Joint budget template

Compare planned and actual shared costs using one agreed scope, period, and currency.

Prepared by Good Next Move editorial · Original editorial guidance and examples prepared with AI assistance. Provider facts are shown separately with their dated source evidence; these pages do not claim personal testing or professional credentials.

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When to use this tool

Use this template after agreeing on what belongs in the shared plan. The available-money fields can represent agreed contributions rather than complete household income; label the scope so both people interpret the numbers the same way. Enter each shared expense once and keep transfers distinct from new expenses.

Connect it to the decision

The downloadable workbook gives you a blank planning sheet and an invented example. The remaining amount is arithmetic within the entered scope; it is not a recommendation about spending, savings, debt, tax, or contribution fairness.

Questions to resolve

Do my worksheet answers become site content?

No. The tool uses your entries in browser memory. Use the explicit print or export action if you want a copy, and reset to clear the workspace.

What does a blank amount or answer mean?

Blank means not entered or unknown. Use zero only when that is the actual amount you intend; the calculation asks for required inputs instead of silently assuming them.

Your worksheet

How to use it

  1. Agree on the shared scope and planning period. Include only money available for that scope.
  2. Enter planned and actual amounts in one currency. Enter 0 where there is no amount; blank means not entered.
  3. Compare available money with the four cost categories, then record the change you want to discuss. Add more categories in the downloadable workbook if useful.
Read an original worked example

Hypothetical monthly example: available money is 2,000 planned and 2,000 actual. Housing is 1,000/1,000; food 400/450; transport 200/180; other costs 100/120. Planned costs total 1,700; actual costs total 1,750. Remaining amounts are 300 and 250.

Answers stay in this page’s browser memory. Reloading or resetting clears them. Print or export explicitly to keep a copy.

Use one currency throughout. Enter 0 for an amount that does not apply.

Download an original blank template

Downloads include evergreen instructions and a labeled original example. They do not contain your current answers.

Understand the choices behind this tool

Relevant resources to inspect

YNAB

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EveryDollar

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