Of my five kids, three are now adults. One is about to move out. I keep asking myself if I’ve truly prepared her to manage her money. As both a parent and an educator, I know our ultimate goal is helping kids grow into successful adults. I’ve had students create budgets in math class before, but now I see those projects didn’t go far enough. They were shallow exercises, disconnected from the daily realities of spending and saving. Even with my own children, I never taught them how to really budget. When see how often Chipotle bags stack up in the trash, I realize we should have had this conversation years ago. It’s time we give students tools that work, starting with a free budget template they can use and understand.
Budgeting as a Life Skill
Students need more than just math skills. They also need practical skills that help them succeed in life. Budgeting teaches them how to solve problems, make informed decisions, and take responsibility for their finances. These lessons apply in every part of life. A strong budget project prepares students for real situations they will experience in college, at work, and in everyday life. I use Tiller to manage my own budget because I like the flexibility of working in a spreadsheet. It lets me customize everything to fit my financial goals and makes the data easy to understand. Whether students use the budget template in Tiller, find a free template online, or build their own spreadsheet, they need to know what makes a budget template useful.
What Makes a Good Spreadsheet Budget Template?
A good budget spreadsheet does more than hold numbers. It organizes information in a way that helps the user make better financial choices. A strong template shows income, spending, and savings clearly. It updates totals automatically and includes visual elements like charts to highlight patterns. Pie charts can show where money is going, while line graphs can reveal spending trends over time. A quality spreadsheet is also easy to customize, so students can adjust categories or goals as needed. Most importantly, it supports reflection and decision-making by helping students understand not just what they spent, but why.
Free Budget Templates
Have students check out some of these free templates to determine what they notice makes a great budget template, or what weaknesses there might be.
Creating Your Own Free Budget Template
There are plenty of budget spreadsheets online that students can copy or download. However, nothing builds understanding quite like starting from scratch. Creating a budget from a blank spreadsheet teaches students how each piece fits together. It also builds spreadsheet fluency, which is a valuable academic and life skill.
Encourage students to use either Google Sheets or Excel. Both platforms allow the same basic functionality. If your students have Chromebooks or Google accounts, Google Sheets will likely be more accessible and easier to share.
Step 1: Build a Categories Sheet as the Foundation
Begin by creating a new spreadsheet in Google Sheets or Excel. Label the first tab “Categories”. This sheet lays the groundwork for the budget and becomes the reference point for other parts of the spreadsheet, like the transactions and summary sheets.
In column A, title the header “Category” in Row 1. Under that, list all income and expense categories. Encourage students to divide the sheet into two parts: income at the top and then expenses below.
Rather than just throwing terms like “Bills” or “Stuff” onto the sheet, have students research which categories people commonly use in real budgets. This helps them think more intentionally. Students should create categories that are specific and actionable. Instead of “Miscellaneous,” encourage more useful labels like “School Supplies” or “Snacks.”
In column B, add the header “Type”. Each row should either say “Income” or “Expense” to distinguish which categories bring in money and which spend it. This distinction will be helpful when creating charts and summaries later.
In column C, label it “Budgeted Amount”. Students will enter the amount they plan to spend (or earn) for each category during the month. This is their financial plan.
In column D, label it “Actual Amount”. As they track spending or income over time, they will update this column with real data.
In column E, title it “Difference”. Students should use a simple formula to calculate the variance: =D2-C2 and drag it down for all categories. This column tells them how well they stuck to their budget.
Explain that this sheet is the core reference. In a more advanced system, they might pull data from a Transactions sheet and use functions like SUMIF() or QUERY() to populate the Actual column. But for a basic version, they can manually enter amounts into the Actual column each week.
Step 2: Create a Transactions Sheet to Log Income and Expenses
After students set up their Categories sheet, they can add a new tab in their spreadsheet and name it “Transactions.” This sheet acts like a logbook, where they record every instance of money earned or spent. In Row 1, they should label five columns: Date, Description, Amount, Category, and Type.
Each row beneath the header represents one transaction. In the Date column, they record the day of the transaction. In Description, they write a short note about what the money was for, such as “grocery store” or “tutoring paycheck.” The Amount column holds the dollar value. For expenses, they should use a negative number. For income, they use a positive number.
The Category column must match a name listed in the Categories sheet. To help with consistency, students can create a dropdown menu using Data Validation. In Google Sheets, they select the column, go to Data > Data Validation, and choose “Dropdown (from a range),” selecting the Category names from the other sheet. In Excel, the setup is similar but uses the List option under Data Validation.
In the Type column, students enter either “Income” or “Expense” to match the type listed in the Categories sheet. This helps when they want to filter or summarize data later.
Once students have the structure in place, they can add some example transactions to see how it works. For instance, they might enter their monthly paycheck as a positive value under the “Paycheck” category, or log an expense like “Fast food” as a negative amount under “Eating Out.” They should keep adding transactions as the month goes on, so their budget becomes a living document.
This Transactions sheet becomes the engine behind the budget. While the Categories sheet shows the plan, the Transactions sheet shows reality. When paired together, they help students see where they are meeting goals and where they need to adjust.
Step 3: Link the Categories Sheet to the Transactions Sheet
Now that students have recorded transactions and set up budget plans, they can make the spreadsheet do some of the work. Instead of manually typing actual amounts into the Categories sheet, students can use a formula that pulls the totals directly from the Transactions sheet. This makes the budget more accurate and less time-consuming to update.
In the Categories sheet, go to the Actual Amount column. Instead of typing numbers in by hand, students can use the SUMIF formula to total amounts from the Transactions sheet that match each category.
For example, if a student’s first expense category is “Groceries” and that category name is in cell A5, they would enter this formula in the Actual Amount column:
=SUMIF(Transactions!D:D, A5, Transactions!C:C)
This tells the spreadsheet: look through column D in the Transactions sheet (where the categories are), find any row that matches the value in A5, and add up the amounts from column C (the Amounts).
They can copy this formula down the column so each category in the Categories sheet pulls its total automatically from the data in Transactions.
If they’ve labeled income categories in the Categories sheet as well, the same formula works for those. It totals all positive amounts logged under each income category.
Now, when students add a new transaction, whether it’s a paycheck or a purchase, it will immediately show up in their budget summary. They won’t need to retype anything in the Categories sheet. This connection between the two sheets turns their spreadsheet into a functioning budget system.
Once this formula is working, revisit the Difference column. If students entered it earlier as =Actual - Budgeted, they can now observe the formulas update in real time based on the data from their Transactions sheet.
This dynamic link mirrors how real-world tools function. It also reinforces the value of organized data entry and the power of spreadsheet formulas to automate and simplify work.
Step 4: Create a Monthly Summary Tab to View the Big Picture
A Monthly Summary sheet helps students step back and see how their finances add up over time. This page pulls together the key totals from their Categories and Transactions sheets so they can reflect on their overall income, spending, savings, and progress toward goals.
Start by adding a new tab to the spreadsheet and name it “Summary” or “Monthly Overview.” In this sheet, students will collect data for total income, total expenses, total savings, and net difference (what’s left over at the end of the month). You can also include charts and reflections here to reinforce understanding.
Begin with a row for the month and a space to write or select which month the data reflects. If they use a date column in their Transactions sheet, you can guide them to use the MONTH() and YEAR() functions or filters to limit their data to just one month. For a simpler version, students can duplicate the spreadsheet each month and treat each file as its own monthly snapshot.
In the next rows, students should include four labeled items:
Total Income
Total Expenses
Total Savings
Net Difference
They can use SUMIF() formulas again, this time looking at the Type column in the Transactions sheet.
To calculate Total Income, they can enter:
=SUMIF(Transactions!E:E, “Income”, Transactions!C:C)
To calculate Total Expenses:
=SUMIF(Transactions!E:E, “Expense”, Transactions!C:C)
This formula will return a negative number since expenses are recorded as negatives. For display purposes, they might use ABS() (absolute value) to show it as a positive number.
If they have a Savings category, they can calculate savings separately using:
=SUMIF(Transactions!D:D, “Savings”, Transactions!C:C)
To calculate Net Difference (how much they saved or overspent), subtract expenses from income:
=SUM(Transactions!C:C)
This sums all transactions. If the number is positive, they ended the month with money left over. If it’s negative, they spent more than they earned.
Encourage students to add simple visualizations. A bar chart comparing income and expenses can help them understand where their money goes. A pie chart showing category percentages for expenses can provide a clear snapshot of spending habits.
This Summary sheet also gives students a perfect space for written reflection. They can add questions like:
Did I stay within my budget this month?
What spending surprised me?
What should I change next month?
Having students return to this summary regularly builds reflection into their budgeting routine. It helps shift the mindset from tracking money reactively to planning ahead and adjusting intentionally.
So Many Budget Templates Online
Searching Google Images for “spreadsheet budget template” returns a plethora of options. Use these to help inspire how your students will format their budget template.
Step 7: Automate Transaction Entry in Your Spreadsheet
Manually typing every expense takes time and energy. It’s one of the main reasons people stop budgeting. Students may build a spreadsheet and never touch it again once they realize they have to enter every transaction themselves. Automation solves this problem by pulling in transactions directly from their financial accounts.
Once students understand how a budget spreadsheet works, they can connect it to a live transaction feed. This lets them keep the structure and logic of their budget while removing the repetitive task of typing each purchase.
Try Using Tiller to Automatically Import Transactions
Automation starts by connecting a spreadsheet to a live transaction feed. One of the easiest ways to do this is through Tiller, a service that links bank accounts to Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel and updates a transaction log automatically. Tiller is free for students, so it makes sense to take advantage of it once they understand how a budget spreadsheet works.
Tiller is Free for Students
When students have bank, credit card, student loan, investment, etc… accounts they will want to track them all. Tiller provides students a free student plan to get started with budgeting and understanding their finances.
Getting Started with Tiller
Start by going to tiller.com and creating an account. Note: for underage students this should be done with a parent or guardian. After signing in you’ll connect your financial accounts such as bank, credit cards, student loan, etc..
Then choose Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. This will launch a template prompting you to install the Tiller Money Add-on. This can be accessed from the Extensions menu in Google Sheets or the Data tab in Excel.
When someone installs the Tiller extension and connect their accounts, Tiller creates a sheet named Transactions. This sheet is where all imported financial activity appears. It includes columns like Date, Description, Amount, and Category. These update automatically every day, without students needing to do anything.
If your budget spreadsheet you’re currently using has a tab named “Transactions,” rename it since Tiller uses this tab name to know where to automatically import transactions.
In any spreadsheet, your sheet tab names must be unique.
Incorporating Your Budget Template
Tiller is connected in the spreadsheet you created from the Tiller console. You can import or move sheets between spreadsheets by clicking on the sheet tab and choosing Copy To -> Existing Spreadsheet. You may want to at this point rename your sheet tabs as they may say “Copy.” Simply double click on the tab to rename it.
Be sure that the Transactions tab is Tiller sheet.
Directions for Using Tiller in Your Own Template
The Tiller Community is an excellent resource for connecting with other Tiller users who are using custom templates. The “Show & Tell” topic for Google Sheets has a Builder’s Guide for creating your own custom template that works with Tiller. The Microsoft Excel “Show & Tell” category also contains custom made templates by community members.
Whether starting from the Foundation Template or not, Tiller spreadsheets leverage a predictable architecture based on four core sheets with specific sheet names and single-row headers with expected column names.
- Transactions
- Balance History
- Categories
- Accounts
Your sheets with these same names should be renamed.
Referencing the Tiller Core Sheets
Start with your Categories sheet. In the column where you normally track actual spending, you can use a SUMIF formula to pull values from the live Transactions sheet. If the category name is in cell A2, your formula might look like this:
=SUMIF(Transactions!D:D, A2, Transactions!C:C)
This adds all amounts from the Tiller Transactions sheet where the category matches the value in A2.
To filter by month, add a month selector to your Summary or Dashboard tab. In cell B1, list the current month name, like “May”. Then use a SUMIFS formula combined with TEXT() to pull totals for that specific month:
=SUMIFS(Transactions!C:C, Transactions!D:D, A2, TEXT(Transactions!A:A, “mmmm”), B1)
This formula uses the TEXT() function to extract the month name from each date in the Transactions sheet. The "mmmm" part tells Google Sheets to format the date as the full month name, such as January, February, or March. If you want to use abbreviated names like Jan or Feb, change it to "mmm" instead.
The formula then compares that month name to whatever is in cell B1. This means that when you change the dropdown, your actual amounts, summaries, and charts will automatically update.
You can apply the same logic to calculate total income and expenses. In your Monthly Summary tab, use:
=SUMIFS(Transactions!C:C, Transactions!E:E, “Income”, TEXT(Transactions!A:A, “mmmm”), B1)
=SUMIFS(Transactions!C:C, Transactions!E:E, “Expense”, TEXT(Transactions!A:A, “mmmm”), B1)
These formulas keep your spreadsheet layout the same but now make it work with live financial data. Charts, reflections, and dashboards you already created can stay in place. You just need to relink the formulas so they pull from the correct source.
Adapting an existing budget template for Tiller is about making small changes that create a big shift. You keep what makes your spreadsheet personal while connecting it to a system that keeps it current without manual entry.
Customize Your Dashboard with Live Data
If you downloaded a budget template that includes a dashboard, you can keep the layout and visual design while connecting it to the live data from Tiller. Most templates use static values or reference a manually updated Transactions sheet. After you activate Tiller, you need to update those references so your dashboard pulls data from the automated Transactions sheet Tiller provides.
Replace Static Values with Dynamic Formulas
Start by checking any dashboard cells that contain hardcoded totals or typed-in values. Replace those with formulas that calculate totals from Tiller’s Transactions sheet. For example, if your dashboard shows income for a specific month, use a formula like:
=SUMIFS(Transactions!C:C, Transactions!E:E, “Income”, TEXT(Transactions!A:A, “mmmm”), B1)
This formula adds income from the Transactions sheet for the selected month. Make sure cell B1 contains the month you want to analyze, using full names like “May” or “August.”
Do the same for expenses, savings, and any other totals shown on the dashboard. Update the source of each figure so the dashboard reflects live data.
Update Charts to Match the New Data Sources
If your dashboard includes a pie chart or bar chart showing category spending, check the data range. You probably need to adjust it so the chart uses the Actual Amounts from your Categories sheet. That sheet should already pull its data from the Tiller Transactions tab using SUMIF or SUMIFS. Once you point the chart to those values, it will update automatically as transactions come in.
Use a Month Dropdown to Filter Your Dashboard
Many templates include a separate tab for each month. With Tiller, you no longer need that structure. Instead, set up a dropdown menu where you select the month. Use the selected value in that cell (such as B1) to filter your dashboard formulas. This method keeps your spreadsheet cleaner and easier to manage.
Make sure all calculations for totals and charts include that cell reference instead of a hardcoded month name. For example, replace “May” with B1 in your formulas. This change allows your entire dashboard to shift based on one selection.
Remove or Replace Manual Input Areas
Review your dashboard for any sections that rely on manual entry. If you find totals typed into cells or copied from another tab, replace those with formulas that link to the Tiller-powered data. Your dashboard should respond to the real transactions that flow in every day, not just the ones you enter manually.
You can still keep personal notes or reflections in your dashboard. Just make sure the financial data updates automatically so your insights always match your actual spending.
By adapting your existing dashboard to use Tiller’s data, you gain the benefits of automation without losing the structure and design you liked in the original template. You make the dashboard smarter, faster, and more accurate while staying in control of how it looks and functions.
Google Sheets Budget Template
If you go to sheets.google.com you can access the Template Gallery to select “Monthly Budget.”
The easiest way to get a free budget template is to use the template gallery in Google Sheets.
Notice this comes with a “Transactions” tab. My first order of business is to rename that sheet since I want the Tiller “Transactions” tab.
I already have a Tiller Foundations Template spreadsheet setup. I want to send these sheets over to that spreadsheet.
Copying Transactions Sheet to Tiller Foundations
Since you need the 4 core sheets from the Tiller Foundations Template it is probably easier to copy these sheet templates over to the Tiller spreadsheet rather than the other way around, but that is really up to you. On the sheet tabs you want to move, click “Copy to.” -> “Existing Spreadsheet” and choose the Tiller Foundations Template. Be sure to rename the tabs once you copy them over to remove the “Copy of.”
Double Click to Understand Formulas
Within the copied sheets are formulas. You can view formulas by going to the View menu to show them or using control `. (The key to the left of the 1 key) to toggle showing formulas.
If you double click on a cell containing a formula, you can view the formula.
The tricky part can be decoding the formula to understand what it is referencing. If it is referencing another sheet in the formula, you need to determine if you can rewrite the formula to instead reference the Tiller Core sheets.
Chase Down Formula References
When I double click on the cell I see, in this case, that the formula is referencing I22. This also highlights I22 to make it easier to understand where this value is.
Double clicking on I22, it says “=K26″… the rabbit hole continues.
K26 is a sum of the actual spending per category.
In the case of this very specific template, the income categories are static. They are not referencing the income categories on the Categories sheet. I am going to delete these static categories and instead reference the list from my actual Categories sheet.
=FILTER(Categories!A:A, Categories!C:C = “Income”)
I notice B28 is similar except that it is a list of expenses. I used the same filter formula but edited the end to say =”Expense”
=FILTER(Categories!A:A, Categories!C:C = “Expense”)
References TemplateTransactions Sheet
Tiller has a transactions sheet, however you may like the visualization of the transactions sheet from the template. The TemplateSummary sheet I had copied over, references the TemplateTransactions sheet, so I am going to set that sheet up to reflect the transactions on the Transactions sheet.
Drop Down Categories
My categories are listed on the Categories sheet. I want to import these to be my dropdown. I highlight all of the cells with a dropdown and right click to select “Dropdown.”
Reviewing the data validation for the dropdown, I see it is referencing the old sheet name of “Summary” which I renamed to “TemplateSummary.” I will edit this so the sheet name matches. This fixes the dropdown errors, however, I still need to get the transactions to populate here.
Need a Month Dropdown
Missing from this basic template for Google Sheets is flexibility to reflect multiple months. I guess they want you to make a new template each month… So let’s add a drop down.
I notice that the first row of the templated sheet is giving me directions. Since this is not important to the functionality of the sheet, I am going to replace this with the options for Month. In A1 I typed the word “Month.” In B1 I un-merged the cells and merged cells B1 and C1 for a smaller dropdown. Right clicking and choosing “Dropdown” allowed me to enter the 12 months of the year.
The Tiller “Transactions” sheet has a column showing the month of the transaction. So we just need to reference this sheet to filter for the selected month.
The “Transactions” sheet has date in column B. Amount in column E. And Description in column C.
I want to filter for the 3 columns on the Transactions sheet and match it with the text in cell B1.
=FILTER(
{Transactions!B2:B, Transactions!E2:E, Transactions!C2:C},
TEXT(Transactions!I2:I, “mmmm”) = B1
)
