Monthly Budget Template

What it does

The template gives you one sheet to plan a month before it starts and review it after it ends. You list income at the top, then fixed expenses (rent, EMIs, SIPs, insurance), then variable expenses (groceries, fuel, eating out), and a savings line. It automatically totals each block and shows the surplus — income minus everything else — so you can see immediately whether the plan balances. A second column lets you record actuals against your plan, turning the budget into a feedback loop rather than a one-time guess.

Who it’s for

• Salaried professionals who want to stop wondering where their pay goes.
• Couples managing a shared household budget.
• Anyone moving from "spend then save" to "save then spend".
• People preparing to take on an EMI who want to test it against their budget first.

Fields included

How to use it

1. At the start of the month, enter all expected income in the income block.
2. List every fixed expense — rent, EMIs, SIPs, insurance premiums, subscriptions.
3. Add a savings line and treat it as a fixed expense, not a leftover.
4. Estimate variable expenses by category based on the last two or three months.
5. Check the surplus line — if it is negative, cut variable categories until it balances.
6. Through the month, record actual spending in the "actual" column.
7. At month end, compare plan vs actual and adjust next month’s estimates.

Preview

Example workflow

Riya earns ₹85,000 a month. She enters income ₹85,000, fixed expenses of ₹38,000 (rent ₹22,000, SIP ₹10,000, insurance ₹3,000, subscriptions ₹3,000), and budgets ₹22,000 for variable categories. The surplus line shows ₹25,000. She moves ₹15,000 of it to a goal fund and keeps ₹10,000 as a buffer. Through the month she logs actual spends; at month end groceries ran ₹2,000 over, so she raises next month’s grocery estimate and trims dining out.