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Every in-depth guide across Mortgage, Insurance, Investment, Salary, Rent and Budget, plus the Deal Workspace — our per-property case file for tracking a purchase from pre-approval to closing.

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Zero-Based Budget Workbook

$9.99

Every dollar assigned before the month starts, with a live "left to assign" that has to reach exactly zero — a positive figure being money with no job, which is the money that disappears without anyone deciding where it went. Planned against actual on every line, with the variance where the month gets honest. Built on take-home pay rather than gross, because a plan built on gross hands you a needs budget you cannot fund. Includes an irregular-income row for a fixed monthly draw, and computes your 50/30/20 shares from your own numbers rather than asserting them.

Format: Excel (.xlsx)

Look inside

Preview only — scroll to read it. The file you download is fully editable.

Read-only preview of the Zero-Based Budget worksheet



Zero-Based Budget Workbook
Every dollar gets a job before the month starts, and the plan is finished when what is left to assign reaches zero — not when you run out of patience. Enter what you PLAN in the first column and what you ACTUALLY spent in the second; the variance column is where the month gets honest.

Part 1 — What there is to assign
Monthly TAKE-HOME pay	4600	After tax, and after anything deducted from payroll. NOT gross — a plan built on gross hands you a needs budget you cannot fund, because roughly a fifth of that money never arrives.
Other regular income	0	Support received, benefits, a second job.
Irregular income — this month's DRAW	0	If your income varies, put the fixed amount you pay yourself here rather than what happened to arrive. Everything above the draw belongs to the buffer, not to this month.
TOTAL TO ASSIGN	ƒx

Part 2 — Assign it	Planned	Actual	Variance / note
NEEDS
Rent or mortgage	1650	1650	ƒx
Property tax / insurance (if not escrowed)	0	0	ƒx
Electricity	95	112	ƒx
Gas / heating	60	74	ƒx
Water / sewer / trash	45	45	ƒx
Groceries	520	588	ƒx
Transport — fuel or transit	180	196	ƒx
Car payment	340	340	ƒx
Car insurance	118	118	ƒx
Health insurance premium	210	210	ƒx
Other insurance	0	0	ƒx
Phone	55	55	ƒx
Internet	70	70	ƒx
Childcare	0	0	ƒx
Minimum debt payments	325	325	ƒx
Other essential	0	0	ƒx
NEEDS — total	ƒx	ƒx	ƒx

WANTS	180	264
Eating out	46	46	ƒx
Streaming and subscriptions	60	35	ƒx
Hobbies	90	147	ƒx
Shopping / clothing	100	0	ƒx
Travel	40	62	ƒx
Gifts	50	50	ƒx
Personal care	0	0	ƒx
Other discretionary	0	0	ƒx
WANTS — total	ƒx	ƒx	ƒx

SAVING & DEBT	300	300
Emergency fund	150	150	ƒx
Retirement (outside payroll)	120	120	ƒx
Sinking funds	100	100	ƒx
Extra debt payment	0	0	ƒx
Other saving	0	0	ƒx
SAVING & DEBT — total	ƒx	ƒx	ƒx

Part 3 — Does it balance?
Total assigned — planned	ƒx
LEFT TO ASSIGN	ƒx	This is the number the whole method turns on. It must reach exactly zero — a positive figure is money with no job, and a negative one is a plan that does not fit.
Status	ƒx
Total actually spent	ƒx
Actual vs. income	ƒx	Positive means the month finished with money left. Negative means something was funded by debt or savings, whether or not it felt that way.

Part 4 — Against the 50/30/20 guideline
The 50/30/20 split is a guideline applied to TAKE-HOME pay, and it is a reference point rather than a rule. Needs above 50% is extremely common in high-cost areas and does not mean you are doing something wrong — but it does mean the other two shares have to give somewhere, and it is worth deciding…

Preview shows the first 60 rows. The full worksheet continues for 21 more — the complete worksheet is in the download.

This template is general information, not financial, legal, or tax advice.