Template
50/30/20 Budget Template
The 50/30/20 rule is the simplest budget framework that still works: 50% of take-home pay for needs, 30% for wants, 20% for savings and debt repayment. This template applies it to Indian salaries, automatically working out your three targets from your net (in-hand) pay and comparing them against what you actually spend. Use it to see at a glance whether your lifestyle fits your income, where the overshoot is, and how much you should really be investing each month before anything else.
Free · Excel / Google Sheets compatible · no signup — see what’s inside below, then download.
What it does
The template takes your monthly take-home pay — the amount that lands in your bank after PF, professional tax, and TDS — and splits it into the three buckets the rule prescribes: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings. You then tag each real expense as a need, a want, or savings, and the sheet tallies how much you are actually putting into each bucket against the target. The result is three simple gaps that tell you whether rent and EMIs have quietly pushed your "needs" past 50%, whether discretionary spending is eating your savings, and exactly how many rupees you need to redirect to hit the 20% investing target.
Who it’s for
- First-jobbers who want one rule to follow instead of fifty spending categories.
- Salaried people whose rent or EMI feels high and want to check it against a benchmark.
- Anyone who saves "whatever is left" and suspects that is too little.
- Couples who want a shared, easy yardstick for how much lifestyle their income supports.
Fields included
How to use it
- Enter your monthly take-home pay — the in-hand amount after PF, professional tax, and TDS deductions.
- Let the sheet compute your three targets: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings.
- List every fixed need — rent, utilities, groceries, EMIs, insurance premiums — and tag it "Need".
- List discretionary spends — dining out, OTT, travel, shopping — and tag them "Want".
- Enter your SIPs, PPF, and any extra loan prepayment under "Savings".
- Read the three gap lines: a negative savings gap means you are under-investing.
- Rebalance — if needs exceed 50%, the realistic fix is usually a lower rent or faster EMI payoff, not willpower on wants.
Preview
| Bucket | Target (₹) | Actual (₹) | Gap (₹) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needs (50%) | 35,000 | 40,000 | -5,000 |
| Wants (30%) | 21,000 | 18,000 | +3,000 |
| Savings (20%) | 14,000 | 12,000 | -2,000 |
| Take-home | 70,000 | 70,000 | 0 |
Free Excel / Google Sheets template — no signup required.
Download Excel template (.xlsx)Example workflow
Arjun takes home ₹70,000 a month. The template sets his targets at ₹35,000 needs, ₹21,000 wants, and ₹14,000 savings. He tags his spends and finds needs at ₹40,000 (rent ₹26,000, EMI ₹8,000, groceries and utilities ₹6,000) — already 57% of pay. Wants come to ₹18,000 and savings to just ₹12,000. The sheet shows needs are ₹5,000 over and savings are ₹2,000 short. Since rent is the culprit, Arjun decides to renew at a smaller flat next cycle and meanwhile trims two wants to push his SIP to ₹14,000 immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to put this to work?
Download Excel template (.xlsx)