A good budget helps you reach your spending and savings goals. Work out a proposed household budget by inputting your sources of income and projected expenses into Kiplinger's exclusive worksheet ...

You don't have to start from scratch and create a budget spreadsheet manually ... get out of debt or build savings, a well-laid-out budget can help you reach your goals faster.

Whether it's saving for a new car or boosting ... Whether it's filling in a visual tracker or completing a spreadsheet, tracking financial goals can be rewarding if you do it on a regular basis.

You might prefer a robust spreadsheet where you see your savings getting higher and your debt getting lower. Or you might want to involve your kids or spouse to make reaching goals even more ...