These free budget templates give you 12 Word documents on A4 in pounds and US Letter in dollars: a monthly household budget, a simple budget planner, a 50/30/20 budget, a zero-based budget, a student budget and an event budget. I’m Patrick Elliott, a teacher and Inclusion Lead. I plan a classroom budget every year and my own at home, so I built these budgets to add themselves up in Word, with the categories most households really use.

In this guide, you’ll find which budget suits you, how to fill one in so the totals add up by themselves, and how the 50/30/20 and zero-based methods work.

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What’s in the Budget Templates

Paper	Version	Best for
A4	Monthly Household	Budget and actual for income, home, everyday, lifestyle, savings and debt
A4	Simple Planner	Money in, money out and what is left, with blank lines
A4	50-30-20	Needs, wants and savings targets worked out from your pay
A4	Zero-Based	Plan every pound or dollar until nothing is left to plan
A4	Student	Loans, part–time work and term or semester costs
A4	Event	Estimated and actual costs against a total budget
US Letter	Monthly Household	Budget and actual for income, home, everyday, lifestyle, savings and debt
US Letter	Simple Planner	Money in, money out and what is left, with blank lines
US Letter	50-30-20	Needs, wants and savings targets worked out from your pay
US Letter	Zero-Based	Plan every pound or dollar until nothing is left to plan
US Letter	Student	Loans, part–time work and term or semester costs
US Letter	Event	Estimated and actual costs against a total budget

👉 Every total is a Word formula, so you type the amounts and Word adds them up: section totals, total spending and what is left over.

👉 The A4 versions use pounds and UK words, such as council tax and food shopping, and the US Letter versions use dollars and US words, such as property tax and groceries.

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Which Budget Template Should You Use?

• Monthly household budget: budget and actual columns for income, home, everyday costs, lifestyle, and savings and debt.
• Simple budget planner: money in, money out and what is left, with blank lines for your own bills.
• 50/30/20 budget: type your take-home pay and Word works out your targets: half for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings and debt.
• Zero-based budget: plan every pound or dollar until the left to plan line reaches zero.
• Student budget: loans, part-time work and family help against rent, food, travel and course costs for a term or semester.
• Event budget: estimated and actual costs for a party, wedding or school event against one total budget.

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How to Fill In a Budget Template in Word

1. Open the budget and click the line next to Month to type the month.
2. Click the white box next to each item and type the amount, for example 1250 or 1,250.00. Leave a box empty if it does not apply.
3. Change any item name by clicking it and typing, for example Pet care instead of Gifts.
4. Press Ctrl + A and then F9 to update every total. On a Mac, press Command + A and then Fn + F9.
5. Save a copy for each month with File > Save As, so you can compare months.

👉 If you add a row inside a section, right-click the total, choose Edit Field and include the new row in the range, for example B7:B13.

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The 50/30/20 and Zero-Based Budget Methods

The 50/30/20 rule splits your take-home pay into three pots: 50% for needs such as rent, bills and food, 30% for wants such as eating out and holidays, and 20% for savings and paying off debt. For example, on 2,000 a month that is 1,000 for needs, 600 for wants and 400 for savings.

A zero-based budget gives every pound or dollar a job before the month starts. You list your income, then plan bills, food, savings and fun until the left to plan line shows zero, so nothing is spent without a plan.

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How to Print at the Right Size

Print a blank budget at 100% to fill in by hand, or type your amounts in Word first, press Ctrl+A and F9 to update the totals, and then print it.

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FAQs

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Conclusion

These budget templates cover monthly bills, the 50/30/20 and zero-based methods, students and events, human-made by a teacher and ready to fill in from Word.

Choose your paper size above, download the ZIP, and to plan the month ahead try the weekly planner templates.

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Related Tutorials

• Free Weekly Planner Templates for Word
• Free Checklist Templates for Word
• Free 2027 Calendar Templates for Word