Take control of your finances! Learn how to set up a simple budget binder using these 6 popular and free budget printables.
Does money stress you out? If you are nodding emphatically yes, that’s definitely understandable. When you don’t have an organized way of keeping track of your money, things can quickly become messy and overwhelming. Having one place where you keep all of your financial records is key to keeping your financial life organized and running smoothly…
Enter the Budget Binder.
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Setting Up a Budget Binder
A Budget Binder is one the easiest ways to simplify your finances. I created these free printable budget worksheets to help you set up your own Budget Binder and organize your finances once and for all!
Supplies For Budget Binder
To create your own budget binder, you will need the following supplies:
1. Binder pocket with zipper for receipts
2. Sticky notes
3. Three hole punch for binder
4. 1.5 inch binder with clear cover
5. Printable budget binder cover and printable budget worksheet templates
Look through the free budget printables below and choose which ones you would like to include in your budget binder. Then click on the images to download and print them. After printing, 3-hole punch and insert the pages into your binder. Finally, take time to carefully complete the worksheets. That’s all there is to it!
Awesome and Free Budget Printables
These 6 free budget printables will not only help you organize your finances, they will guide you through setting up a reasonable budget and help you define your financial goals.
Check them out:
Free Printable Monthly Budget Worksheet
This printable monthly budget worksheet is the most important document in your whole binder. It is the cornerstone of your financial plan.
Print out 12 copies of this template (one for every month). Look through your last 3 months of bank statements and calculate a reasonable budget for each category.
At the end of each month, go back and fill in what you actually spent. You can then adjust your budget for the next month accordingly. Super easy!
If you prefer to use a bound monthly planner, try Your Balanced Budget by Kimberly Palmer. It’s another great way to keep your budget organized and accessible.
Free Weekly Planner Template
Including a printable weekly planner in your budget binder is an easy way to keep track of upcoming bills and expenses. Print out a handful of these lovely weekly planner templates and stay on top of your schedule.
Another terrific planner option is the Day Designer Academic Planner. This planner follows the academic calendar (July 2018 – June 2019). It has a ton of space to plan your entire schedule – bills and all!
Printable Bill Pay Checklist
Automatic bill pay is a wonderful thing, but it is so important to keep track of all those withdrawal dates. Include this simple printable bill pay checklist to keep track of your automatic bill amounts and due dates.
Printable Password Log
So much of our lives are online these days making cyber security more important than ever. We all know it’s good to have different passwords with a variety of letters, numbers and symbols for every website, but it can be hard to keep track of all those passwords and user IDs. This printable password log is a handy, off-line space to keep your passwords!
Free Printable Menu Planner
While a printable menu planner may seem like an odd thing to keep in a budget binder, it actually makes a lot of sense. For many families, the food bill is one of the biggest expenses after the mortgage/rent. Creating a weekly menu is one of the most effective ways to control your food budget.
You could keep this printable menu planner in your budget binder or on the fridge like I do – whatever is most convenient for you. Over the weekend, plan out a menu for the week and then stick to it. You will save a ton!
Print out several copies of the weekly menu planner above and stick them into your budget binder. Another option is this cute
Weekly Meal Planning Pad – Tear Off Meal Planner with Perforated, Tear Off Shopping List.
Special Bonus – Financial Goal Setting Worksheets
A few months ago, I put together a goal setting printable worksheet binder and everyone has been loving it! I want to include it in this bundle because it is the perfect guide for defining and achieving your financial goals. These printable worksheets walk your through all the steps for setting reasonable financial goals and creating an action plan to achieve those goals!
Get your FREE goal setting worksheets here!
I hope these free budget printables will help you put together a beautiful and functional budget binder for your family!
Before you get to work, I would love for you to leave a comment below! Share something that has helped you with budgeting. If you haven’t created a budget yet, you could share why you struggle with budgeting.
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