Enter your income and expenses to see exactly where your money goes each month. Most people are surprised by a few categories — that's what the budget calculator is for.
See what is left, where it went, and how it compares to 50/30/20.
Remaining
1,250.00
Available after expenses
50/30/20 Check
Actual spending compared with common targets.
Top Expenses
Next Step
1,250.00 available for savings, debt, or goals.
This budget calculator compares your monthly take-home income against everything you spend, then sorts each expense into one of three buckets: needs (rent, groceries, utilities, insurance), wants (eating out, streaming, hobbies), and savings or debt payments. The result shows what is left over each month and how your split compares to the popular 50/30/20 guideline — 50% of income on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% toward savings and debt.
Use your net (after-tax) income, not your salary. Your paycheck after taxes, insurance premiums, and retirement deductions is the money you actually have to allocate, and budgeting with the gross number is the most common reason budgets fail. If your income varies month to month, use your lowest typical month so the plan still works in a slow month.
The 50/30/20 rule is a starting point, not a grade. In high-rent cities, needs can easily exceed 50% — that does not mean you are doing anything wrong. What matters is knowing your real numbers: once you can see that, say, $340 a month goes to subscriptions and delivery, you can make a deliberate choice instead of wondering where the money went.
Use net (take-home) income — the amount that actually lands in your bank account after taxes, insurance, and retirement deductions. Budgeting with your gross salary overstates what you can spend by 20–30% for most people.
A simple guideline that splits take-home pay into 50% needs (housing, food, utilities, minimum debt payments), 30% wants, and 20% savings and extra debt payoff. It is a benchmark to compare against, not a rule you must hit exactly.
A need is something you would face real consequences for skipping: rent, utilities, groceries, insurance, minimum loan payments. A want is everything you choose for enjoyment — dining out, subscriptions, travel. Some categories split: basic groceries are a need, daily delivery is a want.
A common order: build a small emergency fund first ($500–$1,000), then pay down high-interest debt like credit cards, then grow the emergency fund to 3–6 months of expenses, then put extra toward goals like retirement or a down payment.