Essential Money Tools to Manage Your Finances Every Day
One lesson I learned right after college was that money doesn’t manage itself. You must understand where it goes and why. Here’s where using spreadsheets for budgeting, a checkbook, mortgage, car loans, and credit card debt can be put to work, helping you make better financial decisions. Considering a mortgage refinance? Open the Real Estate spreadsheet, enter a few parameters, get the new payment and savings over the life of the loan, before making a decision. Once the tools are on your computer and easily accessible, you'll be able to manage your money better. Here are some examples of the spreadsheets available:
The FREE Credit Card Calculator shows the impact of different debt repayment strategies – just enter the amount owed, interest rate, and payment, and see the results.
With the FREE Checkbook Register, you can record transactions and total them in categories to set up your budget. Put the spreadsheet on your desktop for a quick look at your current and future balance as you enter transactions – something your online banking app can’t do.
The Advanced Budget spreadsheet also puts your annual finances on 1 page, making it easy to update throughout the year. Simply enter your income and deductions from your check stub, then balance them against your expenses, which you can custom-plan month by month. It also includes tabs for calculating car loans, mortgages, home equity loans, and travel.
The Ultimate Budget spreadsheet, shown below, includes all the capabilities of the Advanced Budget and provides a Federal and State tax estimate tied into the budget. You'll see the impact of the standard deduction vs. itemizing, tax savings from additional 401(k) contributions, how much Social Security is taxed, Roth conversions, and much more.
The FREE Net Worth spreadsheet allows you to calculate and track your net worth over the years to ensure your liabilities are not increasing financial risk.
Easy to Use Spreadsheets with Instructions and Examples
Each of the FREE or Advanced Essential Money Tools spreadsheets begins with a README tab that provides an overview of the tool's setup and usage, as well as a completed example tab that displays the spreadsheet's results once it is finished. The spreadsheets are compatible with Microsoft Excel and the free LibreOffice and OpenOffice applications. There's no subscription or license. Just download them to your desktop or laptop computer.
The FREE Simple Budget - Monthly spreadsheet puts your annual finances on 1 page, making it easy to update throughout the year. Simply enter your income and deductions from your check stub, then balance them against your planned month-by-month expenses. Graphs show income/deductions vs. expenses and cumulative spending and income throughout the year. Single & Couple tabs provided.
TM Tools, LLC ©2026