Create a budget with the Tiller Money Tracker for Excel

Learn how to set up a monthly budget for an entire year in the Tiller Money Tracker template for Excel.

Heather Phillips avatar
Written by Heather Phillips
Updated over a week ago

Note as of March 3, 2022 we have a new Foundation Template for Microsoft Excel. This content is for the previous "Money Tracker" template we offered prior to March 3, 2022

The Tiller Money Tracker offers a budgeting option that allows you to set up a monthly budget for an entire year. 

1. Set up Categories

Decide on your categories on the Categories sheet in the Tiller Money Tracker template for Excel. Each category should be unique and have a group and a type assigned.

2. Set up your year start date

In cell E1 on the Categories sheet enter the first date of the month for which you'd like your year to start. (e.g. 1/1/2018) and the rest of the sheet will update to reflect your year's start and end month. 

Note: The budget must start on the first day of a month.

3. Set your budget targets

Enter in the budget target for each category in the first month in column E on the Categories sheet. All subsequent months will update to the same target. Modify individual months' budget targets as needed. 

Note: Each month after the first month uses the previous month's budget amount as it's target. 

4. Categorize transactions

Categorize transactions on the Transactions sheet to see how you're tracking against your budget. Start with this month and go forward. There is no need to categorize all your historical transaction data unless you want to build a historical picture of your budget. 

5. Review your budget

Review the Budget sheet in your Excel workbook to see how you're tracking against your monthly and yearly budget so far.

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