Monthly Budget Calculator

A budget is just your take-home pay set against everything you spend in a month. Start with the income figure that actually lands in your account, then work through fixed costs first - rent or mortgage, council tax, energy, water, insurance, phone and broadband - because those barely move. Then the variable essentials: groceries and transport. Then the discretionary spending: eating out, subscriptions, shopping, hobbies and an average monthly figure for holidays. Whatever is left is what you have to save, invest or use to clear debt faster.

Using the 50/30/20 split

The calculator groups everything into needs, wants, and savings and debt, and compares each to the 50/30/20 guideline. If needs are well over 50%, the fix is usually a big fixed cost like rent or a car. If wants are over 30%, it is normally a handful of categories rather than one. If savings are under 20%, the split shows you exactly how much you would need to move to get there.

Make it balance first

The single most important number is what is left over. If it is negative, the budget does not balance and something has to change before anything else matters. If it is positive but sitting unspent, give it a job - an emergency fund of three to six months of essential spending first, then longer-term saving, investing through an ISA, or overpaying a mortgage.