Baby Budget Planner Spreadsheet

Who it’s for

It’s made for expecting parents who want to know what the baby will cost before the baby arrives, and how the months of leave will work out.

No country’s leave rules are built in. You type the leave pay you expect from your employer or your scheme, so it works anywhere. Planning alone? Leave the second parent’s pay empty.

What’s inside, tab by tab

Start Here

Three steps, one colour rule (yellow cells are where you type) and quick answers.

Setup

Currency, due date, both first names and editable gear categories.

Baby Gear

150 rows with 43 common items to start, from nursery and feeding to the hospital bag. Priority, budget, actual cost, source (new, second-hand, gift, borrowed) and bought, plus a summary by category.

Monthly Costs

Up to 20 running costs with a monthly budget and what you spent in months 1 to 12, with averages.

Leave Planner

Both parents’ take-home pay for 18 months from the birth month, up to 3 leave phases each, household outgoings, the gap each month, savings left, savings needed and a one-line verdict.

Dashboard

Gear budget and spent, items bought, must-haves still to buy, monthly baby costs, savings needed for the leave and two charts.

Excel and Google Sheets

The workbook is an .xlsx file that opens in Excel 2010 or later, Excel for Mac and LibreOffice. For Google Sheets, open Google_Sheets_Links.pdf and click the link to make your own copy, or upload the .xlsx to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. Formulas and dropdowns carry over; Google redraws the charts, so they can look slightly different. The quick-start guide walks you through it. Type your own currency symbol on Setup and the whole workbook uses it.

There are no macros and nothing to install. Every formula uses only functions that Excel and Google Sheets share, and before release the workbook was filled with an invented family and checked by 57 automated tests. Apple Numbers can open the file but isn’t supported.

How delivery works

You buy on Etsy, with Etsy’s checkout and buyer protection. As soon as payment goes through, the download is ready on your Etsy Purchases page and Etsy emails you a link. You get one ZIP file containing:

• Baby_Budget_Planner.xlsx (blank, with the starter gear list)
• Baby_Budget_Planner_Example.xlsx (filled in for an invented family)
• Quick_Start_Guide.pdf (4 pages)
• Google_Sheets_Links.pdf

Nothing is shipped. Because it’s a digital file, Etsy returns don’t apply, but if something isn’t working, send a message through the shop and we’ll help put it right.

Not financial advice. The workbook helps you plan; it doesn’t know your leave entitlements.