Dave Ramsey Monthly Budget Excel Spreadsheet
UPDATE! 12-17-2008
I have a newer version of the spreadsheet here that tracks the whole year (not just a single month) with budget savings tracking and end of year summary. Please check out the new post angus65.com/dave-ramsey/dave-ramsey-monthly-budget-2/ when you are finished reading this post.
You can Download the spreadsheet from here
My wife and I recently completed Dave Ramsey's 13 week Financial Peace University course.
In our 14 years of marriage, this was the first time that we have successfully created a budget and stuck to it. I think the reasons for all the past failures stem from the fact that we would try to create 1 budget that we would try to live on every single month. That worked fine until life smacked us around, throwing the budget completely out of whack.
The difference with Dave's plan is that we create a new budget every single month. We spend our paychecks on paper BEFORE we actually get them. Dave's budget is what he calls a ZERO based budget, which means at the top of the budget form you put your income and then you start Allocating money to your categories until you have allocated every dollar, and are left with ZERO at the bottom of the form.
I would highly recommend to anyone that wanted to get on a budget to use this method, as it is the only one that has ever worked for us.
You can download Dave's Paper based budget form here... <GET DAVE'S BUDGET FORM>
The only problem I have had with using the paper form is that it can take some time doing the "Corrections" all the way down the form when I found out I had run out of money before I ran out of things to pay. In this scenario you have to make some adjustments to amounts higher up in the form and that would require that you redo all of the calculations. This can be time consuming.
So being the nerd that I am (Dave's word, there are nerds and free spirits, take the class and you will understand) I have created an Excel Spreadsheet that duplicates Dave's form exactly (I did not want to change anything) but allows me to make changes to my allocations quickly.
CAUTION:
Please, Please, Please Use Dave's paper based form for at least one month (two pay periods) before using my spreadsheet. I say this because I am a deep believer in what Dave says about finances being 80% behavior and 20% knowledge. You have to change your behavior about money, and if you think that just by using some fancy spreadsheet you will FIX your money problems you will have missed boat. In Fact please take Dave's FPU class before using this spreadsheet and you will get even more benefit from it.
CAUTION:
OK now onto the spreadsheet. You can Download the spreadsheet from here
I have password protected the worksheet to prevent me from making any accidental changes. If you would like to change the worksheet you will first need to unprotect it. The password is "pass"
--Chris
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE.
I have a newer version of the spreadsheet here that tracks the whole year (not just a single month) with budget savings tracking and end of year summary. Please check out the new post angus65.com/dave-ramsey/dave-ramsey-monthly-budget-2/
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Comments
Kern on on 2.14.2008 at 10:11 AM
Chris, I did something very similar after my wife and I attended FPU. And basically for the same reasons. I love being able to adjust things on the fly if necessary without having to totally write everthing out again. I did mine in Numbers (Apple's answer to Excel). I also included an additional sheet which shows our savings and checking balances and what amounts in those accounts are allocated to which budget items. I haven't automated as much as you have, but I hope to use some of your ideas to beef up my budget spreadsheet.
Cynthia on on 2.17.2008 at 1:32 PM
Thank you for sharing this spreadsheet. It will get me off to a great place to start. Can't get with the paper thing, as I'm an IT person.
Cynthia
Scott Holmes on on 2.20.2008 at 11:40 AM
Thanks for sharing the spend plan. Where I have always struggled is the best way to record actual monthly expenditures. Do you just replace the budgeted amount with the actual during the month?
Carolyn Hernandez on on 7.21.2008 at 6:09 PM
Help!! I need more info on Dave Ramsey's monthly budget.
Chris on on 8.26.2008 at 10:59 AM
Carolyn, In what way do you need help?
Amanda on on 8.30.2008 at 12:16 PM
I came across your spreadsheet and I am VERY excited (you saved me hours of work) however, the password to unlock it isn't working.
Chris on on 9.01.2008 at 9:14 PM
Amanda,
Thanks for catching this. I did not realize that the password is Case-Sensitive. It should be "pass" and I have updated this post to reflect this. Thanks Again.
gary on on 9.16.2008 at 6:12 PM
when I download the spreadsheet, it will not print. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.
Andrew on on 9.30.2008 at 9:07 PM
Gary,
First highlight cells A1:R112 and click File > Print Area > Set Print Area. Then go to File > Page Setup and reduce all four margins to 0.25. Then on the Page tab > Scaling, set fit to 1 page wide and 3 pages tall. Then click print. Hope that's what you meant.
Chris,
This spreadsheet is very good. Thanks for all the work!
Andrew
Chris on on 10.02.2008 at 6:57 AM
Andrew,
Thanks for helping me out. I'm glad you like the spreadsheet. I am in the process of adding another one that has 12 tabs on it, so we can fit a whole year in one file. When I finish this I will make another post and keep both files available.
brady on on 11.05.2008 at 7:20 AM
Just what I need. I'm a single parent with the need to really watch what I spend. Would you please notify me when the 12 month sheet is available? Thank you, Thank you, so much! Brady
Susan on on 11.08.2008 at 10:42 AM
Hi Chris,
Thanks so much for sharing this. I read Total Financial Makeover, and tried to use Quicken to set up a budget, but like you said, it's never the same every month?
Susan
Brent on on 11.19.2008 at 9:39 PM
Thanks for this! We had our own version of the form we adapted into word, and this makes the process even easier.
Ashley on on 12.08.2008 at 8:51 PM
I knew there must be something like this out there. This is better than what I was about to attempt myself. Thank you for posting!!
Jason on on 12.19.2008 at 10:25 AM
Very nice job! I'm an IT guy, but definitely not an Excel pro. Thank you very much for sharing this!
Karen on on 12.25.2008 at 12:17 AM
thank you for posting this. i just started a new job and am working on the debt snowball so i can be debt free.
Karen on on 12.25.2008 at 12:17 AM
thank you for posting this. i just started a new job and am working on the debt snowball so i can be debt free.
Shonda on on 1.04.2009 at 1:56 PM
This information is so helpful! I am trying to rebuild my path to a shackle free financial budget. So Again, I thank you for providing your info. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to attend the information session/purchase the kits, but hopefully if I try this program, maybe soon in the future I can attend one of his sessions. This really helps. Thanks!!!
Shonda on on 1.04.2009 at 1:56 PM
This information is so helpful! I am trying to rebuild my path to a shackle-free financial budget. So Again, I thank you for providing your info. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to attend the information session/purchase the kits, but hopefully if I try this program, maybe soon in the future I can attend one of his sessions. This really helps. Thanks!!!