Guides › Budgeting with a spreadsheet › Sinking Funds Spreadsheet: Save for Irregular Bills (Excel & Google Sheets) · Updated 26-10-2026
Sinking funds spreadsheet: stop irregular bills breaking your budget
A sinking fund is money you set aside a little at a time for a cost you know is coming but that does not arrive every month, such as car insurance, Christmas or a boiler service. A spreadsheet tracks how much each fund needs per paycheck and how much is already there.
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Which costs need a sinking fund?
- Annual bills: car insurance, road tax, TV licence, software or memberships.
- Predictable but irregular: car servicing and tyres, school uniforms, dentist, glasses.
- Seasonal: Christmas, birthdays, holidays, back to school.
- Replacements: a new phone, laptop or washing machine some day.
How to set it up
- One row per fund: name, target amount, date needed.
- Work out the number of paychecks until that date.
- Amount per paycheck = (target − already saved) ÷ paychecks left.
- Add a column for each deposit and a running balance.
In a spreadsheet, with the target in B5, saved in C5 and paychecks left in D5:
=ROUNDUP((B5-C5)/D5,0)
One account or many?
You do not need a separate bank account per fund. One savings account plus a spreadsheet that splits the balance into funds works well; the spreadsheet is the label on each pile of money.
Sinking fund vs emergency fund
An emergency fund is for the unexpected: job loss, urgent repairs. A sinking fund is for the expected. Keeping them separate stops Christmas from eating your safety net.
Where it fits
Sinking funds are step 4 in our budgeting guide. In a zero-based budget they are simply jobs for part of each paycheck, and on biweekly pay the two extra-paycheck months are a good time to top them up.
Ready-made
The Paycheck Budget & Debt Payoff Planner includes savings goals that show the amount needed per paycheck and progress toward each target, next to your bills and debt plan.
FAQ
How many sinking funds should I have?
Start with three to five for the costs that hurt most, usually car, annual bills and Christmas. Add more once the habit sticks.
What if I need the money early?
Use it; that is what it is for. Then recalculate the per-paycheck amount for the rest of the year.
Does it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. The formula and the planner work in Excel and Google Sheets.
Related guides
- Start here: How to budget with a spreadsheet: a step-by-step guide
- Zero-based budget spreadsheet: give every pound a job
- Biweekly budget template: make every second-Friday paycheck work
- Debt snowball spreadsheet in Excel: how it works, with a free formula
- All guides
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