Feast & Famine: The Seasonal Cash Planner

A seasonal business dies a very specific death: a wonderful busy season, money spent as if the busy season were permanent, and a bank balance that quietly runs out in the darkest month — while the annual P&L still says the year made money. The P&L can't see February. This planner can.

How it works

Enter six numbers and the shape of your year — what share of revenue lands in each month, from last year's deposits. The workbook draws what no budget template draws: the cash line, month by month, through the whole year. Then it tells you:

• The trough — the deepest your cash gets, and in which month (the sample year bottoms at −$448 in February despite a profitable year)
• The winter bill — what the losing months add up to; this is what your busy season owes
• The set-aside — how much to move to a separate account every profitable month, and the month it must be fully banked by
• The draw the year can afford — the largest steady monthly owner pay that never drives the cash line below your floor, solved exactly
• A plain-language verdict and a nine-move off-season playbook: pre-selling the season, maintenance plans, seasonal staffing, moving annual bills into fat months, and the standing-order rule that makes all of it stick

Built for

Landscaping and lawn care · pools and irrigation · HVAC · tax and accounting practices · tourism and guiding · seasonal retail · anyone whose December and July look nothing alike.

What you get

One .xlsx file, four tabs, instant download. Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice. No macros, no subscription. Every month is editable if your fixed costs or draw vary.