A free fortnightly budget template for Australians, designed for Microsoft Excel (.xlsx). Use it whether you're paid weekly, fortnightly, every four weeks or monthly. Plan what each pay needs to cover (bills, groceries, transport and savings), then see what you actually spent against your plan on one simple dashboard. In Australian dollars, with no bank login.
Writing a budget is the easy part. Knowing whether you actually stuck to it is where most spreadsheets leave you guessing.
Pages of categories and formulas make it hard to know where to start, so it never gets started.
You finish the fortnight still unsure: did you stay on track, and where did it go over?
It's set to fortnightly. Change it if you’re paid weekly, every 4 weeks or monthly.
Add your take-home pay, rent or mortgage, bills, groceries, transport and savings for this pay period.
During the fortnight, type what you really spent into the yellow Actual column.
Planned vs actual for every category, with each one marked under, on track or over.
Your pay minus planned spending and planned savings. You can see this before you have spent anything.
Your pay minus the spending you have entered and your planned savings. Until every planned category has an actual amount, treat it as an estimate.
A positive figure means you are under budget. A negative figure means you are over. The dashboard also counts how many categories went over plan.
You type your own amounts. There is no bank import or bank login. Designed for Microsoft Excel (.xlsx).
This is a complete, working Excel budget template, given away free. It began as the spreadsheet I wanted when I first tried to get on top of our single-income household, useful enough on its own that you never have to buy a thing.
The Free Fortnightly Budget works one pay at a time. It does not convert monthly bills for you: you type in the amount you want to set aside from each pay yourself.
To estimate a fortnightly amount, multiply the monthly bill by 12, then divide by 26 (there are 26 fortnights in a year):
$150 a month × 12 ÷ 26 = about $69.23 a fortnight
For the full explanation, including why simply halving a monthly bill doesn't quite work, read how to budget fortnightly when your bills are monthly.
The free spreadsheet is a complete budget on its own. Plus is for households who want to import and sort bank transactions, enter each cost at its own frequency, track savings goals and see more detail about where their money goes.
| Feature | Free Fortnightly Budget | Fortnightly Budget Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, with email sign-up | $12.95 |
| Pay cycle | Weekly, fortnightly, every 4 weeks or monthly | Weekly, fortnightly or monthly |
| How you enter costs | One planned amount per pay for each category | Each cost at its own frequency: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly or yearly |
| Spending categories | 23 | Over 30, with spare lines for your own |
| Planned vs actual | For each category, with under, on track or over | For each category, shown weekly, fortnightly or monthly |
| Savings | A savings amount for each pay | A Savings Goals tab with target, date and amount to set aside |
| Overspending | Each category marked under, on track or over | Biggest overspends ranked, plus the largest single cost in each category from imported transactions |
| Dashboard | Included | Included |
| Bank transaction import | Not included. You type your actual spending. | Import up to 800 transactions, sorted into your categories |
Start with the free one. If you outgrow it, Fortnightly Budget Plus is the paid fortnightly budget planner for households who want optional transaction import, more detailed budget vs actual analysis, over 30 renameable spending categories and savings goals.
The Free Fortnightly Budget is made by Alex, the founder of Money Detective, for Australian households working out their money one pay at a time. Read more about Money Detective. Trouble opening or downloading the file? Download & Support has the answers.
Yes. No payment. Enter your email and you'll go straight to your download.
Yes. The spreadsheet starts with a fortnightly pay cycle, but you can change it to weekly, every four weeks or monthly. Enter your plan and actual spending for the same pay period so you can compare them clearly. If you are paid fortnightly but your bills are monthly, see how to budget fortnightly when your bills are monthly.
Yes. It is a free budget template for Excel, designed for Microsoft Excel (.xlsx). Download the .xlsx file and open it in Microsoft Excel. Other spreadsheet applications are not supported, and we can't guarantee the dropdown, chart or formulas will work in them.
Multiply the monthly amount by 12, then divide by 26. For example, a $150 monthly bill is about $69.23 a fortnight. The free spreadsheet doesn't do this conversion for you, so type the per-pay amount into your plan. See the quick explanation above.
The free spreadsheet plans and tracks one pay at a time, with one amount per category. Fortnightly Budget Plus lets you enter each cost at its own frequency (weekly to yearly), adds bank transaction import, a Savings Goals tab and ranks your biggest overspends. Compare them side by side.
Not in the free spreadsheet. You type what you spent straight into the yellow Actual column. Fortnightly Budget Plus can import your bank transactions and sort them into categories for you.
No. Nothing connects to your accounts. Anything you add, you add yourself, so your data stays in your own file.
No. This is an educational budgeting tool, not personalised financial advice.
For savings goals and bills with different payment frequencies, explore Fortnightly Budget Plus, the paid upgrade. If your question is what you can spend before your next pay, start with the free Payday Check. The free budget is yours to keep either way. Not sure which expenses to include? Use the Australian household bills checklist as a prompt.
Plan your next fortnight and see how your spending compares. Your free spreadsheet is ready to download after email sign-up.
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