A budget that holds
A budget is not a list of good intentions: it is a subtraction. What comes in, minus what leaves without you thinking about it, minus what you choose to spend. What is left is the only line that counts.
Everything is worked out in your browser. None of these amounts leaves your device, nothing is saved, and the Clear button empties everything immediately. You can check it yourself: here is how.
Enter at least your income for the month: the result appears here, and it updates with every figure.
One of the boxes does not hold a readable number, and it is flagged. Spaces, commas and full stops are accepted.
One of the boxes holds a perfectly readable number that describes no real situation, and it is flagged. For instance negative income or a negative cost: a cost that pays you does not exist, and money received is entered as income.
| Fixed costs | |
|---|---|
| Variable spending | |
| Total going out | |
| What is left | |
| What is left per day | |
| What is left over a year | |
| Share of your income taken by fixed costs | % |
Something is left. That line is what makes a reserve for the unexpected possible, and a reserve is what stops you borrowing at the worst moment, with no way to compare and no time to wait.
The account comes out at zero. The budget holds as long as nothing breaks, and the first surprise becomes a debt.
The total going out is higher than the income. This is not a failure of willpower: it is a subtraction, and it is dealt with line by line. Fixed costs are the place where what is saved once is saved every month.
The method
It comes down to one subtraction, and you can redo it on paper without us:
- Add up everything that comes in during the month.
- Add up what leaves without a decision: housing, energy, transport, subscriptions, instalments, insurance. Those are your fixed costs.
- Add up what you decide on: food shopping, going out, everything else.
- Take both totals off your income. What remains is your disposable income.
- Divide that remainder by thirty to get it per day, multiply it by twelve to get it over a year.
The share taken by fixed costs is worked out by dividing the fixed costs by the income. The higher it is, the less room a difficult month leaves you, because nobody renegotiates a rent on the 28th.
Why the fixed share counts more than the total
Variable spending is decided each time. A fixed cost is decided once, then paid every month without being looked at again. A subscription of ten, forgotten for three years, costs three hundred and sixty. That is why the subscriptions line is kept separate here: it deserves to be looked at once a year, statement in hand.
What this tool does not do
- It does not judge your spending and recommends nothing.
- It knows neither your country nor the support you might be entitled to: that is on the Your country page.
- It saves nothing, so it remembers nothing next time. That is a choice, not a gap.
The words used here are explained in the glossary: disposable income, direct debit, emergency savings. To find out what one instalment costs over the term, move on to the cost of a loan.