·5 min read
Free Budget Template (Spreadsheet + App Alternative)
A free budget template needs just four rows: income, fixed costs, savings, and flexible spending. Fill in your monthly numbers, subtract costs and savings from income, and what's left is what you can safely spend. Copy the layout below into any spreadsheet — or skip the maintenance and let an app track it live.
The simplest budget template
Forget 40-row spreadsheets. This four-part layout captures everything that matters and takes two minutes to fill in.
| Row | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly income | All after-tax income | $3,400 |
| Fixed costs | Rent, bills, subscriptions | $1,800 |
| Savings | Pay yourself first | $400 |
| Flexible spending | Income − fixed − savings | $1,200 |
How to use it
- Copy the four rows into Google Sheets, Excel, or Numbers.
- Enter your real numbers for the current month.
- Divide flexible spending by the days left to get your daily gap.
- Update it whenever you spend so the flexible number stays honest.
Where spreadsheets fall short
- They don't update themselves — you have to log every purchase by hand.
- They're hard to check on your phone, where you actually spend.
- One missed entry and the numbers quietly drift out of date.
A faster app alternative
Power Gap is the same idea without the manual upkeep. Log expenses by voice or a tap and it instantly shows how much you have left to spend — for today, this week, or this month. No bank login, private by design, stored in your own iCloud.