2027 Monthly Budget Spreadsheet, Paycheck by Paycheck, Zero-Based

A 2027 monthly budget you fill paycheck by paycheck. Assign each dollar of income to a category, then type what you actually spent. The dashboard compares income and expenses, category budget and actual, savings rate, and cash left after savings. A bills checklist sits beside the months and does not change those totals.

WHAT YOU GET
- HM-BUDGET_SAMPLE.xlsx. One .xlsx workbook with fictional sample numbers.
- HM-BUDGET_BLANK.xlsx. One .xlsx workbook. Amounts, dates, bills, and the household name are empty. Category names start filled in.
- HM-BUDGET_START-HERE.pdf. This guide is 5 pages. It includes the steps to open the workbook in Excel and the steps to open it in Google Sheets.
- README.txt. One plain-text file list and a short start.
- LICENSE.txt. One plain-text personal-use license.
- HM-BUDGET_All-files.zip. The zip holds the five files above and no other files.

The five files are one sample workbook, one blank workbook, one 5-page PDF, one readme, and one license.

INSIDE THE WORKBOOK
- 17 sheets: Start, Settings, Dashboard, Chart data, twelve month tabs (Jan through Dec), and Bills.
- Settings: household name, the year 2027, and 16 categories. Each group is Needs, Wants, Savings, or Debt payments. A 17th category row is flagged and left out.
- Each month: up to 4 paychecks plus other income. Assign each paycheck in its own column. Planned, actual, left to assign, left on that paycheck, expenses, savings, savings rate, and cash left after savings.
- Left to assign is income minus the dollars you assigned. Zero means every dollar of income you typed is assigned. It is a check on the numbers you type.
- Expenses are Needs, Wants, and Debt payments. Savings is separate. Cash left after savings is income minus expenses minus savings.
- A category with a blank group is labeled Ungrouped, counted with expenses, and flagged on the month row.
- A blank cell adds nothing. A typed zero is included. Text is flagged and left out. A negative number is flagged and left out.
- Savings rate is savings divided by income. It stays blank when income is blank or zero, or when savings is blank.
- A month with nothing typed stays blank. After you type income or an actual, a blank expense counts as zero in that cash left after savings.
- Dashboard: year income, year expenses, year savings, and cash left after savings on one row, then savings rate and left to assign. A month table and a category table (planned, actual, and left in plan).
- Three charts: cash flow by month and savings rate by month are clustered columns with a month name under each column. Category budget versus actual is a clustered bar chart with the category names. A blank month has no column. It is not drawn as zero. The charts read the Chart data sheet, which stays visible.
- Bills: up to 24 bills, with amount, due day, category, and a Yes cell for each month. A 25th row is flagged and left out. The checklist does not change the monthly totals.
- Debt payments is a budget line for an amount you plan to pay. The workbook does not compute interest or a payoff date.
- Yellow cells are the ones you type in. In Excel, grey cells are locked and there is no password. Excel blocks an edit to a grey cell until you use Review, then Unprotect Sheet. That is not a warning you can click through.
- Google Sheets does not keep that lock. Once the file is a Google Sheet, add a warning yourself, per sheet: Data, Protect sheets and ranges, Add a sheet or range, Sheet, Except certain cells (the yellow cells), Set permissions, Show a warning.
- Dates and amounts assume US settings: month/day/year, and currency with a dollar sign.
- The sample is fictional. Use the blank copy for your own numbers.

HOW IT WORKS
1. Download and unzip HM-BUDGET_All-files.zip.
2. Excel: open HM-BUDGET_BLANK.xlsx. If a bar says Protected View, choose Enable Editing. Type in the yellow cells.
3. Google Sheets on a computer: drive.google.com, New, File upload. Open the file. If Drive opened it as a Google Sheet, you are set. If it opens as an .xlsx in Office-compatibility mode, choose File, then Save as Google Sheets.
4. On Settings, type a household name if you want one. On a month tab, type each paycheck and assign it down that paycheck's column. Read Dashboard.

GOOD TO KNOW
- No macros.
- Made for Excel and Google Sheets. Apple Numbers has not been tested.
- Original spreadsheet. No clip art and no stock images.
- This is a digital download. Nothing will be shipped.
- Figures are the numbers you type. This is not financial or tax advice.
- Left in plan is planned minus actual. It is not a savings figure. The savings rate is savings divided by income on the numbers you type.

NEED HELP
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LICENSE
For your own personal use. Please do not resell, share, or redistribute the files.
Do not use them to train AI models.

Created with AI tools.