Sinking Funds Tracker spreadsheet
Save for every big expense before it arrives. List what's coming, from car insurance to holidays to a new laptop, and the tracker tells you how much to put away each month, whether you're on track, and when each fund will be ready.
Get the tracker ($6) Instant download · Excel (.xlsx) · tested in Excel · no macros
What's inside
- Funds tab: up to 30 sinking funds and savings goals. Enter a goal, a due date (or leave it blank for open-ended funds like car repairs), what's already saved, and what you plan to save per month.
- Calculated for every fund: saved so far, still needed, progress, months left, the amount needed per month, the month it will be fully funded at your current plan, and a status: On track, Behind, Due now, or Funded.
- The number for your budget: the total you need to save each month across all funds, next to what you plan to save and the gap.
- Log: 1,500 rows for deposits and withdrawals, with a fund dropdown. Spent money from a fund? Log it as a negative amount. Entries for a fund that isn't on your list are flagged.
- Year view: money in and out of each fund for every month, balances at year end, and a chart of your total savings.
- Saved vs goal chart, a step-by-step "Start Here" tab, and a filled-in sample to show how it works.
No macros, no add-ons, and no sign-up. It's plain formulas you can inspect and edit. Every formula is tested against thousands of sample funds before release.
Why sinking funds work
Most budget-busting bills aren't surprises. Car insurance renews on the same date every six months, the holidays come every December, and cars always need tires eventually. A sinking fund spreads each of those costs over the months before it's due. $720 of car insurance due in six months becomes $120 a month. When the bill arrives, you pay it from savings instead of a credit card.
One goal is easy to do in your head. Ten goals with different due dates aren't, especially once you start spending from some of them. That's what the tracker is for. You can keep all the money in one savings account; the tracker shows how much of the balance belongs to each fund.
Only saving for one thing? The free savings goal calculator works out the monthly amount, including interest.
FAQ
Does it work in Google Sheets?
It's made for Microsoft Excel and tested there: we recalculate every formula in Excel and check the results. It uses only standard functions (like SUMIFS, INDEX, and MATCH) that have been in Excel since 2010 and that Google Sheets and LibreOffice also have, with no macros, so you can upload it to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. We haven't tested every feature in Google Sheets or LibreOffice yet, though, and some formatting may look different there. The small progress bars may not show outside Excel; the percentages always do.
How is "needed per month" worked out?
It takes what's still needed and divides it by the deposits you can still make before the month the money is due, counting this month. On March 10, a bill due July 1 leaves four deposits: March, April, May, and June.
What happens after I pay the bill?
Log the payment as a negative amount. For a cost that repeats, like an insurance premium, change the due date to the next one, and the fund starts filling up again.
What if it doesn't work for me?
Contact us through the purchase receipt and we'll help, or refund you.