Google Sheets · Personal finance

Free 50/30/20 Budget Template for Google Sheets

Try the split on your own pay below, then copy the spreadsheet that checks it every month. It sorts your spending into needs, wants and savings and debt, and tells you what to move when a month drifts. Type your transactions in, or let Finta fill them in from your bank.

Copy the templateSee what's inside

Free. No email. Works in any Google account. Opens a copy in your Drive.

50/30/20 budget

Sample data

Finta 50/30/20 Budget template, Dashboard tab: take-home pay, needs, wants and savings and debt against their 50/30/20 targets, the line saying what to move, a target vs actual bar and the biggest categories in each bucket

50/30/20 calculator

What 50/30/20 means for your pay

Type what lands in your account each month after tax. The rule puts half toward needs, 30% toward wants and 20% toward savings and paying down debt.

$
a month

Paid every two weeks? Use a typical month.

Needs 50%
$2,500
$30,000 a year
Rent or mortgage, groceries, utilities, insurance, minimum loan payments
Wants 30%
$1,500
$18,000 a year
Eating out, shopping, streaming, travel, hobbies
Savings & debt 20%
$1,000
$12,000 a year
Savings, investments, extra payments on a loan or card

Needs $2,500, Wants $1,500, Savings & debt $1,000

The spreadsheet sorts your real spending into these three buckets every month and tells you what to move.

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What's inside

Tab by tab

What each tab does and where its data comes from

Every category already has a bucket, so the tabs work as soon as transactions arrive. To move one, pick a bucket in the Bucket column on Categories. Dashboard, Buckets and Trends are formulas that read the four source tabs. Delete the sample rows before you start.

Dashboard
One month against 50/30/20. Take-home pay, what went to needs, wants and savings and debt next to each target, a line saying what to move, and the biggest categories in each bucket.
Formulas · read only
Buckets
Every category with the bucket it counts in, whether that's Finta's default or your choice, and its total so far this year.
Formulas · read only
Trends
January to December. Each bucket as a share of take-home pay against the 50, 30 and 20% guides, with the months that drifted shaded.
Formulas · read only
Start Here
What the rule is, four setup steps, the two ways to add transactions, and how to add these tabs to a spreadsheet Finta already syncs to.
Guide
Transactions
Date, merchant, amount and category. Type them in, or let Finta write them.
Finta · Transactions
Accounts
Every account with its type and current balance.
Finta · Accounts
Categories
Your categories, with a Bucket column for the ones you want to move. Leave it blank and the default bucket applies.
Finta · Categories
Bank Connections
One row per bank you connect, with its last update. Only Finta fills this tab.
Finta · Bank Connections

Setup

Three steps to your first month

  1. Copy the template. It opens in your Google Drive with a year of sample data.

  2. Delete the sample rows. Add your categories on Categories, or let Finta add them, then check where each one landed on the Buckets tab.

  3. Type in your transactions, or connect Finta and pick this sheet.

Keep it updated automatically

Let Finta fill the source tabs

Connect your bank, choose this sheet, and Finta writes new transactions, balances and categories into the four source tabs on your bank's schedule. Dashboard, Buckets and Trends update from them, and your bucket choices stay exactly as you set them.

Your bank connects through Finta to this sheet.

Tables to enable

  • Bank Connections
  • Accounts
  • Categories
  • Transactions
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Layouts

Other ways to lay out a budget

Each layout has its own copy link, and Finta fills them all the same way.

  • Google Sheets

    Monthly budget

    Budget each category for the month, then watch actuals, rollover and a year of trends fill in beside it.

    Best for

    Your first budget, one household

    CopyDetails

  • Google Sheets

    This page

    50/30/20 budget

    Sort every category into needs, wants and savings, then see how close each month comes and what to move.

    Best for

    Checking the big picture without budgeting every category

    Copy

    You are here

  • Google Sheets

    Envelope budget

    Assign each paycheck to envelopes, spend from them, and carry what's left into next month.

    Best for

    Giving every dollar a job

    CopyDetails

  • Google Sheets

    Couples budget

    Joint and separate money on one tab, with shared spending against budgets and a split based on your incomes.

    Best for

    Two people who share some costs

    CopyDetails

  • Notion

    Opens in Notion

    Zero-based budget

    The same idea in Notion, with income allocation and envelope balances.

    Best for

    People who already live in Notion

    Duplicate

50/30/20 budget questions

What is the 50/30/20 rule?
It splits your take-home pay, what lands in your account after tax, into three parts. 50% goes to needs, 30% to wants and 20% to savings and paying down debt. It's a guide, not a law. Rent in an expensive city can push needs past 50%, and the template shows you by how much.
How does the template decide what's a need and what's a want?
Every category Finta creates has a default bucket. Rent, groceries, utilities and insurance are needs, eating out and shopping are wants, and savings and investments go to savings and debt. Credit card payments and transfers between your own accounts are ignored, so nothing counts twice. To move a category, pick another bucket in the Bucket column on Categories. The Buckets tab shows where each category landed and why.
What if my income changes from month to month?
The Dashboard uses your Income categories for take-home pay. If you're paid on an irregular schedule, type a typical month into the yellow Take-home cell and the targets use that instead. Trends always uses what actually came in, with a year-so-far column that evens out the bumps.
Where do loan and credit card payments go?
Loan payments, like a student loan or car payment, count as needs, as the rule treats minimum payments. Anything you pay on top of the minimum counts as savings and debt if you give it its own category in that bucket. Credit card payments are ignored, because the purchases on the card already count in their own categories.
Do I need Finta to use it?
No. The template is free and works with transactions you type in yourself. Finta is optional. Connect it and new transactions from your bank land in the sheet as they post, so you stop typing them in. You can try it free without a card.
I already sync Finta to a Google Sheet. Can I add these tabs to it?
Yes. In this template, right-click the Dashboard tab, choose Copy to, then Existing spreadsheet, and pick your Finta spreadsheet. Do the same for Buckets and Trends. Every category uses its default bucket straight away. To choose your own, insert a column on your Categories tab, name it Bucket and fill it in.

Free Google Sheets template

Copy the 50/30/20 budget, then decide whether to keep pasting transactions

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