Monthly Budget Spreadsheet | Zero Based Budget by Paycheck Planner, Biweekly Bill Tracker (Excel + Google Sheets)

Give every dollar a job, and know which paycheck pays which bill.

This is a zero-based monthly budget that actually does the math. List your paychecks with their pay dates, plan your bills and goals until "Left to assign" reads $0, and assign each line to the paycheck that pays it. The sheet shows what each paycheck covers, what is left until the next one, and warns you when a bill is due before the payday you gave it.

Then just log what you spend. Spent, left and status fill in for every line, and the dashboard and full-year view update themselves.


WHAT YOU GET

- Zero-based budget: "Left to assign" counts down to $0 as you plan
- Budget by paycheck: what each paycheck pays, and what is left over
- A heads-up when a bill is due before the paycheck you assigned it to
- Spent, left and status for every line (over budget turns red)
- Dashboard: income, spent, left, saving rate and a chart by group
- 50/30/20 check: needs, wants, savings and debt as a % of income
- Year at a glance: every month by group, from your own transactions


WHAT'S INSIDE (7 tabs)

1. Start Here - plain-English setup in a few minutes
2. Setup - the month, up to 6 paychecks or income sources, your spending groups
3. Budget - up to 40 lines: group, type, due day, planned amount, paycheck
4. Paychecks - what each paycheck covers, left over, and a bill-by-bill grid
5. Transactions - log spending and income with a dropdown (500 rows)
6. Dashboard - month totals, chart by group, 50/30/20 check
7. Year - all 12 months by group, income minus spending


HOW IT WORKS

1. Add your paychecks for the month: pay date and take-home amount.
2. Plan every bill and goal and pick the paycheck that pays it, until Left to assign is $0.
3. Log what you spend. Everything else updates.

Weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly or monthly pay all work: just list each paycheck that lands in the month.


EXAMPLE (included as sample data)

$4,600 income from two paychecks and a side gig. 26 budget lines, every dollar assigned. By the end of the sample month: $3,527 spent, $1,073 still in the budget, 22% going to savings and debt, and dining out flagged $22 over.


WHAT YOU RECEIVE

- One .XLSX workbook (Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer, Windows or Mac)
- Works in Google Sheets: upload it to Google Drive and open it, everything recalculates
- A one-page Quick Start Guide (PDF)

No macros, no add-ons, no subscription. Instant download.


GOOD TO KNOW

- This is a digital file. Nothing will be shipped.
- Use the same file all year: change the month on Setup and keep logging. Or save a copy for each month.
- Rename the spending groups and budget lines to fit your life.
- Amounts are in dollars, but the math works in any currency.
- This is a planning tool, not financial advice.

Questions? Send a message any time.