Monthly Budget Planner

How to use it

• Income: use what you take home each month after tax. If your pay varies, use a typical month, or a low one to be safe.
• Categories: rename, add or remove them to match your spending. For bills that come once a year, such as insurance or a subscription, divide the yearly amount by 12.
• Colors: click a category's color square to pick your own. The ↺ on its corner puts the standard color back.
• Left over: what's not spent shows as the empty part of the ring. If spending is more than income, the planner shows how much you're over by.
• Print: the printout has just the chart and table, on white paper, whatever theme you're using on screen. Choose "Save as PDF" as the printer to keep a copy.
• Saved in your browser: your budget is kept on this device only, so it's there next time. It's never sent to us.

A simple way to start

A popular rule of thumb is 50/30/20: about half of take-home pay for needs (housing, food, utilities, transportation, insurance, minimum debt payments), 30% for wants, and 20% for savings and paying down debt faster. It's a starting point, not a rule: where housing costs are high, needs often take more than half.

Paying off a loan? The mortgage and loan calculator shows how extra payments shorten it. Saving? See how it grows with thecompound interest calculator.