24 / 10 / 20

Smart Budgeting - Managing NZ Salary & Expenses Easily

Budget smarter! Building a simple spreadsheet to manage your New Zealand salary and expenses and stay on top of your finances with ease.

📋 Why create a spreadsheet?

For the past few years, I’ve been on a mission to find the ideal way to manage my finances. Along the way, I’ve experimented with tools like YNAB, Pocketsmith, Firefly, and others. While each platform offered something unique, they all felt like overkill for my needs.

I’m not looking for a comprehensive solution that breaks down every dollar I spend each month, nor do I want to spend hours copying and pasting transactions or categorizing expenses.

What I need is much simpler: a way to track my regular expenses, stay on top of payments and renewal dates, and see everything at a glance in a clean, easy-to-read spreadsheet.

Sometimes, less is more—and that’s exactly what I’ve aimed to create.

🏁 Getting Started

📋 There are two different versions of the spreadsheet: Single Income and Dual Income .

The primary difference between the two sheets is that the Dual Income spreadsheet factors in Income Minus Expenses on a monthly basis to account for differing pay frequencies.

To make your own copy, open the applicable link above and click File → Make A Copy.

1️⃣ Income Dashboard

The Income Dashboard spreadsheet breaks down your gross pay, taxes, and deductions across different periods (fortnightly, monthly, yearly) to give a clear picture of your take-home pay.

With built-in adjustments like KiwiSaver contributions, salary sacrifices, and student loan repayments, it helps you see how each impacts your income.

Features:

  • Automatic calculation of KiwiSaver contributions (including salary sacrifice), student loan payments, tax brackets, and ACC levy.

  • Inclusion of maximum ACC levy charges and minimum earnings for student loan repayments.

  • Fields automatically adjust on the dashboard based on the configured pay frequency.

  • Calculation of take-home pay minus expenses.

2️⃣ Expense Management

This section focuses on expense tracking by organizing recurring costs. It supports multiple currencies and automatically converts them into NZD for easier budgeting.

Features:

  • Automatic conversion between alternate currencies and NZD.

  • Recurring date management, including the next due date and days remaining.

  • Checkbox tracking to confirm whether an item has been paid.

🛠️ Configuring the Spreadsheet

1️⃣ Income Dashboard

Note: This spreadsheet does not calculate secondary tax or account for additional bonus payments, overtime, or on-call allowances.

You only need to configure the following fields:

All other fields are automatically calculated based on your inputs.

If you don’t know your expected yearly income, use this calculator .
If you are not enrolled in KiwiSaver or are on a contribution holiday, select 0% - more info on Kiwisaver contributions can be found here.

2️⃣ Expense Management

Note: When selecting other currencies outside of NZD, the sheet will automatically convert fortnightly, monthly, and yearly amounts to NZD. A standard 1.95% currency conversion fee is also applied to reflect typical credit or debit card charges.

You only need to configure the following fields for each expense:

  • Name

  • Cost

  • Currency

  • Category

  • Start Date*

  • Recurring

Key Expenses to Track

  1. Rent or mortgage payments

  2. Utilities (electricity, water, internet)

  3. Loan repayments (including student loans)

  4. Kiwisaver contributions

  5. Savings and emergency funds

All other fields are automatically calculated based on your inputs.

*Start date isn’t required unless you want to use the next due date and days remaining features.

🔌 Making Custom Changes

There is a hidden tab called “Configuration Sheet” that the spreadsheet uses for several features.

From here, you can:

  • Add additional expense categories.

  • Add custom KiwiSaver percentages.

  • Adjust tax brackets for future tax years or government changes.

  • Modify the ACC levy and maximum levy for future changes.

Do not modify the following sections, as this will cause errors:

  • Google Finance Currency List

  • Recurrence List

  • Pay Frequency

❓ FAQ

Why have you separated ACC levies?

  • Similar to PAYE calculations, ACC is displayed as a separate item. If you compare this to the IRD calculator, you might notice that some payslips combine these amounts.

Why does the monthly amount not equal twice the fortnightly amount?

  • Not every month contains exactly four weeks, so different calculations are used:

    • 1 year / 26 fortnights

    • 1 year / 12 months

Why is the currency conversion different from what my bank charges?

  • The sheet uses Google Finance rates integrated into Google Sheets and factors in an average 1.95% currency conversion fee. While bank rates may vary, this approach simplifies the process.

I have a different KiwiSaver percentage than what is available in the dropdown.

  • Unhide the Configuration Sheet and add your percentage to the KiwiSaver Percentage section.

How do I add custom categories to the expense list?

  • Unhide the Configuration Sheet and add the desired category to the appropriate list.

What if I don’t know the start date for a subscription?

  • The exact start date isn’t necessary—just use the last date the payment was made.

Why does the next due date for some subscriptions differ from my billing date?

  • The calculation assumes the same due date each month, based on a monthly schedule. Some merchants may charge every four weeks, so adjust the formula if needed to match your billing schedule.

What are the checkboxes for?

  • This feature is for personal tracking. Since I pay all bills every fortnight on payday, I use the checkboxes to monitor what has been paid and what is still outstanding.

💡 Suggestions / Changes

If you have any recommendations for changes or updates to the spreadheet - Contacting me via Discord is the easiest - Other contact methods can be found here

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