Black Friday budget spreadsheet

Black Friday deals are only a deal if they were on the list. Setting one holiday budget and writing down every person you are buying for before the sales start is the simplest way to avoid the January money hangover.

The Christmas Gift Budget Tracker does the adding up for you. Set your total holiday budget, list each recipient with a gift idea and a budget, and record the actual cost when you buy. The dashboard shows spent, remaining, gifts bought and days until Christmas, and an over-budget list shows which gifts went over and by how much. Decorations, food, travel, cards and wrapping get their own budgets and a 150-row purchase log.

It works in Excel and Google Sheets and comes with a blank tracker and a filled-in example. The Holiday Planner Bundle adds the holiday meal planner, the 2027 budget planner and the 2027 goal and habit tracker.

What you get

You get two files, a blank template and a filled-in example, plus a Start Here guide. Open them in Microsoft Excel, or upload them to Google Drive and open them with Google Sheets (free). You type in the input cells; the formulas, totals and charts update themselves.

Tips

• Fill in your gift list and budgets before Black Friday, not during it.
• Log each purchase the same day, with the store, so returns are easy to find.
• Check the over-budget list before buying anything not on the list.