If you want to create a budget and share it with your roommates, Google Sheets is a great solution. Use a template or create a budget from scratch, then share it so you can all work on it together.
Use a Google Sheets budget template
Thanks to its templates, Google Sheets allows you to easily establish a monthly or annual budget. On the main page, select Template Gallery at the top of the page.
Google Sheets Template Gallery
In the Personal section, you will find Monthly Budget and Yearly Budget options. Pick one and it will open right up for you to get started.
Google Sheets Budget Templates
How to sum in Google Sheets? – 4 methods
Monthly Budget Template
The monthly budget template has sheet tabs for entering transactions as they occur and then viewing a summary of those transactions.
Google Sheets Monthly Budget Summary
When entering your income and expenses, you can select a category from the drop-down list. This allows the summary sheet to give you an overview of where your money is coming from and where it is going.
Google Sheets monthly budget transactions
You can also take advantage of the Planned and Actual features of the model to see how well you estimate your monthly budget.
Google Sheets Monthly Budget Income and Expense Summary
Annual budget template
Similar to the template above, the annual budget template visualizes your income and expenses throughout the year. You have separate tabs for income and expenses, as well as a summary tab to view the entire year.
Google Sheets Annual Budget Spending
All you have to do is enter the amounts in the categories provided for the inflows and outflows of money. Rather than getting a detailed monthly view by entering transactions as you go, you enter amounts for the month.
Google Sheets Annual Budget Revenue
This template allows you to see the big picture as the year progresses.
Google Sheets Annual Budget Summary
Use a third-party budget template
If you are looking for a different type of budget template, you can opt for a third-party template. Vertex42 offers free Google Sheets templates for family, personal, project, and weekly budgets. Let’s see one.
This family budget planner template is a good option to see everyone’s income and expenses at a glance.
Vertex42 Family Budget Planner
The “Income” section includes spaces for wages, interest, dividends, and gifts, regardless of where the money comes from.
Vertex42 Family Budget Planner Income
You can then use the Savings section for money you want to set aside for emergencies, retirement, or investments.
Then move on to the expense sections, which are divided by type. So you have domestic expenses, children, daily life, transport, health, etc.
Vertex42 Family Budget Planner: Savings and Expenses
To see how the money is flowing, you have a nice summary section at the top, with totals, net, and spending and saving balances.
Summary of the Vertex42 Family Budget Planner
Check out the Help tab for tips on how to get started with this helpful family budget planner template.
Create a budget from scratch
If after looking at Google Sheets and third-party templates you can’t find one that suits your needs, you can create one from scratch. Google Sheets offers useful functions for adding income and expenses, as well as subtracting amounts for remaining money.
While there are several ways to set up your budget sheet, depending on the type of items you want to track, you can create a simple income and expense budget sheet for your household or family. Select a blank sheet, then give it a name.
Naming a Google Sheet
For a monthly budget, write the months on a line at the top of the sheet. You can then use an income section with the types of income listed in the first column and an expense section with those types in the first column.
Income, expenses and month in one sheet
At the bottom of each section, you can add totals. Select the cell where you want to get the total expenses, click the Functions button on the toolbar, then choose “Sum”.
Sum from the Functions drop-down menu
Select the cell range for the total and press Enter or Return. You can use the fill handle to drag the formula to the remaining cells on the right. Then do the same for the expense section.
SUM function for total revenue
If you wish, you can subtract the total expenses from the total income, at the very bottom of the sheet. Select the cell where you want to get this difference and enter the subtraction formula. In our case, this formula is:
=B7-B14
Subtraction formula for remaining money
You can then see how much money you have left at the end of each month.
If you want more details about your income and expenses, you can also add totals for each row. For example, you can see the total salary amount that increases throughout the year. You can also add sections for savings and investments or multiple sections for different types of expenses.
Revenue totals for a line
Since you’re creating this budget from scratch, you can make it as detailed as you want. The basic functions of Google Sheets can help you perform the calculations you need.
Share the budget
Whichever option you choose to create your budget in Google Sheets, sharing is simple. You can give those you share access to edits, which is handy so they can add their own amounts.
If you prefer, you can simply give them access to the budget.
Select the Share button at the top right of the workbook and enter email addresses or contact names. On the right, use the drop-down menu to grant permissions to the sheet for each person.
Sharing permissions in Google Sheets
If you want, you can add a message, click “Send”, and the people you share your sheet with will receive an email with a direct link to the sheet.
Share option with message
Tracking your budget is important for good financial management. With Google Sheets, you can create a budget in minutes.
For other ways to use Google Sheets, see also how to create your own calendar!