I'm so incredibly excited about today's 25 Days to a More Organized You project! My friend Cheryl from Beyer by Design has taken our family's monthly spreadsheet and put it together in a free printable version that you can download to work on at home, which will hopefully help keep your finances a wee bit more organized in 2014 (and trust me, when your finances are organized, everything else just seems to go a little bit smoother!)
Soooo many folks have asked for this, so I hope it helps you see how our family handles our monthly budget, and encourages you to get stay on a budget in 2014 too. Â Here are a few tips to get you started:
- We add a small amount of money each month to our checking account just to have extra savings (usually around $50.)
- Several of the accounts included in the budget are items that we plan for monthly, and then move once a month over to our savings account (you can see what our savings account spreadsheet looks like on the last page of the PDF.)
- We take our “useable” expenses out of our checking account twice a month on my husband's payday (this includes groceries, eating out, lunches, entertainment, etc.)
- We save all year long for “big” expenses ~ these include things like Christmas gifts, vacationing, homeowners association expenses, etc.
- On the last page of the PDF you'll see our savings account spreadsheet which includes what money is allocated in our savings account each month towards certain long term goals. Â This is my FAVORITE part of the spreadsheet as we can look back and see what we've saved, and look forward to what's coming in the future!
Remember this is just a look at how our family handles budgeting, and may be different than what you do however this has worked well for us. (I think my husband's kept it up for 14 years now!) I'd love to hear how your family handles your budget, and if you have any questions, leave a comment to share ~ I hope it helps you get an idea of where to start if you're new to budgeting!
 Go HERE to print yours.
Also print these free printables while you're at it:
- Free Grocery Stock Up Price List when you “like” PPP on Facebook
- Free Freezer Printable when you sign up for free PPP daily emails
Looking for more ways to get organized in 2014? See the first three days of our 25 Days to a More Organized You Series . . .
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Shannon says
Hello, I am loving this form. I wondered if you had it as a excel form that would allow me to make changes easy.
Melodie (Sunshine) Thomas says
Hi Laurie, I’ve been trying to print the freezer list, but the cook book keeps popping up. Could you provide a link to the freezer list? Thanks Melodie (Sunshine) Thomas
Laurie says
Sending you an email right now Melodie! 🙂
Tiffany says
Do you happen to have this in an editable version?
F. wilson says
how am i able to look at your budget? Just curious as to what others look like compared to my own! Thank You in advance
Janice Postupack Sain says
Costco that is
Janice Postupack Sain says
Cost so are much larger and a better deal
Amyra Lyddah says
thanks for the share….
Tracy Andrews says
I love this budget form! My husband and I are going to seriously work on eliminating our debt. You said that you withdraw your useable expense twice a month. Are you paying your bills in cash versus writing a check or online bill pay? We are trying to use our checking account less, but I just don’t know what to do about those bills that are set each month.
Laurie says
Hi Tracy! We withdraw cash for our groceries, eating out, and other miscellaneous expenses (i.e. kids school or extracurricular activities, unexpected birthday gifts or anything else.) We do still pay the rest of our bills out of our checking account, but those are all listed in the budget so we know what to expect. Hope that helps! 🙂
Jamie Cyphers says
Thanks for sharing! I just snatched up a pair!