There are a lot of free printable budget worksheets on the Internet. Some can be great tools to keep your finances organized and some are just a waste of time. You need to understand how to tell the difference between the two before you start your search.
Most of the time the budget worksheets you find online will only be able to help you with getting you started when it comes to making a budget. Most of these provide you with income, expenses, balance sheets, and accounts to use for further planning. This is the best free printable budget worksheet that I have found.
The biggest reason why you should avoid these types of budget worksheets is because of the simple fact that most of them will not show you where the money is going. You won’t know where you are spending it or where you can save it. Your money needs to be made available to you so that you can make your decisions as to where you want to spend it.
These free printable budget worksheets that only show you what to do don’t help you with the actual budgeting part. They are only there to assist you in knowing where to place your money. They will not allow you to see where your money is going. Without a working knowledge of where your money is going, you are lost in a sea of confusion.
Most of the free printable budget worksheets that show you the accounts will give you an overview of where your money is. This doesn’t tell you the whole story. You have to know where that money is going to.
For example, if you are only seeing accounts like Payroll, EFT, and Insurance this does not tell you where those accounts are going. All you know is that you can get paid from Payroll. What happens when you are done paying for your pay? Do you spend it?
Many people will simply forget about their accounts and never really look at them again. Instead, they will continue to use the budget worksheet that only shows you where the money is going. They will spend the money on their monthly expenses and rarely look at what is going to replace the money they are spending.
If you are looking for free printable budget worksheets that show you where the money is going then you should focus on a worksheet that tells you where each dollar is going. Only then will you have a working knowledge of where your money is going. This is the only type of worksheet that will help you maintain a balanced budget and one that is easy to read and understand.
