If Microsoft Excel is your tool of choice for general planning, task management, and expense tracking, these are the templates you want. Each provides just what you need to get the job done without wasting time creating spreadsheets from scratch. Plus, they keep your business, your office, and you on track.

Get Your Plans in Order

Planning is a key piece to staying productive. Glance at your agenda, see your appointments, and schedule time for last-minute events with handy templates.

Weekly Planner

Plan every week of the month with this weekly planner template from Vertex42. When you download the workbook, you will see five tabs: one for each week of the month and the fifth for holidays. You can type in your events next to the hour or print the planner if you prefer to jot down items by hand.

excel weekly planner vertex42

To adjust the dates displayed on the calendar, just enter your desired date into the For the week beginning field and hit the Enter key. You will then see the entire workbook will update automatically.

Daily Planner

If you have extremely busy days with many appointments, you might need a planner for one day at a time. Vertex42 offers a template that breaks down your day by hour and in 15-minute increments. The workbook includes nine tabs with one for events and another for holidays. The daily planners are on the rest of the tabs and include two days on one sheet.

excel daily planner vertex42

Just like with the weekly planner, you just enter the current day into the Date field and hit Enter. The workbook will update all tabs to accommodate you.

Keep Track of Your Tasks

Another essential part to productivity is task management. While many people love their mobile to-do list apps, others prefer to use Excel for tracking as well as printing.

Prioritized To-Do List

To stay on top of your most important tasks first, check out a prioritized to-do-list template. This option from Spreadsheet123 divides the list into three sections. So, you can quickly see high-priority items at the top, low priority in the center, and then other tasks and notes at the bottom. The workbook contains two tabs, so you can choose between a dark or light theme.

excel task list spreadsheet123

A nice feature of the prioritized task list is that it can expand beyond a day, week, or month. You can simply add tasks in order of priority which makes it a productive format for all types of projects.

Daily To-Do List

If assembling your tasks by day is more effective for you, then you will like this template from Spreadsheet123. Like the prioritized to-do list, this workbook contains both dark and light themes in separate tabs.

excel daily task list spreadsheet123

The template allows for six tasks per day for an entire week. However, if you are only planning your work week, you can remove the weekend days. Either select the rows for Saturday and Sunday and delete them or only print the above area.

Use Project Extras

If you are managing projects at work, whether as a professional project manager or role that includes project duties, you likely already use your preferred software. However, you may need a few extra templates to help you.

Project Budget

If some of your duties include project cost management, this project budget template from Vertex42 is awesome. It allows you to manage project costs by task at various levels and is intended to accompany a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

excel project budget vertex42

You can include labor with an hourly rate, materials by unit cost, and other fixed costs for the project. This template is useful for project estimates because it clearly shows running totals for your budget, actual costs, and if you are over or under. If you need help getting started, the workbook includes a help tab.

Action Items

Maybe you are in charge of a project where action items come out of every meeting. Or perhaps it is a small project that does not require project management software. This template from Vertex42 helps you to easily manage action items.

excel action items list vertex42

A terrific built-in feature for this template is that the columns are sortable. You can quickly see how many items a team member has assigned, view those that are complete, or sort them by rank or priority. This workbook also contains a help tab if you need a little assistance.

Log Your Business Expenses

Using an Excel template for logging business expenses can save you time from hunting down those receipts and card statements later. For tracking travel expenses or staying on top of your budget, these options are ideal.

Expense Report

When it is time to turn in your business expenses for reimbursement, make sure you have them all together. This expense report template from Vertex42 has everything you need to keep track. You can enter amounts into categories for items like transportation, lodging, and meals. Then, everything is calculated for you automatically.

excel expense report vertex42

You can also use the area at the bottom for itemized expenses that fall into the Other category and include your mileage reimbursement amounts directly above there. If your company does not provide an expense report, log items for your business trip easily with this template.

Expense Tracker

If you are looking for an expense tracker to stay on top of finances, this helpful template from Vertex42 has convenient built-in calculations. Pop in your budget at the top and enter different amounts per category if needed. After inputting the dollar amounts, you can quickly see percentages for how much you have spent and how much is remaining.

excel expense tracking vertex42

The workbook also includes a tab that displays your budget versus spent money in a bar graph. This is quite useful for checking out your business expenses at a glance or providing the visual to partners, advisors, or investors.

Around the House

Being productive does not stop when you leave the office. For tracking housework and paying bills, or maintaining your vehicle, these five templates help keep it together so that you can get it all done and move onto something fun.

  1. Household Budget Tracker
  2. House Cleaning Checklist
  3. Weekly Meal Planner
  4. Vehicle Maintenance Log
  5. Chore Chart
excel chore chart vertex42

Do You Use Other Excel Templates for Productivity?

Microsoft Excel is a terrific spreadsheet application and when it comes to productivity, it can be quite useful. Templates can save you time and increase your efficiency both at work and at home. When you combine Excel with handy templates, you can be sure to stay on track and get things done.

For more help getting things done, take a look at Excel formulas that will help you solve real problems and the best web apps built around popular productivity methods.

Image Credits: Impact Photography/Shutterstock