The blog
Guides about budgeting spreadsheets, written the way we'd explain them to a friend. No invented statistics, no scare tactics.
The best free budget spreadsheets in 2026, honestly reviewed
The best free budget spreadsheet in 2026 is the one already built into the tool you use: Google Sheets' Monthly Budget template if you live in Google, Microsoft's Excel budget templates if you live in Office. Both are genuinely good, and for a lot of people they are the whole answer — you do not need to buy anything.
Last updated: August 2026
Tiller vs a one-time budget spreadsheet: an honest comparison
Tiller is worth it if you want your transactions imported automatically and you are happy to pay for that every year. A one-time spreadsheet is worth it if you would rather spend ten seconds a day typing numbers than connect your bank and pay a subscription.
Last updated: August 2026
Why most budgets die by March — and the 10-second rule that fixes it
Most budgets do not die because the numbers were wrong; they die because updating them took too long. The fix is to make your budget simple enough to update in about ten seconds a day, so it survives the weeks when you cannot be bothered.
Last updated: August 2026
Fortnightly budget template: why monthly budgets break on a fortnightly pay cycle
Monthly budget templates break on a fortnightly pay cycle because there are 26 pays in a year and only 12 months, so two months each year contain three pays and the rest contain two. The fix is to budget per pay instead of per month, and to smooth bills into a per-fortnight set-aside.
Last updated: August 2026
Debt snowball vs avalanche: which one actually gets paid off?
The avalanche method costs you less in interest, and the snowball method is easier to stick with. In the worked example below, the entire difference between them was $161.25 and one month — about $5.20 a month — which is why the honest answer is "pick the one you'll actually finish."
Last updated: August 2026
Which 52-week savings challenge should you actually do?
Do The Reverse if you want the full $1,378 without the December problem, and The Gentle if $1,378 is more than your budget can spare. All four versions work; the only one that fails is the one you abandon in November.
Last updated: August 2026