The Geltguide Budget Template

March 9, 2026

Budgeting / Saving

Click here to view the template with Google Sheets.

Click here to view the template with Excel. With this link, you will need to create a copy of the template in order to edit.

Included are the following tabs:
Instructions for Using the Budget Template

Summary Budget Template
Detailed Budget Template
Comparative Summary Budget Template
Sample Completed Budget

Living With Nissim?

Some people say that they don’t budget because they have bitachon i.e., the plan is not to plan, they live on nissim. But the Mishna Brurah clearly says (529.1, Biur Halacha.) that, beyond expenses for Shabbos and Yom Tov, we are obligated to budget and live within our means. The Chafetz Chaim, a greater baal bitachon than any of us, seemingly didn’t agree with the “living-on-nissim” plan.

It is beyond the scope of GeltGuide to get into the nuances of the exceedingly complicated topic of bitachon versus hishtadlus. Consult with your LOR. We’re just supplying budgeting tools and guidance that may help with the budgeting approach you end up with.

How Often to Run the Numbers?

One key question is how consistently to track your spending. Enthusiasts say “Duh!? Always be budgeting!” They say the best way, the only way, to make sure you’re on track is to watch every dollar, all the time.

In my experience, people go nuts from having to count pennies and can do just fine, even better, by checking periodically whether they are on course. Personally, I think guestimated budgeting is more sound hashkafically, too, but as discussed, that’s for you to discuss with your Rabbinic advisor.

Wake Up Call

But, IMHO, everyone should run their exact household spending numbers at least once! Especially if you have a large family with many categories and modes of spending, it can be shocking to see how much is spent on the myriad smaller things. Trimming is far easier when you see where the money is going. And seeing your real numbers, black and white, serves as a vital wake-up call. Maybe you’ll decide ot focus on earning more to cover our shortfalls. But you need to have some idea of what to be aiming for!

Most frum couples are taken aback when recognizing just how substantial the overall parnassah bill is for a large frum family. $150,000 or even $250,000 is not a lot of money once you recognize the whole parnassah picture. Until you know what you’re up against, it’s hard to take parnassah with the gravity it deserves.

Getting the Data

The hardest part of running a budget review is gathering accurate data. Almost everyone knows the big recurring stuff like rent, mortgage payments, and perhaps their tuition bills.

But those smaller, and never-ending bills, like groceries, dry cleaning, baby gifts, and that daily iced latte or salad, that’s “just” $7, need to be calculated too. So does the Amazon spending, and the myriad other bills we conveniently put on our credit cards and set to autopilot. If it’s recurring, then it adds up to real money.

So, how do you find and collate all that information?

Excel Is Excellent

While it’s possible to go old school and track down paper bank statements, credit card bills, and check registers, etc. (does anyone use those anymore?), technology can make data collection and organization far easier.

For a long time, I downloaded our checking account and credit card transactions into Excel once a year. The download took a few minutes, and categorizing a whole year’s worth of spending ate up just a couple of hours.

While this path doesn’t capture the details of cash expenditures, an Excel download approach can handle the overwhelming bulk of budget data collection, even if you’re not a spreadsheet geek.

Brilliant Budgeting Apps

Today, I rely on an app called Rocket Money, which syncs all my spending accounts into one place. This solution is quicker than logging into my many accounts and also enables ongoing monitoring and categorization.

I still download the master list into Excel to categorize many transactions quickly and filter and sort with full control. But with these modern budgeting apps, you may not need spreadsheets at all! Apps are definitely the easy way to go for those who do want to manage their budgets down to the penny.

Dealing with Lumpy Budget Items

One challenge when budgeting is accounting for “lumpy” income and expenses. Not all income comes in the form of a typical salary. You need to account for bonuses, sales commissions, tax refunds, and periodic support from family, etc.

Similarly, some expenses, like yomim tovim, camp, perhaps a life insurance payment etc., only show up annually, but they still need to be accounted for. As long as you remember or track them down, converting a lumpy number into twelve is easy enough.

Keep in mind, though, that lumpiness means that, even if your annual income and expense numbers balance out, you still might be short on cash flow some months if your income or expenses are out of whack with the overall annual average.

Expecting the Unexpected

Similarly, regardless of what happened in the past, many things on your budgets will occur unexpectedly. There’s no exact way to know when a car or home repair will be required, for example. Same on the income side. People lose jobs, get unpredictable sums for commissions or bonuses, etc. This is one reason why budgeting exactly in advance isn’t really possible.

Setting aside savings is the primary mechanism to even out the volatility and stress of budgeting. Building up cash reserves to cover those months when you’re short will go a long way toward enhancing your peace of mind and avoiding the need to borrow or seek charity. Some saving is included in basic hishtadlus, (though the extent of it is, again, subject to bitachon shailos).

Just Try It

One thing budget coaches tend to agree on is that simple awareness of your personal numbers is the key to balancing budgets. There are infinite ways to get to the same goal, i.e., how to raise income and or trim expenses, and how to balance those tradeoffs is super-personal. The first and most important step is knowing how your current income stacks up against your spending and where your money goes. And to gain that awareness, you need to see the facts.

Try it. And let me know how it goes.