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Free Budget Templates for Weekly Income (Excel Worksheets)

Budget Templates for Weekly Income

It is best to have a budget to make better financial decisions. It will help you control your spending and hence improve your savings. As a result, you will be able to achieve your goals and even quickly identify where you need to cut down.

With a weekly budget template, you can organize your finances in a way that allows you to handle your bills, even in cases when your income and bills come at different times. This weekly budget will ensure you keep track of your spending and pay your bills accordingly. The best way to handle a weekly budget is by including your spending for the week alongside your committed expenses like rent and electricity bills.

This is easier if you have a weekly budget template to break down your income, expenses, and savings appropriately.

Importance

A weekly budget template is essential in four main ways. First, it provides you with a simple way of managing your finances, and avoiding debt in the long run. With a weekly budget, you will be able to avoid the habit of spending more than you earn since you can keep track of your income and spending habits. Also, with a weekly budget template, you will be able to have emergency funds set aside for days when you need them. This will help cushion emergencies like losing a job, medical emergencies, or even car breakdowns.

The budget is also essential in that it helps you achieve your short and long-term goals regarding your finances. You will be able to save up for short-term goals like paying for utilities and long-term goals like buying a home or a car. Finally, it is necessary to motivate you to become invested in your finances. A budget creates financial discipline and restraint, allowing you to handle your finances responsibly.

How to Establish a Weekly Budget Framework?

Since it is crucial to have a weekly budget, you need to establish a proper framework for your template. With the steps shown below, you will be able to establish a practical weekly budget framework:

Gather financial papers 

To create your weekly budget, you need to find and gather all your financial papers from the last six months. This includes receipts from stores, bank statements, loan statements, monthly bills, and savings statements. In addition, it would be best if you gathered your paychecks to establish your net amounts (your income after taxes) from all your different sources of income like monthly salary, wages, tips, bonuses, commissions, investment income, and interest on savings.

Determine your weekly income 

With your total income in mind, you need to calculate your weekly income by dividing your monthly income by four. If your monthly income varies from month to month, you will need to establish your average monthly income by adding the income from the last three months and dividing it by three. The amount you get should be divided by four to get your average weekly income. Ensure the income you use is the amount that remains after paying for taxes.

Create a list of all the expenses 

The next step is to create a list of all your expenses to determine the amount of money you need per week to cover them. From monthly bills, gas, groceries, and loan payments to subscriptions ensure you list and divide your expenses accordingly. Also, include the due date and the amount required for each bill.

Ensure you include all your committed expenses; these occur monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, or yearly. Also, always include your non-recurring and arbitrary expenses. Then, you can determine your weekly expenses by dividing your monthly expenses by four.

Identify discretionary and non-discretionary expenses

Apart from the expenses mentioned above, your weekly budget template should also include discretionary and non-discretionary expenses. Discretionary expenses arise based on your lifestyle, like buying a latté while going to work. In contrast, non-discretionary expenses are necessary ones that can either have little or no alteration, like rent or mortgage. Discretionary expenses should include 30% of your income, while non-discretionary ones should total 50% per month.

Subtract your expenses from your income

The next step should subtract your total weekly expenses from your income. Next, you should add all the weekly expenses listed below and subtract them from the total income. If you get a positive amount, you should add it to your savings. If the result is a zero, it means no amount remains, and you are financially broken. However, if the result is a negative amount, you have spent more than you earn and should make some adjustments.

Note: Ensure that before you set money aside for your discretionary expenses like eating out or going shopping, you have dedicated enough money for your fixed expenses.

Get your safe-to-spend

Your weekly budget template should also include a safe-to-spend section which will include money that you can spend safely for the week since you have sorted out your fixed expenses. Always spend less than you have put aside in the safe-to-spend section. That will mean that you will have extra money for the next week and even for investment.

There are three ways you can use to ensure you properly keep track of your safe-to-spend money :

  • Use the cash method by withdrawing money from the bank and keeping it in an envelope. This will help you to keep track of your safe-to-spend money.
  • You can also use a debit card by transferring some cash to your debit card. You will use this card to make purchases and spend on different expenses. You can keep track of your safe-to-spend money by checking your card regularly to ensure you don’t overspend.
  • Finally, you can use any app where you open a new account and transfer your weekly funds to the app; that way, you keep track of your safe spending.

Evaluate and make adjustments

If needed, ensure you evaluate and make adjustments to your spending habits. This is necessary if you are striking even or spend way more than what you earn. It would be best to cut down your discretionary expenses to ensure you adjust your spending habits. This way, you can save as much as you desire and make better financial decisions. The main aim of these adjustments is to achieve a positive income-expenses ratio.

Weekly Budget Templates

A weekly budget is necessary to make better financial decisions regarding your income and spending habits. Therefore, you need to prepare a weekly budget to ensure that you can keep track of what you are earning, how you are spending, and how much you are saving. This process can be made possible and accessible by using a weekly budget template.

You can access weekly budget templates online and make the process of weekly budgeting more accessible and faster. With the free to download, easy to use, and possible to customize weekly budget templates provided on this website, you will be able to create a proper weekly budget for your finances. So download these templates and enjoy the process of making better financial decisions every week through effective budgeting.

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    Tips for Budgeting

    To ensure that you have a proper and effective weekly budget, here are some tips that you should have in mind once you have your template. With these tips, you will be able to create a weekly budget that will benefit your financial process:

    • Understand the budget process: You need to understand the weekly budget process before including any information in your template. Since most of your recurring bills tend to arise every month, it is best to understand your monthly budget before preparing your weekly one. Ensure you have established your income and expenses accordingly before drafting and creating a proper weekly budget.
    • Schedule weekly planning: A budget is not a one-time thing but rather a process that should be checked on and updated. That means you need to set a day of the week that you will use to monitor and address the changes in your income or expenses. You should always have time to go through your weekly budget to make adjustments that align with your current financial situation. 
    • Contact companies for bill reduction: For companies where you make payments regularly, it is a good idea for you to contact them to try and get your bills reduced. This may include inquiring about the discount and cost-saving programs. You may have qualified for bill reduction as a customer and not know since you have never asked about it. That is why you need to contact your company and inquire if you can have your bills reduced; hence reducing your expenses and saving more money.
    • Avoid unnecessary expenses: As you create your weekly budget, always try and avoid any unnecessary expenses. Ensure that you keep track of your daily and weekly expenses to avoid unnecessary ones. This will ensure that you spend within your income and not more than it. Also, it will help you save more and help you achieve your financial goals.

    Wrapping Up

    A weekly budget is beneficial and vital since most humans choose to break down their lives every week. Having a weekly budget template for your financial decisions is the most appropriate way to go. You need to identify your income and expenses before preparing your weekly budget. A weekly budget template will ensure that you have the proper framework and content to achieve your financial goals. With this budget, you will be able to keep track of your spending and even increase your savings to achieve your short-term and long-term goals. You can access a proper weekly budget template on this website to have a successful financial process that is satisfying, flexible, and easy to achieve.