If you want your financial condition to remain stable and ensure that you are wisely saving and investing, you should use a monthly expenses template. With it, you can track your expenditures each month by comparing expenses and income. It’s easy to use and a basic tool that makes a big difference to your life.
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Monthly Expenses Templates
What is a monthly expenses template?
Having a monthly budget template helps you allocate your budget for each month for different expenses. This way, you can allocate a budget easily for certain expense categories then take note of the actual costs you have incurred for the same categories during the present month.
In the template, you can store your income details for the month in the budget sheet. In general, the spreadsheet records various categories and expenses that cover all kinds of expenses or payments that you incur.
Monthly Budget Templates
What are examples of monthly expenses?
Identifying recurring and common expenses like mortgage or rent payments, helps you plan your expenditures and make a monthly expenses template. In general, a budget contains spending guidelines for specific expense categories. Before you make a budget, you should first have a list of your individual expenses.
For instance, take your needs. These are expenses that you cannot do without as these keep you warm, alive, and safe. When making your monthly bills template, here are some examples of monthly expenses to include:
- Rent and renter’s insurance
- Mortgage and homeowners insurance
- Property tax
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Auto insurance
- Unexpected medical costs
- Electricity
- Water
- Groceries
- Gasoline
- Sanitation
- Toiletries and other essentials
- Car payments
- Public transportation
- Phone bill
- Student loans
- Other loans
- Child care
- Child support
- Alimony
How do I keep track of monthly expenses?
It is a good practice to keep track of your expenses regularly through a bill tracker template as this gives you an accurate overview of where you’re spending your money. Here are pointers to consider on how to start tracking through your monthly expenses template:
- Go through your statements of account
Identify all of your money habits then create an inventory of all your accounts including all of your credit cards and your checking account. Looking through these accounts helps you pinpoint your spending habits. Through this, you get a sense of your cash flow each month. - Categorize your expenditures
After going through your accounts, group these into categories. Some credit cards tag your purchases automatically in categories making things easier for you. There is a lot you can discover when you go through this process. - Use a budgeting monthly bills template
You can find many of these templates online and download them for free. If you have a more comprehensive financial portfolio, you may opt for a budgeting app instead. Some of the latest ones allow you to keep track of your investments too.
Monthly Bills Templates
How do I create a monthly expense spreadsheet?
One way to have control of your expenses is through the use of a monthly budget template. Some think that this is a difficult task but it will make it easier for you to keep track of your finances. You can use the template as a guide to pay your bills, save money or make it to your next payday without getting into debt.
In the long run, you will discover yourself coming closer to financial freedom. Here are the steps to follow when making your own monthly budget template:
- Launch the spreadsheet software of your choice
If you don’t have software like Microsoft Excel installed in your computer, you can use the software of your choice. - Add the headings of the columns
Skip the 1st cell then in the next cell, input “Amount.”. This column records the value of all the other items on your sheet.
Move to the right then input “Due Date.” This column records the due dates of your payments or bills.
Move to the right again then input “Paid” or some other similar term. Although this is an optional column, it allows you to check whether or not you have already paid your bills and other payments. - Record your monthly income
Start by inputting “Income” in the first cell. This serves as a heading for all of your income items.
Move one cell down then input “Net Pay.”
Move another cell down then input “Other Income.”
Each month, input the corresponding values depending on the income that you receive for that month. - Create a cell with a formula to calculate your total monthly income
After you have created cells for all your sources of income, you now need a cell that totals all of these values.
Create this cell right under the last line of your income items. Input “Total Income” in the cell.
In the cell on the right of the total income cell, create a formula that calculates your total income. This simple formula is the “=SUM” formula. - Add the expense titles
The next step is to input your expenses in the same manner you have inputted the information for your income. You can expect that there will be more individual line item expenses than income items. Because of this, it’s a lot easier to divide your expenses into general categories.
You can start by skipping one line after the cell with “Total Income” then input “Expenses.”
Move down one cell then input “Housing” and in the cells under this, you can input the various housing expenses that you spend every month like rent or mortgage payments, insurance, and utilities. Use a single cell for each of these expenses. - Sum up your expenses
After you have inputted all of your expense categories, you can create a cell that automatically totals all of these values for you.
Similar to what you did for your income, create a new cell underneath the last line of your expense item and input “Total Expenses.”
Move one cell to the right, then input your sum formula again. Just as you did with your total income, input the simple “=SUM” formula. - Save your template
Make sure to save your blank template when you have finished the spreadsheet. Each time you input information for the month, save the template using a different file name.
