ADHD Budget Planner Spreadsheet

About this template

This ADHD budget planner starts with the one question that matters most: how much is safe to spend today? Log a spend in about ten seconds, and a calm dashboard works out the rest and gives you one next step.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

Built around how money slips

Plenty of budgets called ADHD friendly are an ordinary budget in soft colors. This one is built differently. ADHD friendly here means these design choices; it is not medical help and does not claim to treat ADHD.

• Safe to spend today: one big number with a word (Plenty, Go gently, Pause), after the bills and savings still to come
• One next step: pay a late bill, log the last few days, or a note that you are on track
• A Pause List for impulse spending: wait 48 hours, 7 days or 30 days, then decide, and everything you skip adds up as money you kept
• Guilt-free fun money: a weekly amount that is yours, with what is left this week
• Forgiving: gaps in logging break nothing, and your income plan is used until you log a payday
• Gentle words, never shame: a missed week is okay

The dashboard

Pick this period or any earlier one and the whole page follows. Nothing on it is typed, and it prints on one page.

• Safe to spend today, what is left for the period and what is still to come
• Five cards: left this period, bills in the next 7 days, fun money left, no-spend days with your streak, and money kept
• Every category against its plan, anything over shown in soft red and in words
• Bills in the next 14 days, savings jars, subscriptions and your weekly check-in streak

Eleven connected tabs

• Setup: currency, budget period (monthly, every 2 weeks, weekly or by paycheck), up to 6 incomes and 12 categories, so it works as a paycheck budget too
• Quick Log: 1,500 lines of date, amount, what, category and paid from
• Bills: a bill tracker with due day, autopay, paid on and a status in words
• Pause List, Fun Money and Savings Jars (up to 8 goals with the month you get there)
• Debt: balance, interest, months to go and debt-free date
• Subscriptions: a subscription tracker with a cancel list and what cancelling keeps
• Money Check-in: five minutes a week, with a streak, plus Start Here and the Dashboard

Small things that make it an easy budget

Bills and subscriptions count on their own due days, so you never log them twice. Log a bill by its name and it is ticked paid; put a jar's name on a saving and it fills the jar. Formulas are locked (no password), and any currency symbol works.

Light and dark editions

Both editions come in every download, and every tab is drawn in both. They use the same formulas, so pick the one that is easier on your eyes. Each comes filled with a worked example and blank, in Excel and in Google Sheets.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer, on Mac or Windows
• Google Sheets with a free Google account
• No add-ins, no macros, no subscription and no bank connection

What you download

• Light edition: the Excel workbook filled with a worked example, and a blank one
• Dark edition: the same two files in the dark design
• The instruction guide, which has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (light and dark, filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. They are for personal use on your own devices, so please do not share or resell them. This spreadsheet is a tool, not financial advice. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Google Sheets instead of Excel?

Yes. You get Excel workbooks for Excel 2016 or newer on Mac or Windows, and the instruction guide has one-click links to copy the Google Sheets versions, light and dark, with a free Google account.

What happens if I forget to log for a few days?

Nothing breaks. Gaps in logging are fine, a blank date takes the one above, and the dashboard's next step may simply suggest logging the last few days.

How is safe to spend today worked out?

It takes what is left in the period after the bills and savings still to come, and shows one number with a word: Plenty, Go gently or Pause.

Can I budget by paycheck?

Yes. The budget period can be monthly, every 2 weeks, weekly or by paycheck, with up to 6 incomes.

Does it connect to my bank?

No. There is no bank connection. You log spends yourself on the Quick Log, which takes about ten seconds each.