A budget doesn't need an app, a bank login or a finance degree. Google Sheets is free, works on your phone and laptop, and keeps your numbers in your own account. Here's a simple way to set one up that you'll actually keep using.
1. Start with what comes in
Write down every regular source of income: your pay, your partner's pay, side income and anything else that arrives each month. Use what actually lands in your account after tax. If you're paid weekly or fortnightly, convert it to a monthly figure: weekly pay × 52 ÷ 12, or fortnightly pay × 26 ÷ 12.
2. List your spending categories
Keep it short. Twenty to thirty categories is plenty for most households. Group them so the big picture is easy to read:
- Home: rent or mortgage, electricity, water, internet, insurance
- Transport: fuel, car costs, public transport
- Food: groceries, eating out, coffee
- Family and personal: kids, health, clothing, education
- Lifestyle: subscriptions, entertainment, holidays, gifts
- Savings and debt: savings, investing, card and loan repayments
3. Give every category a monthly budget
Look at the last two or three months of bank statements and use them as a starting point. Don't aim for perfect. A rough number you can adjust next month beats a perfect number you never set. Check that your total budget isn't more than your monthly income.
4. Record what you spend
Make a Transactions tab with four columns: Date, Description, Amount and Category. You can type purchases as they happen, or download a CSV from your bank once a week and paste it in. Pasting once a week takes about five minutes and is the habit that makes budgeting stick.
5. Add up spending by category
On a Budget tab, use SUMIFS to total each category for the month. For example, if your amounts are in column C, categories in column D and dates in column A:
=SUMIFS(Transactions!C:C, Transactions!D:D, "Groceries", Transactions!A:A, ">="&DATE(2026,10,1), Transactions!A:A, "<"&DATE(2026,11,1))
Then subtract spent from budget to see what's left in each category.
6. Make it easy to see
Use conditional formatting to colour categories that are over budget red and close to budget amber. A simple progress bar helps too: =REPT("█", ROUND(10*spent/budget)) draws a bar right in the cell.
7. Review once a month
At the end of each month, look at three numbers: money in, money spent and money saved. Move budget between categories if something was clearly too high or too low. That's it.
The shortcut: use a ready-made planner
Building all of this yourself takes an evening or two. The free Tracksy Household Money Planner has it done for you: categories fill in by themselves from the shop name, the budget shows what's left in each category, and it works on your phone in the Google Sheets app. When you want savings goals, debt payoff or a couples split, Premium adds those too.
This guide is general information, not financial advice.