Finding the best budget planner can make huge difference in managing your budget
That's why I took the initiative to compare different budget planners to help you come up with a decision on the best budget planner that suits you
There are few affiliate links, if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you
Keep in mind there are so many people will try to convince you that doing your budget on paper is an old fashioned outdated way
They recommend many budget apps as it is more efficient and mistakes free
In fact, I will give you a great advice, it is up to you to use it or not
Maintain a digital copy of your budget like a one built in Excel or Google sheet
At the same time, stick with your paper budget as it helps you to stay focused
You can visit my product page to download your free excel budget and word document for you to print
Anyway, in my post below I will do a comparison to pin point the best budget planner
What is the best budget planner?
Actually every budget planner comes with its unique features
It is very tough to tell which budget planner has the best overall Pros for what customers are really looking for
For example, there are budget planners that are small like a pocket size
That's for a reason which is to make it portable to carry it everywhere and to put it in your handbags for ladies
You see what is considered a feature or pros can be cons for some other users
That's why I encourage you to read all the list of budget planners below
I decide to add Amazon ratings with total number of reviews
Hint, one day I was looking to buy a product and I found an item with 4.6 stars and 100 reviews while the competitive product is 4.5 stars and 3,500 reviews
I ended up buying the 4.5 as it was completely incomparable for total number of reviewers
Dated and Undated Budget Planner
This is my own product that I have been using for long time
If you have access to a printer then print it – they are PDFs
It reduces your stress and overwhelming feeling of how to start budgeting
Buy it now to get the following
- One undated and 3 years budget planners current year and 2 future years
- Undated and dated ones have the following
- One page financial goal
- 12 months with 2 pages side by side starting with month's goals and checklist followed by income and savings and a calendar for the month at the bottom and on the other side the budget for the month
- Monthly budget review
- 2 pages Expense tracker
- 8 pages of saving tracker – each page has 2 saving tracker sections
- 8 pages of debt tracker – each page has 2 debt tracker sections
- 2 pages of Christmas budget
- 2 page summary of the year
- Two budget sheets that you can open in Excel or Google sheets – type your numbers and all required calculations like totals and percentages will happen automatically
- One Microsoft word budget document to customize it to your needs
- 11 printable PDF files
For Only $5
Clever Fox Budget Planner
4.6 out of 5 with 15,465 reviews
This is one of the best budget planner according to its current rating based on thousands of reviews
Clever Fox is a complete budgeting sheets
I don't think you are going to miss any budget form – you are fully covered
One of the customers says that it took him 54 years to figure out that it was a good idea to use Clever Fox as a budget planner
Clever Fox budget planner comes with many pages that includes the following
- Monthly goals for what you want to achieve for current month
- Checklist for what you plan to improve your finances
- Income and savings – usually it is accumulated amounts for up to date values
- Bill Calendar to mark your bills to pay and incoming paychecks
- Financial goals for the year or a period you decide
- Mind map for your achievements
- Strategy – write points you like to follow every time you use your budget planner
- Affirmations – write what you need to remind yourself of – positive quotes and motivational sentences
- Tactics – actions to carry to make more money
- Track your savings throughout the year
- Debt tracker – write down your up to date debt when you pay money
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 86 Budget Stickers Included | Instruction is in tiny font and blurry |
| Pocket for Receipts and Bills | few pages 40 only |
| Quick Start User Manual | Missing an area for a check register |
| No date – you can start anytime | |
| Pen loop and elastic closure |
Clever Fox Budget Book
4.6 out of 5 with 2,973 reviews
This budget book will not only organize your budget but will reduce stress and gives you the sense of full control of your life with light weight of 0.65 LB and comes in variety of different colors
First, it is perfect size as it comes in A5 size with 5.8 inch wide and 8.3 inch long
It comes with 2 sheets of stickers and sturdy inner pocket for your bills
Also it comes with sturdy pen, elastic closure and a ribbon bookmark
What is more important is that it is no bleed paper
It is undated and comes with quick start user manual
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 79 Budget Stickers Included | Binding comes with small font |
| Pocket for Receipts and Bills | |
| Quick Start User Manual | |
| Undated – Start Anytime | |
| Pen loop, elastic closure and ribbon bookmark | |
| Quick start user manual | |
| Weighs 0.65 LB | |
| 12 different colors |
Clever Fox book features
- It starts with My Financial goal page with up to 10 financial goals and the page next to it is My Mind map which is a classic dot grid layout
- Followed by 2 pages one page for Strategy and the opposite page is for Tactics
- Strategy has 2 sections, first section is new skills you need to learn to achieve financial freedom followed by your money affirmation section
- Tactics has 2 sections, first section is actions to take to earn more money followed by actions to take to cut your expenses
- Saving tracker where you write down what you are saving for, amounted needed and due date with 12 rows for each saving within the same month with 12 set of saving tracker pages to cover the whole year
- Debt tracker where you reduce stress and 4 debt tracker sections for the whole year
- Monthly budget page with one page has monthly goals followed by checklist sections and below that 4 rows for both Income and savings side to side and finally followed by a calendar to track your bills and the next page is the budget page
- It comes with 2 pages for Expense tracker for each month with 35 rows in each page
- Monthly budget review where you summarize total of Income, Expenses, difference, total savings and balance forward at end of every month
- At the back of your budget book you have 2 pages for Christmas budget where first page has Christmas budget with 15 rows followed by 15 rows for Christmas gifts and the page next to it is for Christmas spending with 35 rows
- Summary of the year where you list your total for the 12 months for Income, Expenses, Difference and Savings
Simplified Monthly Budget Planner by Zicoto
4.6 out of 5 with 2,885 reviews
Simplified monthly budget planner is an all in one financial planning book
With plenty of room to jot down expenses, you can forecast your budget and then write down what you actually spent.
Also it comes with a section where you can review and journal what happened that month and what did work and what didn't
What can be better than that where you have cute stickers to track your progress
You can start your budget with simplified monthly budget planner any time of the year
- Plan every month with one sheet to track monthly income and monthly savings
- Track daily expenses with one sheet called daily expenses
- Keep an eye on your savings with one sheet called savings tracker
- Track your debt with debt tracker sheet
- Month in review sheet with totals for savings, budget total and expenses amounts
- Year in review sheet to track the whole year
- Financial goal setting
- Strategy and action plans
- Monthly bill tracker
- Saving and debt tracker
- Plus: Christmas tracker to track your best time of the year
- Notes section
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Material is a synthetic leather imitation | Size and space to write is tiny |
| Each month is divided by full pages section | Missing a calendar |
| Multiple blank pages for writing notes | |
| Font is size 12 which is good to read | |
| Undated, you can start anytime |
Legend Budget Planner
4.6 out of 5 with 2,389 reviews
Legend budget planner comes with brilliant white and high quality papers with its embossed design cover that makes it stylish
Plus it comes with beautiful and functional stickers
Along with instruction pamphlet that gives suggestions on everything related to this budget planner
And what you need to know starting from how to get the most from your budget and financial planner
Legend budget planner comes with the following pages
- My life financial plan
- Write down your 1 year financial goals
- Follow your saving goals by using saving tracker
- Paying your debt sheets
- Monthly budget with a calendar on the facing page to track your bills
- Track your expenses during the month by using expense tracker
- Review your budget at month end by using monthly budget review
- Follow up with your monthly bills with regular bill tracker
- Track your progress with monthly and yearly expenses summary
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Bleed resistant paper – it is good at separating water based paints or ink from running into papers | Writing space is somehow small as claimed by few use |
| 190 colorful stickers | |
| Undated – you can start anytime | |
| Ribbon bookmark | |
| Inner pocket | |
| Pen loop and elastic closure | |
| Monthly budget and calendar is side by side |
12 Month Budget Book & Financial Budget Tracker by Erin Condren
4.6 out of 5 with 1,671 reviews
12 Month budget book and financial budget tracker is an alternative to Clever Fox
Great portable size not heavy and with pages that aren't too thin
Durable quality and good layout
This book has the following pages
- Month at a glance – a page that summarizes the total for Income, savings, housing, food, utilities, personal, auto, entertainment, medical and other
- Spending summary pages to track your spending
- Debt tracker
- Expense planner
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| It has 80 pages | Some claimed that this book tears easily |
| Good for entire year You ensure it covers 12 months | |
| Every month colored differently |
Boxclever Press Large Budget Planner with Pockets
4.6 out of 5 with 1,200 reviews
Don't be confused between Boxclever and Clever Fox as names are similar but totally different products
This is a nice undated budgeting book with perfect size and simple layout
It comes with a pocket for every month which makes it perfect for keeping your receipts and paper bills
Boxclever comes with the following features
- Starts with one pages debt tracker with 31 rows
- Side by side with 31 rows for saving tracker
- Bill tracker for all months with 12 columns for each month and your rows are the bills you want to keep track of
- Similar to the above but for Expense tracker for all months with 12 columns for each month
- A page for every month divided into 2 sections monthly income and savings with side by side full page monthly budget
- Labeled for every month day to day spending
- Dedicated page with annual expenses
- Labeled for every month spending totals
- Monthly calendar for enough spaces to track your monthly bills
- Extra expenses page with side by side a page for Christmas budget
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Undated – you can start anytime | Pages are super thick – hard to write on |
| Comes with pocket for every month | |
| 13 sturdy receipt pockets | |
| Reasonable budget book size | |
| Sturdy material |
Planberry Budget Planner
4.6 out of 5 with 45 reviews
It will help transform your approach to spending, making your financial goals an achievable reality
Also with a detailed 12 months sections where each month starts with a spacious monthly calendar, followed by a monthly goals setting section, income, savings, and expense trackers, and a categorized monthly budget table
Planberry planner comes with the following features
- Monthly plan 2 pages for each month divided to month's goals, income, savings, checklist for things to accomplish in that month, regular expenses and on the opposite side the budget categorized by all household expenses with actual and budget amounts
- Monthly budget review page side by side with monetary tips
- My financial goals on one page side by side with my mind map page
- Personal finance strategy on one page side by side with personal finance tactics
- Expense tracker for each month with 2 pages side by side
- Calendar on 2 pages side by side for each month
- Savings tracker for each month with 2 pages side by side
- Debt tracker for each month with 2 pages side by side
- One page divided into 2 sections holiday budget and holiday gifts with side by side holiday spending
- Summary of the year 2 pages side by side enough for 12 months columns
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| It comes with gift box | Comes with one small pocket, for some people it is not enough |
| Colorful stickers | |
| 3 pages of motivating quotes and | |
| Comes with inner pocket to store bills and notes | |
| Undated which makes it flexible |
GoGirl Budget Planner
4.5 out of 5 with 7,633 reviews
With the small and light budget book exactly 5.3 inch wide and 7.7 inch long
You will be able to control spending and track your expenses on the go and it is able to track your budget for one full year
The tiny size comes for a reason to be able to carry it everywhere and easy to fit in ladies handbags
I am not sure the name and design looks like it is a good fit for women
But that doesn't mean that men cannot use it, of course it is for everyone
As it comes with 16 different colors and as the pinky color you see on their amazon description image
And a bleed resistant premium paper with up to 40% thicker paper than most conventional planners
GoGirl book features
- It starts with my financial goals section where you can list up to 7 financial goals
- The page next to the above is my strategy page where it is divided into 3 sections
- First section is the skills you need to develop
- Second section is the actions to take to earn more money
- Third section is the actions to take to cut your expenses
- Then comes the 8 monthly savings trackers and 8 debt trackers – these trackers are great for saving for something especial or paying your debt
- After that comes the monthly budget 2 pages with monthly financial goals section followed by upcoming purchases and beside it an upcoming bills and underneath it 5 lines for income and beside income another 5 lines for savings and finally on the next page is the monthly budget page
- Next comes the expense tracker with 4 pages and each page is 28 rows and that is plenty of room to track your expenses
- After your end your month, it comes with monthly budget review to write your feedback for the month with a list of 3 questions like listing your obstacles for this month, how to improve for next month and goals you can set for next month
- Finally at the end of GoGirl book, it comes with Christmas budget and gifts with 11 rows for each and the page next to it is the Christmas spending with 28 rows
- Last page is summary of the year where you list your totals for income, expenses, difference and savings for each month
Is GoGirl small size a real issue for you?
It is weird that with all these Pros but all the 1 and 2 stars are because of the small size
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy to fit in ladies handbags | Size can be an issue for short sight people |
| Undated – start any time good for one year | |
| Animal-friendly PU leather hardcover | |
| Elastic band and pen holder | |
| 2 bookmarks | |
| Accordion pocket for bills and receipts | |
| Bonus colorful sheet | |
| A quick start user manual filled with examples | |
| 16 different colors |
Budget Planner by Artfan
4.5 out of 5 with 779 reviews
This budget book by Artfan is unique as it comes with attractive colorful pages
It comes with gold lay flat twin-wire where binding allows to open one page at a time
Artfan book is small in size with 5.3 inch wide and 7.6 inch long which makes it a good fit to carry it with you everywhere and in your handbags for ladies
This Artfan budget planner is undated so you can start anytime with a perfect size of 5.3″wide by 7.6″long smaller than A5
It comes with closing function with magnet that makes the budget book close securely
With inner pocket for each month this makes it perfect to keep your receipts and bills
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Undated where you can start anytime | Small size can be an issue |
| Inner pocket for each month | |
| Comes with magnet that makes book close securely | |
| Annual bill tracker for 12 months page |
As shown below, Artfan planner comes with annual bill tracker and expenses budget
Also 12 months of monthly budget planner and expense tracking
You will be able to keep track your progress by using monthly income and monthly regular payments that comes at the beginning of every month
It comes with spend totals pages and Monthly overview
At the end, special part for Christmas spending
Budget Planner by Feela
4.5 out of 5 with 383 reviews
This undated
It also comes with a colorful sticker to make it easy and fun, made of faux leather hardcover
Regarding its measurement, it is 8.2 inch long and 5.6 inch wide equivalent to A5
When you buy this planner package, it comes with the following
- One undated budget planner enough for 12 months each include one date page, one monthly plan, one monthly budget, 3 expense tracker, one monthly budget overview and one dotted page
- A user manual
- One multi color ball point pen
- 3 sheets of budget stickers – total of 249 stickers
- It comes with one financial goal, one strategy, 4 savings tracker, 4 debt tracker
- At the end, it comes with one holiday budget, one holiday spending, 2 regular bill tracker, 2 summary of the year and one dotted page
- One back pocket, one pen holder and 2 bookmarks with elastic closure
- 6 budget envelopes
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Undated where you can start anytime | Envelope holder in the back is not sturdy It can come apart easily |
| 249 stickers which is more than enough | |
| 2 bookmarks with elastic closure | |
| One back pocket | |
| 6 budget envelopes |
Budget planner by Nokingo
4.8 out of 5 with 227 reviews
It comes with monthly tabs to find where you are easily with back pocket and flexible cover and twin wire binding
Easy to organize your life with 8.5 inch long and 6.5 inch wide
- Yearly overview for 2 years calendar
Law of Attraction Budget & Wealth Planner
4.8 out of 5 with 48 reviews
I know it is a weird name but it has the highest reviews
With size of 8.3 inch long and 5.8 inch wide equivalent to A5 with vegan friendly
It also comes with financial guide booklet
As I mentioned earlier, I couldn't rank it on top as low number of reviews is not enough to judge the item
Anyway this deluxe top quality undated budget and wealth planner ideal for women and men will show you the way to really master your financial success
You have a solid way to pay off your debt, increase savings, build emergency fund and track your expenses
If you buy this
- One undated monthly budget and wealth planner enough to cover 12 months
- Each month has monthly goals, upcoming bills and expenses, monthly balance sheet and full 2 page of monthly calendar side by side with income and saving tracker down below along with a dotted part in the bottom
- Comes with the millionaire secrets booklet
- Inner pockets
- 3 sheets of colorful budget stickers
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Undated where you can start anytime | Couple of misspelling in some stickers |
| Elastic closure | |
| 3 sheets of stickers | |
| Inner pockets |
DebtorEdu Budget Planner
4.3 out of 5 with 364 reviews
This planner has all the tools you need to manage your budget and it is undated
This means you can start any time during the year
And completely portable as it measures 8.5 inch long and 6.5 inch wide
Protected by scratch resistant and covered with golden metal corners and inner pocket to help you store your receipts and bills
It is packed with 12 months with pages for financial planning and 2 free stickers
Where it offers the ability to set realistic money goals, manage your budget, track your spending and log your bank accounts
Equipped with money challenges, so you can also participate in saving challenges
It also comes with instruction on how to use your budget planner
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Protected by scratch resistant cover | One buyer complained that it is not suitable for students |
| Covered with golden metal corners | |
| Inner pocket to store your receipts and bills | |
| Comes with 52 weeks money saving challenge |
How do you prepare your budget?
Before I finish I think it's good to cover few points on how to prepare your budget
1- Start by setting up your financial goals
Like what do you want to achieve by writing all you want to achieve
Why you want to save money? what you would do with that money?
2- Figure out how much you earn
I meant here your net income as known as your take home pay
3- Track your spending for the future by writing them when they happen
The best way to speculate how much you will spend on each category is to get all the expenses which were already made from your debt and credit cards
Collect 3-6 months and come up with average
4- Make a plan to track your spending daily or every 3 days and to look at your monthly budget to assess if you are on track or not
5- Adjust your spending habits according to your current status
6- Review your budget at end of the month to see your progress and how to fix any issues in future months
Michael launched Wealth of Geeks to make personal finance fun. He has worked in personal finance for over 20 years, helping families reduce taxes, increase their income, and save for retirement. Michael is passionate about personal finance, side hustles, and all things geeky.