An income expense spreadsheet can help you make a budget, track expenses and plan for your financial future. Luckily there are free Excel files that you can download to do all the calculating for you.
Step 1
Gather your financial documents. Before you make a budget you need to have an accurate picture of your financial situation. All of your utility bills should be handy, as well as your retirement deposits and expenses for unnecessary things like manicures, movies and auto detailing. Include every source of income, such as Social Security benefits, settlement awards, wage income, residual income, royalties, rental income and alimony.
Step 2
Create a list, on paper, that shows the results of all this research. It doesn't matter what order it's in, it just matters that when you begin filling out the spreadsheet for "phone bill," for example, that you're not searching through a million envelopes to find out what your average phone bill is. Just go through each bill, write the amount on paper, then file it.
Step 3
Visit an online Excel template website, like Vertex42 or the Microsoft Office website. Open Office also has budgeting templates for its spreadsheet program. With Open Office, you can open the .odt files, as well as Microsoft Excel files. These forms can be stored on your computer, or for access anywhere, on Google docs or another cloud computing environment. Save the file to the location you plan to use it. If you're opting for cloud computing, first save it to your computer and then upload it. You can begin working with it as soon as it's been saved.