In case you haven't read this in previous posts, I spent about two decades teaching upper elementary grades before making the decision to retire a bit earlier than planned to care for a loved one following some major health challenges. I didn’t retire with a big nest egg or fancy investments, but I was committed to living debt-free—my house, car, and credit cards were all paid off when I left my job.
Being single, without kids, I was able to save a significant portion of my earnings over the years, even though teaching isn’t exactly a high-paying career. I started out making what most new teachers do and never quite reached the bigger salary milestones, despite furthering my education and taking on extra coursework.
From the start, I chose to be “house poor”—I saved up after college and put everything I could toward buying my own place, then focused on paying it down as fast as possible. Even though my first home wasn’t fully paid off, selling it allowed me to move into my dream home, and for years, the mortgage took up more than half my income. That meant I had to become creative and resourceful with my budget, learning how to stretch every dollar.
After some difficult family losses, I was fortunate to pay off my house completely. This transformed my financial life, and those monthly payments that used to eat up my earnings were suddenly gone, making saving much easier.
So when life threw another curveball and someone close needed a daily caretaker, I was able to step in. It isn’t always easy, but honestly, I find a lot of joy and fulfillment in these moments—sharing games, meals, and laughs every day. I truly believe that creating financial breathing room allowed me to show up for my loved ones and live a more meaningful life.
So today, I find myself approximately at the midpoint between the date I left teaching and the day I start collecting my pension, a time span of 14 years! I tell you all of this because I want you to look at my long-term budget planner that considers what my expenses have looked like over the past seven years, and what expenses are expected to look like over the next seven years. If I estimate correctly, I will be better able to ration my savings long enough to make it to the promised land! If not, I can always get a part-time job since I am free nearly everyday in the afternoon. (I also take on contract jobs that add a little bit of cash to the kitty.) Let's take a look at a portion of this planner:
The image above shows my expenses each year, totaled from the budget I showed in the last blog post. The "Total Expenses" column adds up all of the individual categories to show just how much money I spent for that year (it accounts for everything). Therefore, this number in the "Total Expenses" column is the minimum targeted income that I have for the year. If I don't make at least that much, I will have dipped into my savings.
Each of these values auto-populate themselves from the other worksheet, and it's a simple copy-paste to do successive years. Therefore, I can look at my current rate of spending to see if I will stay within budget or if I need to cut costs somewhere.
In addition to the image above, I have an entire section that attempts to track all of my income, separated out by each main source of that income. Therefore, I can project if each source is expected to increase, decrease, end or begin! I have columns for the following income sources that have either existed in the past seven years, the present, or the future:
- The main column in this section is called, "Target Income" and that is a number based on the average amount of money I've spent each year over the past three years, plus 5% to account for inflation. This is the amount of income I attempt to earn each year so I don't have to dip into my savings. I don't always make it though, and that's when my savings accounts start to recede.
- In the first part of this section, I have big picture income sources (general, not specific).
- I have a column called "Typical Income without Trying" and this is the minimum amount of money that I seem to make each year whether I try or not. It's the minimum amount of income I've had on my tax returns. Other columns will specify how I earned those dollars.
- I have a column for my pension, which I won't start collecting until I am 56. But those dollars are filled in for those years, including the expected raises after 7 years and COLA raises after that.
- I have a column for my small social security paycheck, which I won't start collecting until I am 67. But those dollars are filled in for those years, including the COLA raises each year.
- I compare those three columns to the "Target Income" column and find out if that's enough income to break even. The amount above or below my target is expressed in a final column called "Additional Income Needed." Sadly, all of these numbers are positive, which means I always need to earn additional money in order to break even.
- In the second part of this section, I have specific income sources identified and populated with numbers that I've entered in other worksheets in this spreadsheet, or directly on this worksheet.
- I have ten specific income "sources" and they're labeled on my spreadsheet. Some of these sources have come and gone, but lasted at least a few years. Some of these sources have yet to begin, but are anticipated based on my current work towards that income. All of the other sources are active and reporting income.
- I have one additional income source labeled "Other Income, including gifts" which simply keeps track of all the income I have that can't be categorized in any of the other columns. This includes contract jobs, presentations, workshops, bank bonuses, credit card bonuses, bank interest, gifts, governmental stimuli, etc.
- I have a column that adds all eleven income sources called "Total Income (Use tax return)" which attempts to accurately calculate my adjusted gross income before I complete my income taxes (it's usually close).
- I also have a column that is called "Total Income after Taxes (Use tax return)" which I simply fill in after doing my taxes because the tax rate is often different each year for me.
- Finally, I subtract the "Total Expenses" value from the "Total Income after Taxes (Use tax return)" value to see if I cleared enough money to account for all of my expenses. (The first two years of my retirement, I did, but haven't since.)
That's a lot of information thrown at you in a very fast way, but I hope you can use some of the ideas to create your own budget that works for you! Here are some ways that you can create your own budget online for free. I use the first suggestion:
Free Spreadsheet Options
- Excel (Microsoft Office/OneDrive): Microsoft offers a range of free downloadable budget templates that work seamlessly with Excel online via OneDrive. Users can pick from personal, household, student, annual, and zero-based budget sheets—to start, download a template from Microsoft Create or Office's template library and customize with individual income/expense categories.
- Google Sheets: Like Excel, Google Sheets also provides free monthly and yearly budget templates accessible from Google Drive. These sheets can be customized to your needs, collaborate in real-time, and offer similar formula features as Excel.
- LibreOffice Calc, WPS Spreadsheets, and Zoho Sheets: All three are free spreadsheet platforms that support budget tracking. They are suitable alternatives if you want open-source software or prefer working outside the Microsoft/Google ecosystems.
- Canva: Canva's website provides free, customizable online budget templates you can edit and export for use in various spreadsheet platforms.
Free Budgeting Apps and Websites
- Goodbudget: A simple web and mobile application using the envelope budgeting method—ideal for dividing funds into spending categories. The free plan supports enough envelopes for most users.
- PocketGuard: A user-friendly app for expense tracking and budgeting, which even allows importing budget history from Mint. The basic version is free and suitable for most personal finance needs.
- EveryDollar: Dave Ramsey’s budgeting app (free version) is straightforward and manual-entry focused, without automatic syncing but sufficient for essential tracking.
- Fudget: An easy-to-use app with a minimalist approach for basic budgeting on web and mobile.
- Rocket Money: Best known for tracking subscriptions, the free plan also helps manage expenses and income goals.
- Monefy: Popular for simple mobile-based expense and budget recording.
- Empower: Formerly Personal Capital, Empower provides free expense and budgeting tools, with paid options for investment management.
- Debt Free Millennials Toolkit: Offers a free Google Sheets/Excel template with a full tutorial for download and budgeting guidance.
Getting Started Tips
- Choose a spreadsheet or app that fits your workflow (Excel/Google Sheets for customization and manual control; apps for automation and tracking).
- Download and customize a template—enter income, set expense categories, and record transactions.
- If using an app, explore envelope budgets, automated tracking, or collaborative features for partners/family.
These were generated by an AI, so please let me know if any of them no longer work, or if you've tried any of them successfully by adding a comment below!
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