Zero-Based Budget Worksheet

Who this is for

A budget that finishes at nothing left over. You enter the income for the period, give every part of it a job on a line of its own, and the sheet shows what is still unassigned until that figure reaches zero. Spending is then recorded against each job as it happens.

People who find that money disappears without ever being spent on anything they chose, and households moving from a rough monthly plan to one where every line is deliberate.

What this helps you track

• The income for the period, entered once at the top
• Every job that income has been given, line by line
• How much is still unassigned — the figure the method drives to zero
• What was actually spent against each job, and what is left on it
• Which lines were over-assigned and which were under

How to use it

1. Write the period and the household at the top, and enter the income you are budgeting — money already received, not money hoped for.
2. List the jobs: bills, food, transport, debt payments, saving, and the ones that usually get forgotten. Give each a line and a category.
3. Put an assigned amount against each job until the unassigned figure in the summary reaches zero. If it goes negative you have assigned more than you have.
4. Record spending in the spent column through the period; the left column and the totals are worked out in the browser and the workbook.
5. When a line runs out, move money from another line rather than ignoring it, and change both assigned figures so the sheet still balances.
6. At the end of the period, start a fresh sheet using what this one showed about the lines that were always short.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What does zero-based mean?

That the income minus everything you have assigned comes to zero — not that you spend everything. Money assigned to saving or to a future bill is assigned, so the sheet counts it as having a job.

What if income arrives more than once in the period?

Enter the total for the period in the income field, or run a sheet per payment. If the amounts vary a lot, the irregular income budget planner is built for that and lists each payment as it lands.

What happens when a line goes over?

Nothing automatic. The left column shows a minus figure for that line, and you decide which other line gives up the difference. Changing both assigned amounts keeps the unassigned figure honest.

How is this different from the monthly budget spreadsheet?

The monthly sheet compares planned against actual and lets the plan total whatever it totals. This one starts from a fixed income and forces the assignments to add up to it, which is the whole of the method.