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I hope you enjoy these 14 free printable budget trackers! Make sure to check out my free printable budget worksheets here!
If you’re like most people, you probably cringe (or maybe even cry), when you hear the word budget.
Practically my whole life, I thought of a budget as something for people that didn’t have much money.
“I’m going to be a doctor”, I thought to myself. “Who needs a budget, with all the money I’ll be rolling around in?!” Ha. Ha. Oh, Shannon…
This is probably why I have over half a million dollars in student loan debt. Don’t be like broke Shannon. Learn from my mistakes instead!
I now understand that it’s actually all people that need a budget, especially the wealthy (or people that wish to someday be wealthy!)
Knowing and tracking your monthly expenses is by far the most important thing if you want financial freedom!
The free printables below are a great way to track your spending habits and have more money at the end of the month.
Why do I need a Printable Budget Tracker?
A budget is actually permission to spend. It doesn’t need to feel like a huge restriction on your life.
If you have a budget, you know exactly where your money is going each month. This has the opposite effect of restraining, and is instead quite freeing!
Writing down your budget each month, and using a printable budget tracker to make sure you’re sticking to your plan, is the BEST way to save money and reach your financial goals!
The first time I sat down with my husband and did a real budget, we actually felt like we had more money!
We realized where we had been wasting money, and found places that we could easily cut back on our spending.
The budget even allowed for fun money, clothing money, and eating out.
Instead of feeling guilty about spending money on these things, we felt great about it because it was in the budget, and we knew we could afford it.
Free Printable Budget Tracker
In my efforts to make our budget just as CUTE as it is FUNCTIONAL, I ran across some amazing free budget printables, templates, and trackers.
I also created my own pack of free budgeting printables just for YOU! You can sign up here and the 8 page budget workbook will be delivered right to your inbox! Enjoy!
Best Free Printable Budget Templates
Check these out, and scoop up whichever one will look adorable in your planner or on your fridge.
If you’re more of a digital budget person, check out my favorite personal finance apps here.
Start budgeting, and see for yourself how quickly you can change your life and wallet!
More financial resources:
- How to Make a Budget for Beginners
- How to Pay Off Student Loans Fast
- Best Personal Finance Books for Women
- Best Cash Back Apps to Save Money
- Zero-Based Budgeting Tips and How To
22 Free Budget Printables & Templates for You!
The definition of cute and functional here with this free printable template that will help you track your monthly income and spend it well!
How about an entire binder of free budget templates to organize your savings goals? It's free y'all! Such great value here!
Free printable monthly budget planners are great, but don't forget to also keep track of your sinking funds with this free download!
Take complete control of your specific goals and always know the amount of money you have with this family budget worksheet.
In addition to a monthly budget sheet, you might want to use a debt tracker to keep track of how much money you can use to tackle your debt payments next month!
Simple and easy to follow budgeting tips for the new year, and an awesome free budget planner too!
This printable budget planner contains all the bells & whistles to organize your finances including: 31, 30, and 28 Day No Spend Month Trackers, Piggy Bank Savings Tracker, Mason Jar Savings Tracker, Spending Log, Landscape monthly bill tracker, and Two versions of monthly bill tracker.
Looking for money-saving tips? This post and printable on how to do a no spend month is just for you!
Sara shows you how to budget your money in 4 easy steps, with her easy to use template.
I love how you can get a peek at an actual budget for a family of 5, and compare to see how you are doing.
If you prefer an excel or google drive spreadsheet, this template is perfect for you!
Where are my new graduates at? We college students often leave school with student loans, car payments, and little information on how to do a personal budget. Don't let the budgeting process intimidate you, and grab these printable budget sheets.
I love the simplicity of this budget worksheet, and Corrine has everything covered here!
If you need help remember which budget categories to include each month, you'll love my free budget buster printables!
This free printable savings jar tracker will help you set goals and save money in a specific category (emergency fund, down payment, car, etc).
Not sure what percentage of your income you should be spending on different categories each month? Grab this printable version of Dave Ramsey's recommended budget percentages here!
An excellent resource for those of you that have an irregular income. Always a tricky budgeting topic!
Learn how to do a financial checkup and see where you could make changes to save more money this year!
Photo Credit:
homecleaningfamily.com
How to Create a Monthly Budget and Actually Stick to It with Your Spouse
Another excellent resource for those of you that love a good excel spreadsheet! Also, great tips on communicating about money with your spouse.
These adorable debt free coloring charts will make staying motivated...fun!
Photo Credit:
www.makingfrugalfun.com
How to Save for An Emergency Fund (Examples of When to Use it!)
If you are ready to start saving for your emergency fund, these simple templates will help you keep track in an effective way!
After you've filled out your free budget worksheet, you're probably still wondering how to save even more each month! Cash envelopes are a great way to control your spending, and we have some adorable free printable cash envelopes here.
How to Use a Free Printable Budget Planner
Using is one of the easiest ways to take control of your finances! If you’re feeling overwhelmed as you stare at your bank account, have no fear! I’m here to help you keep track of your finances with some easy to use budgeting worksheets.
- First, Download and print your favorite budget planner templates for personal use, or grab my free printable budget binder by entering your email address here!
- Once you have your free download the first step is to figure out your total income for the month. Remember, this is ALL you have to work with. If your expenses are more than this then we know we need to get rid of some things.
- Next, figure out all of your monthly bills and write each of them on your monthly budget template. A great way to do this is to print out your bank statements from the last 3 to 6 months (longer if you have a lot of variable expenses) so you can have a better idea of the actual amount you are spending each month.
- Then, look through those credit card statements, loan documents, and credit reports, and figure out how much you owe in debt payments each month.
Budget Planning on a Low Income
This is when you might be realizing that there’s not enough money to tackle your expenses, much less start to pay down debt. Don’t worry! You can still do this!
There are ways to make your budget work on a low income! If you’re struggling to even make your minimum debt payments, it’s ok to stop give your hard earned cash to those credit cards, and instead make sure you can pay your utility bills and make it to the grocery store.
If you find that you can’t even keep the lights on or afford food, it’s time to get drastic with your budget categories!
- Stop contributing anything to your retirement account
- Don’t pay anything extra to debt
- No need to worry about filling those savings accounts
- Take a hard look at the different categories in your budget and see what can be cut out immediately (subsciptions, streaming services, restaurants, etc).
- Pay your four walls (this is something I learned from Dave Ramsey, which basically means make sure your family can eat, pay utilities, access transportation to keep going to work, and pay your rent or mortgage).
Conclusion
You’ll want to do a budget on a monthly basis. In other words, don’t try to make February’s budget work for December…you’ll just end up getting frustrated! You need a new and fresh budget for every month.
Are you ready to start using a monthly budget tracker to take control of your finances this year? Do you prefer paper and pen, or would you rather use a budgeting app? Let me know in the comments and make sure you my free family budget planner and cash envelope system here!
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hi! I'm shannon
I’m a wife, mom of three, doctor, and blogger! In 2018, I decided to turn my mom blog, into a personal finance blog so others could follow along on our journey to pay off over HALF a MILLION dollars in student loan and practice start up debt. I hope you enjoy following along, and maybe even find some inspiration along the way.
What a wonderful post. So many incredible budgeting resources. Thanks for including my Budget Planner printable. Budgeting is hard, but it’s so so helpful and important when you want to be in control of your finances. I hope your readers will benefit from it!
Author
Thank you so much for letting me include your awesome budgeting resource!