Created by The Productivity Co.

This will walk you through how to use the Budget Planner (Minimalist) Notion template.

<aside> <img src="/icons/help-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/help-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> How To Use This Template

1. Copy this template to your workspace by pressing the Duplicate button at the top.

Or by selecting Duplicate Page in the 3-Dot Menu on Mobile.

2. The pages are Locked by default. If you need to make any edits, you can Unlock the page by clicking on the 3-Dot Menu and selecting Unlock Page.

3. The main Dashboard contains buttons on the left-hand side of the view, as well as information on Accounts, Categories, Income, Expenses, Revenue, Payees, Payors, and a place to access all Databases at the bottom.

<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> You can use this Budget Planner without having to access the Databases. Everything is controlled with the Dashboard and buttons. The only time you may want to access the Databases is if you need to delete items or want to input lots of information in a Table view.

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4. Click the Add Account button on the left-hand side of the screen to add a new account. Change [Account Name Here] with the name of the account. The accounts will automatically populate in the Accounts section of the Dashboard.

5. Here you can see three Accounts have been added: Checking, Savings, and Cash.

6. You may already have money in your accounts and so you need to add a Starting Balance for that account. Click the Add Income button. Change [Add Income Here] with the name “Starting Balance”. Then give it a Date, the starting balance Amount, select the Account and choose Starting Balance for Revenue. This creates a Starting Balance amount that is shown under the Accounts and Income sections but does not calculate for the Revenue categories.

7. When you add new Income you will need to create Revenue categories. These represent the type of Revenue that you have received and will be calculated in the Revenue section of the dashboard. This makes it easy to see which types of activities are paying you the most. If the Revenue category isn’t already created, give it a new name and select “+ New [Name] in Revenue” from the dropdown menu.

8. You can also give the Income a Payor name so that you can see the people or companies that are paying you. If there is no Payor name, then give it a new name and select “+ New [Name] in Payor” from the dropdown menu.

9. You can also add any Receipts and Notes to the Income to keep track of information easier.

10. Now you can see on the Dashboard that the Account has been updated with the new Income. There are two incomes listed under the Income section for quick reference. The Revenue category is updated and finally, the Payor section is also updated.

<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> If you already know the Revenue categories and/or Payors for your income, then you can add those quickly with the Add Revenue and Add Payor buttons on the left-hand side of the screen.

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11. To add expenses just click the Add Expense button on the left-hand side of the menu. This will be similar to how you add income. Change [Add Expense Here] to the name of the expense, then fill out the Date, Amount, Account, expense Category, Payee, Receipts, and any Notes that you’d like to include.

12. Looking at the bottom of the Dashboard, you can see that I have added three expenses: Gas, Water Bill, and Groceries. Three Payees have been created so that as you have the same expenses from the same companies happening over and over again, you can track how much you’ve paid them for the month.

13. At the top of the Dashboard, you can see that the Categories for the expenses section have been populated. Also, the Checking account has been adjusted based on the Income and Expenses that have been added to the databases.

14. Fill in the Budget Amount on the Dashboard of how much you think you will spend in the current month. For example, I double-clicked the Budget Amount column for Food and typed the $500.00 that I’m planning on spending on food for the month. So far, $280.00 has been spent on Food shown in the Monthly Amount leaving a Budget Balance of $220.00 left for the rest of the month.

15. Just like with the Income, if you already know the expense Categories and Payees that you’ll be using then you can use the Add Category and Add Payee buttons on the left-hand side of the screen to add those quickly.

Something else to keep in mind. I like to keep my Dashboard locked because it looks cleaner. However, it will come Unlocked so that you can manually type in the Budget Amount right on the Dashboard. After you’ve inputted that information, I recommend Locking down the page so that you don’t accidentally change anything.

Also, the Dashboard shows everything in a Monthly view. Once the month turns over to the next month, the information will reset. However, you may need to change your budget numbers if you need to make any adjustments.

If you have any questions or find any errors in the template then feel free to reach out! :)

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