Zero-Based Budget Dashboard Spreadsheet

About this template

This zero based budget spreadsheet helps you give every dollar a job before the month begins. You assign your income to categories until nothing is left over, then log each transaction once and watch whether every job was kept.

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

One dropdown sets the page to a month or the full year, and everything follows. Nothing here is typed; it fills itself from what you enter.

• Money in: income for the period, with the change and a twelve-month mini chart
• Left to assign: income minus every dollar assigned, where zero is the goal
• Every dollar by month: each month's income split into the job each dollar was given
• Twelve tiles showing whether each month reached zero, still has money to assign, or assigned too much
• Jobs kept against jobs broken: how many categories stayed within their dollars each month
• A gauge showing how much of your income has a job and how much is still waiting
• Broken jobs: the categories that went furthest past the dollars given
• Where it went: spending by group, with amounts and shares
• Budget against actual for each group: spent, left and over

The Every Dollar tab

This is what makes it a true zero sum budget. The Every Dollar tab shows what is left to assign as you go, and it stays red until the number reads exactly zero. Not above zero and not below it, zero.

Twenty-nine connected tabs

Everything reads from a single transaction list. Nothing is typed twice and there are no pivot tables to refresh, so the monthly budget and the annual budget always agree.

• 2,000 transaction rows and 40 categories, each one renameable
• Budgets, variances, totals and percentages all calculated for you
• Over-budget and overdue amounts change color on their own
• Dropdown lists that grow when you add accounts or categories
• Charts that redraw from your own numbers, so it works as an expense tracker as well

Filled in, light and dark

You get a full demo year to click through and a blank copy for your own money, in both Excel and Google Sheets. Each comes in a light edition and a dark edition, with every tab restyled, not only the dashboard, and identical formulas in both.

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

• 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, with 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 the moment 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

Can I use it in Excel and Google Sheets?

Yes. The Excel workbooks run 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.

How do I know when every dollar has a job?

The Every Dollar tab shows what is left to assign and stays red until it reads zero. The dashboard also shows twelve tiles telling you whether each month reached zero.

What if I spend more than I assigned to a category?

The dashboard lists broken jobs, the categories that went furthest past their dollars, and counts how many categories stayed within budget each month.

Can I rename the categories?

Yes. All 40 categories can be renamed, and the dropdown lists grow as you add accounts and categories.

What changes between the light and dark editions?

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