50 time-saving Google Docs templates

Google Docs template
From planning a road trip to buying a house, there's a Google Docs template to help

Google Docs templates make life just that much easier by providing the bare skeleton of a specific document, spreadsheet or presentation – all you have to do is fill in the blank bits with your information.

There are thousands of user-submitted templates to pick from - calendars, presentation designs, fax covers, invitations and business cards are just some of what's available.

With so many templates available it can be a little overwhelming searching for the good ones.

So we've done the searching for you - here are 50 of the best Google Docs templates that are time saving, elegant, easy to use or simply plain genius.

At home

1. Weight training workout

'Lose inches, tone up and get your best body' promises this template. The document shows you what exercises you should be performing during a week – by a fitness expert and Pilates guru!

Weight training workout

WORKOUT: Keep your body in top form

2. Weekly spending

Weekly spending is probably the most simple and easy to use weekly expense template there is. Fill it up with your income and expense information and over time, you can track your savings, expenses and income over a weekly basis.

Weekly spending

TRACK EXPENSES: Know exactly how your wallet has ended up empty

3. Health tracker

If you are very conscious about your health, the health tracker should suit your needs perfectly. Track your vitamin intake, hydration schedule, sleep, body measurements and more, along with a settings page to fill in your own personal details. The template also offers accompanying graphs as further ways to visualise your health over a period of time. What more can you ask for?

Health tracker

HEALTH CONSCIOUS: Track your health over a period of time

4. Group shared expenses

At University, you will most probably live with a group of friends, and keeping track of who paid for dinner and who owes money to who can lead to confusion and drunken arguments. This neat little shared expenses template solves this problem, also warning the user if there is an error in the input.

Group shared expenses

SHARED EXPENSES: Who owes who? Now you know

5. Life after college: four-step budget

Getting out of college means living independently, and suddenly having to take care of expenses such as electricity and rent can be a shock. This four-step budget is not only a way to decide where the money is going, but also to figure out if any money can be spent for leisure. All in all, this is a fantastic helping hand to get more organised after college.

Life after college

LIFE AFTER COLLEGE: A step-by step process in getting financially organised

6. Family budget planner

It feels great when you know exactly where all that money is going. This stunning budget planner offers more than most because it has a category for just about any expense. From 'dry cleaning' to 'emergency funds', you will definitely know where to cut back and where all that money just disappears.

Family budget planner

BUDGET PLANNER: Thoroughly plan your money spending

7. Home cost evaluator

This home costs calculating template is not going to calculate the cost of moving home to the exact penny, but it does a very good job at estimating, by giving consideration to mortgage, taxes and any further additional costs such as plumbing. Being a personal evaluator, you will need to enter a lot of figures into the spreadsheet to get the most accurate result.

Home cost calculator

MOVING HOME: Estimate the cost of moving home with this evaluator

8. Work-out routine

Not only does this work-out template help you plan your exercise schedule throughout the week, it also explains how to perform the more complex routines with instructions along the side. Adding new days is a breeze without any need to worry about complicated formulas, and it can be exported to Excel to view as various graphs.

Workout routine

WORK-OUT ROUTINE: Plan your aerobics and weights with ease

9. Emergency information for a babysitter

From every phone number of the family to the colour of the hair of a child or their allergy treatments – this template of emergency information features every single bit of information a babysitter would need in case of an emergency.

Babysitter info

EMERGENCY INFO: Everything your babysitter could possibly need to know

10. Household chores

Handing over chores to the children can help you free up your time as a parent. Use this household chores template to do exactly that, by assigning and knowing exactly which family member is responsible for a particular chore.

Household chores

HOUSEHOLD CHORES: Keep track of the chores in the house

11. Weight

Been working out lately but the clothes sizes haven't gone down yet? Use Weight to calculate your daily loss (or gain), average calories per day and other interesting figures that are shown in very intuitive graphs. However, you will have to look for the calorie count of every meal you have throughout the day.

Weight

KEEP IN SHAPE: Are you decreasing or increasing?

12. Emergency contact information

This emergency contact info template has many uses – at home, work or an event. It might even save your life and you don't have to do much, other than replacing the placeholder text with the actual emergency numbers. The glossy cartoon pictures are sure to catch the attention of a person requiring an emergency service.

Emergency info

EMERGENCY INFO: This can be useful in a variety of places