Free household budget template: Excel, PDF or app – which one fits you?
Here you get a free household budget template as an Excel file with three sheets – instructions, a transaction list and an overview that adds up income, expenses and balance automatically. If you prefer paper, there are three printable PDF sheets. No login, no email address, no bank connection. The categories follow the same logic as in the huusbook app: fixed and variable kept apart.
Prefer paper? → Three printable PDF sheets
free · no email · no sign-up · works in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets
Which household budget template fits you?
If you are just starting, take the Excel template: you enter, the overview calculates. If you prefer writing numbers by hand, print the monthly sheet. Families with several people and child-related costs take the family template: one column per person, child-related costs kept separate. And if you enter on your iPhone anyway, the app is faster than any spreadsheet.
- For whom
- You want totals without doing the maths.
- What you get
- Three sheets, the overview calculates automatically, categories via dropdown.
- Effort
- 2 minutes a day
- For whom
- You want the sheet on the fridge, not on a screen.
- What you get
- Monthly sheet, weekly sheet and yearly overview as A4 PDFs, categories pre-printed.
- Effort
- 1–2 minutes a day, 5 minutes at month end
- For whom
- Several people enter, child-related costs are tracked.
- What you get
- Excel with a person column, budget per category and yearly overview, plus the printable family sheet.
- Effort
- 5 minutes on Sunday
- For whom
- You enter on the go and want to compare months.
- What you get
- huusbook for iPhone, iPad and Mac – same logic as this template, categories fully adjustable, no bank connection, basic version free.
- Effort
- Seconds per entry
What is in the Excel template?
The file has three sheets: short instructions, a transaction list for all income and expenses, and an overview that adds up income, expenses and balance per category automatically. You pick the categories from a dropdown. The template works in Excel, Apple Numbers and Google Sheets.
Sheet 1 – Instructions. One page explaining how the transaction list works and what the overview shows. If you pass the template on, you do not need to add anything.
Sheet 2 – Transactions. One row per income or expense: date, amount, category from the dropdown, an optional note. No formulas you could delete by accident – this sheet is for entering only.
Sheet 3 – Overview. Totals per category, income minus expenses, balance at month end. The overview reads the transaction list automatically. Add a row and the total changes immediately.
How is a household budget book structured?
A household budget book has three parts: a list of all income and expenses with date, amount and category, an overview with totals per category, and a monthly balance that shows what is left. Fixed costs such as rent appear once a month, variable expenses such as groceries continuously.
The structure is the same on paper, in a spreadsheet and in an app – only the calculating effort differs. What matters is the split into fixed and variable: fixed costs (rent, insurance, contracts and subscriptions) do not change from day to day, so they go at the top once and are set. Variable expenses (groceries, eating out, transport, clothing, leisure) are the categories where you actually make decisions. Mix both into one list and you get a number at month end, but not where it came from.
Which categories belong in a household budget?
Twelve expense categories are enough: Housing & Energy, Groceries & Household, Eating Out, Transport, Insurance, Contracts & Subscriptions, Health & Personal Care, Clothing, Leisure & Culture, Children & Education, Holidays, Other. Plus three or four income categories. Fewer categories show nothing; more, and nobody keeps it up for three weeks.
The PDF sheets use exactly these twelve categories. The Excel template uses a more compact list via dropdown, which you can extend yourself on the "Transactions" sheet; the Excel version with all twelve categories and a budget column comes in October. In the huusbook app the categories are fully adjustable – the split into fixed and variable is the same. Why it is exactly twelve, where a restaurant visit belongs and what the average household spends per category: Which categories for a household budget?
Budget book or budget plan – what is the difference?
A budget book records what actually happened: every income, every expense, looking back. A budget plan sets in advance what may be spent in each category. Both belong together: only the book shows where the money goes – then the plan is worth something. The templates are built for both.
The printable monthly sheet has a field at the top for the budget of variable expenses and the balance at the bottom. In the Excel overview you see the actual totals per category; at the start of the month you write your budget next to them, at the end you see whether it fitted – the Excel version with a fixed budget column comes in October. Planning without recording gives you an estimate. Recording without planning gives you a chronicle. The combination is what consumer advice centres and debt counselling services have recommended for decades – and the reason the templates provide for both.
What you will see after the first month
I built huusbook because I wanted to know where our money goes – six people, one household, lots of small amounts. The first month with a budget book is almost always worse than expected, because suddenly everything becomes visible that used to pass as "oh, just that little bit". That is not a reason to stop – it is the reason it works.
The first number I look at is the fixed-cost ratio: how much of the income is gone before the month has even started? The second is the largest variable category – for us that is Groceries & Household. Everything else comes later. Enter really everything for two months in a row – only then does an honest picture emerge. How we do it with four kids is in the DeepDive.
When the spreadsheet is no longer enough
Paper wins at getting started, the spreadsheet wins at evaluating. At some point both become tedious: receipt, laptop, type in a row. huusbook is the same budget book as an app for iPhone, iPad and Mac – the same logic as this template, categories fully adjustable, entered manually, with no access to your bank account, no ads, no cloud requirement. The basic version is free. If you stick with the spreadsheet, you still get everything here: no newsletter, no email address, no account.
For iPhone, iPad and Mac · free · no bank connection
Frequently asked questions about the household budget template
Is the household budget template really free?
Yes. The Excel file and the PDF sheets cost nothing; there is no email requirement, no sign-up and no advertising in the file. You may pass the template on, including to advice centres or colleagues.
Does the template work in Numbers and Google Sheets?
Yes. The .xlsx file opens in Excel, Apple Numbers and Google Sheets; the dropdowns and the sum formulas work in all three. A copy link for Google Sheets comes with the Excel page in October.
What belongs in a household budget book?
All income and all expenses – with date, amount and category. Fixed costs such as rent, insurance and subscriptions once a month, variable expenses such as groceries or leisure continuously. Loans and savings get their own rows because neither is an expense in the strict sense.
What are variable expenses?
Expenses whose amount you influence during the month: groceries, eating out, clothing, leisure, transport. Rent or insurance are fixed – they are set before the month begins.
Why keep a household budget book at all?
Because estimates are almost always wrong. Only after four to eight weeks of real entries do you know where the money actually goes – and only then can anything be changed sensibly.
Budget book or budget plan – do I need both?
The budget book records actual values, the budget plan sets targets. The printable monthly sheet has a budget field and the balance; in the Excel overview you see the actual totals per category and write the budget next to them.
Are budgeting apps safe?
What matters is whether an app demands access to your bank account. huusbook does not: you enter manually, the data stays on your device, and the App Store shows the label "Data Not Collected".
Stephan Beau · founder of huusbook · Flensburg, northern Germany · Last updated: