If you are looking for a simple way to budget your finances, but that still allows you to accomplish ALL your money goals, this is the budget hack you need.
I love using the 70/20/10 budget method to divide out my finances.
It helps us make sure we have enough for our expenses as well as saving, investing, giving and debt payoff.
You can create a budget using the 70-20-10 budget rule, and I am so excited to show you how today.
Plus! We have created a fun, easy to use spreadsheet that will do ALL the heavy lifting of this budget for you!
Before we talk about the spreadsheet, let’s do a quick refresher on how the 70/20/10 budget works.
70/20/10 Budget Method
The 70-20-10 method involves dividing your paycheck into three major categories, kind of like the famous 50/30/20 budget method.
Those categories are spending, saving/investing, and giving/debt payoff.
70% of your monthly paycheck should go towards ALL of your spending for the month.
All fixed and variable expenses should be included in this amount. If you have to spend money on it, you need to include it here.
20% of your take home pay goes toward savings and extra debt payments. Use this section to tackle the debt monster and save towards any financial goals.
The last 10% is for investing and/or paying a tithe.
70/20/10 Budget Example
I have made a few videos showing how to use the 70/20/10 budget rule in real life.
Check out this one I made for Tiktok…
And here is an example of a real life budget, using the 70/20/10 budget rule and the spreadsheet we created, specifically to help you make a 70/20/10 budget for yourself.
In this example, the family has $6000 a month in total income to work with.
In the Needs section, they can use $4200 for their monthly expenses and spending. All expenses are met with this amount.
In the Savings and Debt section, they have $1200 allocated. Check out how how they used that money below.
In the final section for Tithing and Investing, they have $600 to use. They chose to tithe some and invest some.
70/20/10 Budget Spreadsheet
Using the 70/20/10 budget spreadsheet is easy and pretty straightforward.
First put in your income sources, and how much take home pay comes from each source.
The spreadsheet will then automatically add up your total income.
The spreadsheet then auto-calculates the percentages for the 70/20/10 budget.
You can see the breakdown of the categories under the “70/20/10 Budget” heading section.
This section will also autopopulate as you fill in expenses, so you can see how your budgeted numbers match with actual spending.
The next step is to fill in the Needs section. Add in all your expenses and the budgeted amount for those expenses.
The spreadsheet will keep a running total of the budgeted amounts, so you can see when you have reached (or gone over) that 70% threshold.
The next step is to put in your savings goals and any extra debt payments, into the “Savings/Debt” section of the spreadsheet.
Make sure to keep an eye on the total at the bottom of the section, so that you stay within the 20% percentage.
And lastly, fill in your Investing/ Giving expenditures, along with the amounts, in the Tithing/Investing section.
Once you have this all filled in, you will be able to see how your budget fits into the 70% rule method.
Under the “Progress” header, the spreadsheet tallys up the different sections, which let’s you know how much you have left to spend for each percentage section.
Now what REALLY makes this spreadsheet great is the Expense Tracker page.
You can use this sheet to add in all your spending throughout the month.
When you do, the spreadsheet will automatically apply that spending to the appropriate section and expense on the budget page.
This allows you to keep track of your overall budget in real time!
Final thoughts on the 70/20/10 budget spreadsheet
Okay! You have seen how the 70/20/10 budget method works, and how to use the spreadsheet to create a budget for this method, AND track your finances to stay in the allotted percentage guides.
We love how simple this budget process is, and that it can work for so many different budgets and circumstances.
If you think the 70/20/10 budget would work for you, give it a shot! Use our spreadsheet to get started and see how it goes.
What do you have to lose?! Get your spreadsheet here.