Make a small planned-versus-actual budget and inspect the arithmetic.
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.
Use this template to organize available money and costs for one planning period. Keep unknown amounts blank and enter zero only when it is the amount you intend. Use one currency throughout. The blank workbook can be extended with categories, but check that added formulas and totals still include the intended rows.
Connect it to the decision
The original example illustrates the difference between a plan and the later record. Review why amounts differ and choose a next planning adjustment. The template does not select financial products or tell you how to allocate the remaining amount.
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
Pick one period and currency. Write down the money available for that period.
Enter planned and actual amounts for the four categories. Enter 0 where there is no amount; keep unknown amounts blank.
Review the remaining amount and one change to try. The worksheet organizes your estimates; it does not choose a financial product.
Read an original worked example
Hypothetical monthly example: available money is 1,500 planned and actual. Housing is 700/700; food 250/280; transport 100/90; other costs 150/160. Planned costs total 1,200; actual costs total 1,230. Remaining amounts are 300 and 270.
Answers stay in this page’s browser memory. Reloading or resetting clears them. Print or export explicitly to keep a copy.
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Use one currency throughout. Enter 0 for an amount that does not apply.
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Download an original blank template
Downloads include evergreen instructions and a labeled original example. They do not contain your current answers.