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How to Make a Budget Spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets (Step by Step)

From Chimera's shop · October 21, 2026 · 3 min read

A budget spreadsheet doesn't need to be clever. It needs to answer three questions every time you open it: how much came in, where it went, and how much is left. Here's how to build one in about 20 minutes that works the same in Excel and Google Sheets.

Step 1: Set up two tabs

Create a workbook with two sheets: Transactions (every dollar in or out, one row each) and Summary (the totals you actually look at). Keeping raw entries separate from the summary is what keeps the file from turning into a mess by month three.

Step 2: Build the Transactions sheet

Put these headers in row 1:

• Enter income as positive numbers and spending as negative numbers. One column of amounts is far easier to total than separate in/out columns.
• In E2, put =TEXT(A2,"yyyy-mm") and fill it down. It turns each date into a month label like 2026-10, which makes monthly totals easy.
• Turn the range into a table (Insert → Table in Excel, Format → Convert to table in Sheets) so new rows pick up the formulas automatically.

Step 3: Make categories a dropdown

Typos break totals ("Grocery" vs "Groceries"). On the Summary sheet, list your categories in a column: Income, Rent, Utilities, Groceries, Gas, Insurance, Subscriptions, Eating out, Savings, Other. Then select column C on Transactions and add data validation (Data → Data validation → List from a range) pointing at that list.

Step 4: The Summary sheet formulas

Put the month you're looking at in B1 (type 2026-10, formatted as text). Categories go down column A starting at A4, and next to each one, in B4:

=SUMIFS(Transactions!D:D, Transactions!C:C, A4, Transactions!E:E, $B$1)

That adds every amount in that category for that month. Fill it down. Then add a budget column (C) with what you planned to spend, and a remaining column (D):

=C4 + B4

(Spending is negative, so adding it to the budget gives what's left.) Finally, the three numbers at the top:

Step 5: Make overspending turn red

Select the Remaining column, then Conditional formatting → Format cells if less than 0 → red fill. Now you can see a blown category without reading a single number.

Step 6: A chart you'll actually look at

Select the category names and their spending (A4:B13), insert a bar chart, and sort by size. A bar chart beats a pie chart for budgets because you can compare categories at a glance.

Tips that keep a budget alive

• Enter transactions weekly, not daily. Ten minutes on Sunday is sustainable.
• Most banks export CSV. Paste the export into Transactions and add categories; don't retype.
• Budget irregular bills monthly. A $600 yearly insurance bill is $50 a month in a "Set aside" category.
• Keep last month. Changing B1 to an earlier month shows you any month instantly; you never need a new file.

Small business version

The same structure works for a business: rename categories to match your tax categories (Advertising, Supplies, Software, Contract labor, Meals), add a column for "Paid by" (card, cash, transfer), and you have a clean expense log your bookkeeper will thank you for.

Want it built for you instead? Chimera does spreadsheets: budgets, trackers, price lists and schedules with real formulas, delivered as an XLSX that opens in Excel or Google Sheets. Describe what you need; she quotes a fixed price and you see it before you pay.