Cash Budget and Withdrawal Tracker Spreadsheet

About this template

This cash stuffing tracker is for anyone who fills a binder of cash sleeves on payday and has stood at a cash machine trying to work out which bills to ask for. Plan each sleeve once and the workbook tells you what is spent, what is left and exactly what to withdraw.

Paper envelopes cannot solve one problem: the cash has to come out of a machine in bills that exist. This file does that arithmetic for you.

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

Nothing on the dashboard is typed. Pick the whole binder or one sleeve and the cards, tiles and withdrawal slip follow.

• Cash in the binder: what went into the sleeves this month against your plan
• Every sleeve: spent, left and anything spent beyond the cash
• The binder: a tile per sleeve showing what is left, amber when nearly empty and red when empty
• Sleeves to watch: the six furthest in, marked over, empty, low or on track
• To draw out: the cash to ask the machine for, and how many bills that is
• The withdrawal slip: how many 50s, 20s, 10s and 5s, and whether they cover every sleeve
• Cash, month by month, where the cash goes by sleeve, and the six categories you paid for most in cash this year

What sets it apart

• A withdrawal slip: the count of each bill, what it comes to and what you are short by when amounts do not divide evenly
• A smallest bill per sleeve: groceries in fifties is a handful of bills, the same sleeve in fives is a thick stack, and this column decides which
• Used as a percentage, amber at 90%: so the sleeve about to run out shows up early in the month
• Room for 16 sleeves, each with a monthly amount, stuffed, spent and left, and what is left in the binder on the summary strip

Still a full budget underneath

Cash only covers the spending categories, so the envelope system sits inside a complete budget with eleven connected tabs: Start Here, Setup, Accounts, Income, Transactions, Binder, twelve monthly tabs that fill themselves from one transaction list, Sinking Funds for the costs cash cannot cover, Annual Summary, Expense Breakdown and Dashboard. The worked example has twelve sleeves, from groceries down to a small buffer, with part of the month already spent and a slip that says which bills to draw.

Light and dark editions

Every download includes a light edition and a dark edition. Every tab is restyled, not just the dashboard, and both use the same formulas. Each comes filled with a worked example and blank, in Excel and in Google Sheets, so your binder budget and cash envelope plan look the way you like. It suits cash stuffing alongside card spending and planned ATM withdrawals.

Works with

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

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. The template is for personal and business use on your own devices, so 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

Can I use it in Google Sheets as well as Excel?

Yes. You download Excel workbooks for Excel 2016 or later on Windows and Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to make your own copy in Google Sheets with a free Google account.

How does the withdrawal slip work?

Each sleeve has a smallest bill you are willing to use. The slip turns your sleeves into a count of 50s, 20s, 10s and 5s, and shows any shortfall when the amounts do not divide into those bills.

How many sleeves can I have?

Up to 16 sleeves, each with a monthly amount, what was stuffed, what was spent and what is left.

Can I track card spending too?

Yes. It is a full budget underneath, with transactions, twelve monthly tabs, sinking funds and an annual summary alongside the binder.

What is the difference between the light and dark editions?

Only the look. Both have the same tabs and formulas, and both are included in every download.