Cash Envelope Budget Planner Spreadsheet

About this template

This cash envelope budget spreadsheet gives you envelope budgeting without carrying actual cash around. You fill twenty envelopes each month, log each purchase once, and see straight away which envelopes are healthy, which are nearly empty and which have run over.

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).

The dashboard

Pick the full year or any month and the envelopes, cards and charts all follow. Nothing on it is typed; it fills itself from what you enter.

• Put in: the cash that went into the envelopes, with a mini chart by month
• A row of envelopes, each one filled to what is left in it
• Put in against spent: spent, unspent and anything over for each envelope
• Month by month: what the envelopes spent against what went in
• How many envelopes ran out in each month
• Paid in cash: how much of your spending really came out of the cash
• Cash or card: the share of each envelope paid in cash and on a card
• A top up list of what to put back in each envelope before next month
• The envelopes that go over most often

Envelopes and sinking funds

There are twenty envelopes, each filled and spent and each marked healthy, nearly empty or overspent. Next to them sit twenty-five sinking funds, each showing the months to go, so the bigger costs you see coming are saved for a little at a time. It works as an envelope budget and a savings tracker in the same workbook.

Twenty-three connected tabs

Everything reads from one transaction list, so nothing is typed twice and there are no pivot tables to refresh. Your monthly budget and the year view always agree, and every envelope doubles as an expense tracker for its category.

• 2,000 transaction rows and 40 categories, all renameable
• Budgets, variances, totals and percentages calculated for you
• Over-budget and overdue amounts change color on their own
• Dropdown lists that grow as you add accounts and categories
• Charts that redraw from your own numbers, not pictures

A filled-in copy to learn from

Alongside the blank workbook you get a full demo year you can click through, so you can see every tab working before you enter your own money. Both come in Excel and in Google Sheets.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365, on Windows and Mac, and LibreOffice. No Microsoft 365 subscription needed.
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook, not a PDF with a link in it.
• No dynamic arrays, no macros, no add-ins and no bank connection

What you download

• The Excel workbook, filled with a worked example
• The same workbook, blank and ready for your own numbers
• The instruction guide, with one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready as soon as payment clears. The template is for personal use on your own devices; please do not share or resell the files. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work in Excel and Google Sheets?

Yes. The Excel workbook runs in Excel 2016 or later on Windows and Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions for a free Google account.

Do I have to use real cash?

No. The envelopes work whether you pay in cash or by card, and the dashboard shows the share of each envelope paid each way.

How many envelopes and sinking funds are there?

Twenty envelopes, each marked healthy, nearly empty or overspent, and twenty-five sinking funds that show the months to go.

How do I know what to put back in each envelope?

The dashboard has a top up list showing what to put back in each envelope before next month.

Can I rename the envelopes?

Yes. The workbook has 40 categories and every one can be renamed, and the dropdown lists grow as you add more.