Household Budget Planner (UK) | Monthly & Yearly Budget, Council Tax, Energy, Excel

Money in, money out, what's left, month by month and for the whole year: one Excel workbook that does the maths and tells you what to look at, with a 20-page guide to use it.

The Household Budget Planner (UK) is a budget spreadsheet in pounds, with no macros, for Excel 2016 or later. It arrives filled with a fictitious household (Margaret, retired, living alone, homeowner in England) so you can see every calculation before you type your own numbers. The budget year can start in April, like the tax year, or any month you choose.

What you get

• Household-Budget-Planner-UK.xlsx – 16 tabs, native formulas only:
  • Start Here: the 6-step start, colour key, what the workbook does not do.
  • Dashboard: the year in 18 numbers, 15 calculated checks with what to do, your 5 biggest categories, 2 native charts.
  • Profile: your profile and a second adult's, housing, nation, whether you live alone, car, alert thresholds, the tabs that matter for you and official rights and tools to check (links).
  • Income: every take-home source with real paydays (weekly, fortnightly, every 4 weeks, monthly): the extra payday shows up where it lands; irregular income is smoothed.
  • Monthly Budget: 12 months of planned (calculated) and actual (typed) spending by category, fixed bills, left after fixed bills, balance, savings rate.
  • Sinking Funds: MOT, servicing, tyres, boiler, gifts… what to set aside each month, status, 12-month calendar and the balance of your pot.
  • Bills & Subscriptions: yearly cost, commitment end, renewals, "Do I use it?", your decision and the saving it brings.
  • Council Tax: your band, the charge from your bill, the discount or exemption to check, 10 or 12 instalments, or smoothed over 12 months with a small pot.
  • Groceries: unit price checker per kg, litre or item, weekly list, receipts (they make the actual Groceries line), simple meal plan.
  • Energy: meter readings, yearly cost with your own unit rates and standing charges, catch-up or credit vs your Direct Debit, the Ofgem price cap of 1 October – 31 December 2026 as a dated reference.
  • Car: real cost per year, per month and per mile for one or two cars, and the next MOT date.
  • Debts: balance, APR, interest this month, months to pay off, payoff date, interest left; payments as a share of take-home pay (information only).
  • Savings & Goals: emergency fund in months of spending (your setting), a simple tracker of your accounts, the ISA allowance used this tax year, goals with the monthly amount they need.
  • My Inflation: your own basket priced twice and your top price rises.
  • References and Lists: the dated official figures the formulas read, with their source, and the drop-down lists.
• Household-Budget-Planner-Guide-UK.pdf – 20 A4 pages: how to use each tab with real screenshots, the extra payday, council tax discounts and exemptions, the price cap explained, a yearly calendar, 6 fictitious mini budgets (one per profile), 22 money-saving ideas backed by dated sources or shown as common sense, free public help and official links.

Calculated, not declared

The planned amount of every month (bills, debts, council tax and sinking funds linked), what is left after fixed bills, the balance and savings rate, the council tax instalments or smoothed amount, the monthly amount for each sinking fund and the pot balance, the yearly cost of your bills and the saving of your decisions, unit prices, the energy catch-up ahead, the car's cost per mile, the next MOT date, payoff dates, your ISA allowance left, your personal inflation and 15 checks. In the example, the energy readings point to a catch-up of about £158.78 over a year: a calculation on fictitious data, not a promise.

What it does not do

• No bank connection: you type your numbers, nothing leaves your computer.
• No personal advice: it organises and calculates, you decide.
• No tax or benefit calculation: it links to the official tools (GOV.UK benefits calculators, MoneyHelper budget planner).
• No recommendation of any investment, financial product or provider.
• No regional energy rates, MOT fees or vehicle tax rates: you type yours. Official figures are dated 18 October 2026 and do not update themselves; the next price cap is a "to check" cell with the Ofgem link.

Quality

No macros, no add-ins. Built in Excel with functions that Google Sheets also supports (no macros, no XLOOKUP, LET, LAMBDA or dynamic arrays). If you import it into Google Sheets, check charts, colours and drop-down lists after import. Drop-down lists, frozen panes, conditional formatting, print areas. Recalculated in Excel with 0 formula errors and checked against an independent calculation of the sample data.

Personal use for your own household · resale and redistribution prohibited