budget rules might be simple, but the results are astounding; at the end of last year, we’d saved $6,000 more than we’d hoped to save! Here’s how we do it:

1. Track Every Expense

Every expense goes into the budget. Every last penny. If we spend two dollars on parking, we track the expense. If I buy a three dollar cup of coffee, it goes into the budget. No expense is too small to account for.

2. Keep All Receipts

When either of us is asked the question, “Would you like a receipt?” the answer is always “Yes.” The receipts go into a stack on our kitchen counter, and every few days I enter those receipts into our budget template.

The template’s built-in formulas immediately show us how each expense affects our actual spending versus our budgeted spending — for each category, for the month and for the year.

There are probably smartphone apps out there that would help automate this process for us. However, we’ve saved more than $1,200 a year by ditching our data plans, so it’s worth it to us to manually enter our expenses.

3. Strike a Balance

Sometimes we overspend in a single month in a single category. When that happens, we try to stay under our spending limits in other categories. The idea is that if one category goes over our budget, we can keep things balanced by remaining under budget in other areas.

Take, for example, hosting Thanksgiving dinner for eight hungry expats and baking for two community fundraisers in the same month in 2014. Our grocery budget was maxed out, so we didn’t spend much on personal things like clothes or travel. At the end of the month, we were able to balance things out.

4. When the Month Doesn’t Balance, Look at the Bigger Picture

The exception to the monthly balance rule is this: If the month doesn’t balance out, be sure the year will.

A perfect example of this is our airfare for an upcoming trip to the U.S. The cost of our flights tipped our monthly budget upside down. We still tried to limit other, unnecessary spending that month, but the baby needed diapers, the dogs needed food and there were other expenses we simply couldn’t avoid. We overspent.

When the monthly budget just isn’t going to balance, look at the bigger picture: your annual spending. If you can still balance the year, then you’re doing okay. If not, then you need to either tighten your belt or re-think your long-term savings and investment goals.

5. Remember It’s Not a Diet

This has probably been the most important part of making our family’s Epic Google Budget Template work for us: The budget is helps us monitor portion sizes without completely changing our diet.

We still indulge in nice things. We each have a personal spending allowance category in the budget each month, but because we rarely max those allowances out, we can occasionally splurge on a higher-ticket item.

When you eat healthy most of the time, that decadent chocolate volcano lava cake doesn’t tip the scales. Your family’s budget operates the same way; keep it in balance more often than not, and you can afford the occasional splurge.

We Saved an Extra $6,000

Our Family’s Epic Google Budget Template helped us put away $6,000 more than we expected to save last year. We used our savings to pay for an unforgettable experience: A weeklong trip to Tromso, Norway to see the Northern Lights. The memories we made in Norway were worth every dollar we tracked in our family budget last year.

Hoarding pennies doesn’t have to mean living poor. Steal our family’s Epic Google Budget Template, follow these five simple rules, and see if your family can save a little — and splurge a little — this year.

Your Turn: How do you track your family’s expenses? How has it helped you stick to your budget?

Melissa Gilliam Shaw is a freelance writer and marketing professional and the creator of MilliGFunk: a travel, healthy living, and DIY blog. You can find Melissa on Facebook, Twitter (@MilliGFunk), Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

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This Google Spreadsheet Helped One Family Save 60% of Their Income Last Year (2024)

FAQs

How do I create a family budget in Google Sheets? ›

Google Sheets has a few free budget template options for budgeting, such as an annual budget template, a monthly budget template, and an expense report. To access this template, open a new Google Sheet, go to File → New → From template gallery, and select the right one.

Is Google Sheets good for budgeting? ›

Automation: Google Sheets offers features like automatic calculations, data validation, and conditional formatting to simplify the budgeting process and reduce errors. Templates: Google Sheets provides a variety of budget templates, such as the 'Monthly Budget' template, which you can customize according to your needs.

What is the expense income tracker in Google Sheets? ›

The expense tracker was designed in Google Sheets and consists of two sheets: Expense Tracker – the sheet with the tracker itself: it allows you to filter out expenses by categories according to the selected period. This sheet also contains the breakdown of income and expenses by categories/months.

Does Google have a budget tracker? ›

Budget Tracker - Google Workspace Marketplace. Create and track your budget in Google Sheets. Adds tools to track your expenditures throughout the year.

What is family budget spreadsheet? ›

The purpose of a household budget is to summarize what you earn against what you spend to help you plan for long and short-term goals. Using a budgeting spreadsheet can help make your financial health a priority by keeping spending in check and savings on the rise!

How do I make a household budget spreadsheet? ›

How to create a budget spreadsheet
  1. Choose a spreadsheet program or template.
  2. Create categories for income and expense items.
  3. Set your budget period (weekly, monthly, etc.).
  4. Enter your numbers and use simple formulas to streamline calculations.
  5. Consider visual aids and other features.

What are 2 pros and cons of Google Sheets? ›

Sheets is also better for collaboration. It's easy for multiple people to work on the same document and use Sheets' chat feature to communicate. Unfortunately, Sheets starts struggling the more data you add to it. Large spreadsheets can be very slow to load and edit.

Is it better to use Google Sheets or Excel? ›

If you're trying to figure out which spreadsheet software is best for your needs, consider how you plan to use it. Google Sheets is a good choice if you're looking for basic spreadsheet functions. If you need to upload, track, and analyze large sets of data, Microsoft Excel is ideal.

What is better than Google Sheet? ›

Here are the 10 best Google Sheets alternatives available in the market today.
  • Top 10 Google Sheet Alternatives.
  • ClickUp.
  • Smartsheet.
  • Microsoft Excel Online.
  • Zoho Sheet.
  • Jotform.
  • OpenOffice Calc.
  • Basecamp.
Feb 14, 2024

Does Google Sheets do accounting? ›

Google Sheets can help you generate financial reports like income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. By using formulas and functions, you can automatically calculate key metrics like revenue, expenses, and net income.

How do I make a daily expense sheet in Google Sheets? ›

How to use Google Sheets for expense tracking
  1. Open Google Sheets.
  2. Go to File > New > From template gallery.
  3. Select a template from the Personal section, such as the Monthly Budget template to jumpstart your expense tracking.
Mar 26, 2024

How to use Google Sheets for finances? ›

Table of Contents
  1. 1: Open a new spreadsheet.
  2. 2: Choose your budget categories.
  3. 3: Decide what budget period to use.
  4. 4: Use simple formulas to minimize your time commitment.
  5. 5: Input your budget numbers.
  6. 6: Update your budget.
  7. Additional formatting options.
  8. Bonus: How to Connect your banks to your spreadsheets.
Aug 28, 2023

Is there a better budget tracker than mint? ›

YNAB Money Management Tool

One of the biggest Mint competitors is You Need a Budget, or YNAB. It can get very specific in your expense tracking and categorization. Most folks love it because of that, as well as its zero-based budgeting method.

How to save money in Google? ›

Use Google Sheets to keep track of your expenses. Simply type '@budget' to access a pre-designed template that does all the math for you. Google Sheets also offers templates for both monthly and yearly budgets. You can find these templates by navigating to File > New > Template gallery > Personal.

How do you make a simple family budget? ›

7 Easy steps for creating a Family Budget
  1. Establish a goal. Ask yourself what you want to get out of making a family budget. ...
  2. Choose a digital budgeting tool. ...
  3. Gather your financial information. ...
  4. Organize into categories. ...
  5. Calculate the information. ...
  6. Look for ways to decrease spending. ...
  7. Review your budget monthly.

How do you organize a family budget? ›

For example, if you get paid weekly, set up a weekly budget.
  1. Record your income. Record how much money is coming in and when. ...
  2. Add up your expenses. Regular expenses are your 'needs' - the essential items you need to pay for to live. ...
  3. Set your spending limit. ...
  4. Set your savings goal. ...
  5. Adjust your budget. ...
  6. Make budgeting easier.

Does Google Docs have a budget template? ›

Google Sheets' native free monthly budget template is a user-friendly income and expense tracker. It allows you to plan and track your expenses every month, ensuring you stay on top of your financial goals.

Where can I get templates for Google Sheets? ›

On your computer, go to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms. At the top right , click Template Gallery. Click the template you want to use. A copy of the template opens.

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