What is the 50/30/20 rule?

50% of after-tax income to needs (housing, food, utilities), 30% to wants (dining, entertainment, hobbies), 20% to savings and debt repayment. A starting framework, not a law.

Should I budget gross or net income?

Net — what actually arrives in your account. Gross is for tax planning, not bill-paying.

How do I budget for irregular income?

Use the lowest 3-month average as your baseline. Anything above goes to a buffer account that smooths the dry months.

What's a good savings rate?

20% is the popular target; 10% is the floor; 30%+ accelerates FI/RE timelines significantly. Higher savings always beats higher income.

How often should I review the budget?

Monthly is the sweet spot — frequent enough to catch drift, infrequent enough to avoid micromanaging coffee purchases.

Monthly Budget Planner

Plan income, bills & spending — share with family

Calculators

Monthly Budget Planner

Plan income, bills & spending — share with family

Live URL — share this page to send your family the same plan.

Monthly income

Primary (after tax)

USD

Secondary (optional)

USD

Fixed bills

Variable spending

Savings goal

Effective monthly savings: · % of income

Income

Fixed bills

Variable

Savings

Allocation

50 / 30 / 20 health check

Classic rule: 50% needs (bills) · 30% wants (variable) · 20% savings.

Bill calendar (this month)

Days with bills due are highlighted. Hover for details.

About this tool

Plan a complete monthly budget in seconds — income, fixed bills with due dates, variable spending, and a savings goal. Watch the allocation pie chart, the 50/30/20 health check, and the leftover-vs-overspend indicator update live as you type. Every change is encoded in the URL, so sharing the page link with your partner or family gives them the exact same plan with no signup. Export a printable PDF report, a CSV spreadsheet, or an ICS calendar file that drops every bill into Google Calendar / Apple Calendar with reminders 3 days and 1 day before the due date.

Formula

Total income = primary + secondary

Total allocated = Σ fixed bills + Σ variable + savings target

Leftover = total income − total allocated

Savings target = (% × total income) OR fixed amount

50/30/20 rule = Needs ≤ 50% · Wants ≤ 30% · Savings ≥ 20% of income

How to use

1 Enter your monthly take-home income (and a partner/secondary income if you share the budget).
2 Click Add bill for each fixed expense — rent, utilities, subscriptions, loan payments — and set its day-of-month due date.
3 Click Add line for each variable category you want a budget for — groceries, dining, transport, fun money.
4 Set a savings goal as either a flat dollar amount or a percentage of income.
5 Watch the leftover card. Green means you have room; red means you are over budget — trim a category until it goes green.
6 Use the 50/30/20 bars to sanity-check whether your plan is balanced.
7 Click Share to copy a URL that loads the same plan for your family. Click PDF / CSV / ICS to export.

Examples

$4,500 income · $1,605 bills · $950 variable · 20% savings	Leftover $1,045 · 50/30/20: needs 36% ✓ wants 21% ✓ savings 20% ✓
$3,200 income · $2,100 bills · $700 variable · $300 savings	Leftover $100 · needs 66% ✗ — fixed bills are too high a share of income
$6,000 income · $1,800 bills · $1,200 variable · 25% savings	Leftover $1,500 · needs 30% ✓ wants 20% ✓ savings 25% ✓

Frequently asked questions

No. Everything stays in your browser. The URL itself encodes your plan in a base64 string, which is how sharing works — when you send the link, the recipient browser decodes the same numbers locally.

Yes — that is exactly what the Share button does. It copies a URL containing the encoded plan. Anyone who opens the link sees your exact bills, spending, and savings. They can then edit their copy and share it back.

The ICS file contains one recurring monthly event for every fixed bill, with two pop-up alarms (3 days before and 1 day before the due date). Open the file with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook and your bill reminders sync everywhere.

A widely cited budgeting heuristic: spend up to 50% of after-tax income on needs (rent, utilities, groceries, basic transport), up to 30% on wants (dining out, entertainment, hobbies), and put at least 20% toward savings or debt payoff. The bars on the right show how your plan compares.

It means your fixed bills + variable budgets + savings target add up to more than your income. Reduce a category — or raise income — until leftover is zero or positive.

This tool is a stateless monthly planner — perfect for setting targets and sharing them. For day-by-day spending log, see the Net Worth Tracker for snapshots, or use the planner monthly to compare against actuals.

Yes. The tool uses your browser locale for number formatting and shows a $ symbol for clarity, but the math works for any currency — just read the symbol as your local one.

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