How to make a budget spreadsheet, and when to stop using one

A budget spreadsheet needs four parts: what comes in, what you have to pay, what you choose to spend and what you set aside. Put them in the same sheet, compare what you planned with what you actually spent each month, and the savings line becomes a real figure. In the example below, a budget on €1,800 a month after tax leaves €300 for savings, and the calculator shows that €300 a month builds a €3,600 emergency fund in 12 months. The spreadsheet tells you where the money went. If you'd rather see how much to set aside for each thing you're saving for, read what your budget spreadsheet can't do.

The four parts of a budget spreadsheet

Finanzas para todos, the financial education programme of Spain's CNMV and Banco de España, suggests three groups of spending: fixed costs you have to pay, such as housing and loan repayments; variable essentials, such as food and clothing; and discretionary spending, the leisure that isn't really essential Finanzas para todos (CNMV and Banco de España), “Seven steps to create your monthly budget” (in Spanish). Add income at the top and savings as its own line, and you have the whole sheet.

Each line needs four columns: the category, what you planned (budgeted), what you spent (actual) and the difference. Here is a first month for one person with €1,800 a month after tax. The lines and amounts are our own example, not official averages.

Two things stand out. The month went €17 over budget, mostly on food and eating out, and the €300 for savings still went out in full. That's the point of putting savings on its own line: it's planned like the rent, not left to whatever remains at the end of the month.

The €300 has a job, too. Three months of fixed costs and variable essentials (€840 plus €360 a month) come to €3,600. Try the figures with your own costs:

A sample budget spreadsheet with Spanish averages

If you want a reference for your own lines, Spain's national statistics office, INE, publishes the average spending of households every year. In 2025, the average household in Spain spent €35,101, and the average per person was €14,066 INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, final results (in Spanish). The table splits that figure into INE's 13 spending groups. The monthly column is our own calculation, the yearly figure divided by 12 and rounded to the nearest euro, so it adds up to €2,927 rather than €2,925.

Read the housing line with care. INE counts an imputed rent for households that own their home or live in one lent to them INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, methodology note on imputed rent (in Spanish), so the €972 a month is not what the average household pays in rent. It's a comparison, not a target. Household type also changes the picture: a person living alone under 65 spent €23,784 in the year, about €1,982 a month, and a couple with children spent €44,438, about €3,703 a month INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, spending by household type (in Spanish).

The averages are useful in one way: they show which lines tend to weigh most. In the 20% of households that spend least, housing and food together took 61.5% of the budget INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, lowest spending quintile (in Spanish). If your rent is high, that's where your sheet will feel tight first.

These are figures for Spain and in euros, because Huchy works in euros and is made in Spain. If you live elsewhere, use the same structure with your own costs.

How to build it, step by step

You don't need a template. A blank sheet in any spreadsheet program is enough.

1. Start with a goal. Before the numbers, decide what the budget is for: a holiday, a house deposit, an emergency fund. Finanzas para todos puts this first, because a clear goal keeps you going Finanzas para todos, “Seven steps to create your monthly budget”: set your goals first (in Spanish).
2. List your income. Use your net pay, what reaches your account. If your income changes from month to month, use a monthly average Finanzas para todos, “Seven steps to create your monthly budget”: income and monthly average (in Spanish). If, as is common in Spain, you're paid 14 times a year with two extra payments, add up the year and divide by 12.
3. Record what you spend for two or three months. The same source suggests two or three months so the figures are close to reality Finanzas para todos, “Seven steps to create your monthly budget”: record two or three months (in Spanish). Your bank statement does most of the work: download it and paste the transactions into a tab of their own.
4. Sort each cost into a group. Fixed costs, variable essentials or discretionary. If everything ends up as essential, the sheet tells you nothing.
5. Add the costs that don't come every month. Car insurance, gifts and holidays arrive once a year. Divide them by 12 and give them a line.
6. Pay your savings first. Finanzas para todos suggests treating savings like a fixed cost you have to pay: a set amount each month, before you plan the rest Finanzas para todos (CNMV and Banco de España), “How to draw up a budget”: save a fixed amount first (in Spanish).
7. Subtract and review. Take total spending away from total income. If the result is negative, you're spending more than you earn. Then review the sheet every month and adjust what's changed Finanzas para todos, “Seven steps to create your monthly budget”: subtract and review each month (in Spanish).

The formulas that do the work

Keep two tabs. The first holds the transactions, one per row, with date, description, amount and group. The second is the monthly summary, one row per line of your budget. Four formulas are enough:

• Actual spending per line. =SUMIFS(Transactions!C:C, Transactions!D:D, A2) adds every amount in column C whose group in column D matches the line in A2. Add a date condition if you keep several months in the same tab.
• Difference. =C2-B2, actual minus budgeted. A positive figure means you went over.
• Share of income. =B2/$B$1, with your monthly income in B1. Format it as a percentage.
• What's left. Income minus the total of the actual column. If it's below your savings line, something went over.

Name the groups in a short list and use it as a drop-down in the transactions tab. Typing “Food” one day and “Groceries” the next is how totals quietly stop adding up.

Common mistakes

Finanzas para todos lists the mistakes that most often break a budget Finanzas para todos (CNMV and Banco de España), “Common mistakes when making a budget and how to avoid them” (in Spanish):

1. Forgetting small or occasional costs. The daily coffee and the yearly car insurance both count. Record everything for at least a month.
2. Optimistic figures. Food, leisure and transport change a lot from month to month. Base each line on what you spent in previous months, and when in doubt, round up.
3. No emergency fund. One unexpected bill can unsettle the whole budget. Give it a monthly line until it covers three to six months of fixed costs.
4. Making the budget once and forgetting it. Income, costs and goals change. Review it at least once a month.
5. No clear purpose. A budget without a goal is hard to keep. Saving for a trip or a home gives the effort a reason.
6. A budget that's too strict. If nothing is left for leisure, you'll probably give it up. Keep a small share for yourself.

When to stop using a spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is good at one thing: showing what has already happened. It gets harder when you ask it to look ahead. These are the usual signs that it's time to change how you track your savings:

• You spend more time fixing formulas than reading them. A broken range or a renamed group, and the summary is wrong without telling you.
• You save for several things at once. One savings line works for one goal. With three goals, each with its own date, the sheet needs a tab per goal and a formula to work out each monthly target.
• The deadline moves and nothing updates. If a trip comes forward two months, the monthly target should go up. In a spreadsheet, you work it out again by hand.
• You only open it at the end of the month. By then, the money is gone. What helps during the month is knowing how much is left to set aside, not what you spent last week.

None of this means the spreadsheet was wrong. It means the job has changed from recording spending to reaching goals.

What Huchy does with your savings line

Huchy doesn't replace your budget: it takes care of the savings line. You create each goal with an amount and a date, and Huchy works out the monthly target and how much is left to go. If the date or the amount changes, the target changes with it. You can import your bank statement as CSV or Excel, or the transactions sheet of your spreadsheet, and export your data to Excel whenever you like. Huchy doesn't move your money or connect to your bank: it keeps track of what you set aside.

From a spreadsheet to a goal

A budget spreadsheet needs income, fixed costs, variable essentials, discretionary spending and a savings line paid first. Record two or three months, compare what you planned with what you spent and review it every month. When the savings line has a goal and a date, put the figures in the savings goal calculator, and if you're ready to stop fixing formulas, see what your budget spreadsheet can't do.