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Free Budget!  There is no such thing as a free budget that is going to meet your needs! I can give you free budget spreadsheets, templates, worksheets, and software, but realize that a budget is a careful plan.  It is unique in that it is your plan.  No one can develop that careful financial plan for you.  They can provide guidelines and tools to assist you, but it must be your effort.

There are three steps essential to making a good budget.  You must define your goals.  You must assess your current situation then determine your direction.  Finally, you must live with that budget.  That means, you must monitor, assess, and adjust your budget to meet your financial needs and wants.

There are free tools to help you organize and prioritize your goals.  They may assist you in defining your goals, but your goals are unique.  You have to decide how you are going to live your financial life.  You must decide if you want to be debt free.  You decide when you want to retire.  Do you want to retire at 45, 55, 65, 75, or never?  Only you know.  Do you intend to rent or buy a home?  Do you want to have a new car every year, every three years or never?  Do you intend to have children, and how will you provide for their education?  These are some of the goals that you might be considering.  No one can give them to you for free.  Only you can define these goals.  Only you can prioritize these goals. Someone may give you tools to help you organize and prioritize, but this is a process that you must do on your own or as a couple.

There are free tools to help you assess your current situation.  As a matter of fact, you probably already have some of them on your computer.  Microsoft Word, Works, and Excel all have spreadsheets with budget templates to help you develop a budget that will suit your needs.  Also, there are many online sites that offer worksheets, templates, and even software.  You must realize that many of these online sites have a catch.  You may be required to register, subscribe, or even sign up for a free trial.  The reality is that these are only tools to aid you in developing a budget.  You must take the time, and make the effort to find out where you stand with your spending.  You must then, while considering your goals, assign your spending to required categories, as well as desired categories.  The only thing free is the tools.  The tools may make the job easier but you must do the work.

The final requirement for a good budget is that you must live it.  You have to monitor your budget.  You have to watch where your money goes.  You have to decide if how much and where you are spending is meeting your goals.  You may find it necessary to make adjustments.  You may decide to reprioritize your spending as your goals change. You must realize that a budget is not static.  It is not something that you set up, and then forget.  It must be something that is fluid and changeable to meet your needs and wishes as your life changes.

There is no such thing as a free budget.  There are a lot of good free tools to help you develop a budget.  Use them wisely.  The result should be a good budget, and is well worth the effort.