Emergency fund
Calculate your target emergency cash buffer from essential monthly expenses and see how many months it will take to build.
Open calculatorHousehold budget
Monthly income and spending planner: salaries, contracts, benefits, housing, groceries, transport and financial health indicators (debt-to-income, housing share and emergency cushion).
Quick start
A few key figures give you a live result. Expand the sections below whenever you want finer detail.
Your take-home earnings after tax. Additional income sources can be added in the details section.
$
Tunes the suggested line items and decides whether your payment counts as debt service.
Amount paid to your landlord each month.
$
Utilities billing
Electricity, gas, water, heating, waste disposal and condo fees combined.
$
Supermarket groceries, household essentials and toiletries.
$
Fuel, public transit passes, parking and maintenance.
$
What you set aside each month into savings, retirement accounts or investments.
$
Budget overview
Monthly surplus
$799Savings rate: 13.2%
Yearly surplus
$9,590
Total net income
$6,050
Current living expenses
$5,251
Planned savings
$660
Unassigned surplus
$139
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- Emergency cushion covers 2.4 months of essentials. Aim for at least 3 months.
- Housing is approaching the guideline boundary (35% of net income).
- Fixed essentials exceed 60% of income, leaving little room for sudden drops in income.
- Your largest spending category is housing & utilities (35% of net income).
Total income$6,050
Click a category in the list to highlight its ribbon on the chart.
Budget split: 50/30/20 rule
Classic allocation: 50% essentials (needs), 30% lifestyle (wants), 20% savings and investing.
- Needs (essentials)19% over target
- 69% / 50%
- Wants (lifestyle)12% under target
- 18% / 30%
- Savings and investing7% under target
- 13% / 20%
Financial health indicators
- Savings rate13.2%caution
Surplus as a percentage of net pay. Safe target: at least 10%, optimal: 20%.
- Housing share34.7%caution
Housing and utilities total. Guideline: below 30–35% of take-home pay.
- Debt-to-income (DTI)0.0%healthy
Total monthly loan repayments. Prudent limit is up to 30–35% of income.
- Emergency cushion2.4 mo.at risk
At your current surplus pace, you will reach a 3-month cushion in 4 mo.
Budget details (optional)
Add extra earners, itemise housing costs or add your own custom categories.
All income sources and extra earningsPartner earnings, freelance gigs, benefits, rental income, child support or annual bonuses.1 line ($2,800)
- $
Itemised housing expensesCondo fees, reserve fund, property tax, home insurance and utilities breakdown.2 lines ($292)
- $
- $
Other living expenses and goalsChildcare, healthcare, subscriptions, policies, loan installments, entertainment and goals.9 lines ($1,409)
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
Emergency savings balanceLiquid funds (savings accounts, short deposits) to measure months of runway.$9,900
Optional: liquid cash in savings accounts or short-term deposits to assess cushion depth.
$
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Frequently asked questions
How does a household budget differ from expense tracking?
Expense tracking is backwards-looking — it tells you where money went after the fact. A budget plans ahead: you assign jobs to your income (housing, groceries, savings targets) before the month starts. This calculator lets you test whether your plan leaves a surplus and balances key ratios before you spend.
What is the 50/30/20 rule and do I need to follow it strictly?
The 50/30/20 rule allocates take-home pay into three buckets: 50% for needs (housing, utilities, groceries, transport), 30% for wants (lifestyle, dining out, entertainment), and 20% for savings and extra debt payoff. It is a benchmark rather than a strict law: in high-cost cities essentials may take 55–60%, but keeping wants in check helps protect a resilient 10–15% savings rate.
How should I handle irregular expenses like annual car insurance or holidays?
Add them in the details section with an annual or quarterly frequency. The calculator automatically converts them to their monthly equivalent (e.g. $1,200 annual car insurance becomes $100 per month), so large yearly bills do not derail your monthly cash flow.
How large should an emergency fund be?
A resilient cushion covers between 3 and 6 months of essential living expenses (your needs baseline). A salaried single professional in a stable sector may be comfortable with 3 months, whereas freelancers, households with dependents or variable earners should aim for 6 months.
Are my budget numbers sent to any server?
No. All computations run 100% in your browser. Values only sync to the browser address (URL) so you can bookmark your plan, share a private link with a partner, or return later without an account and without any remote storage.
Educational estimate only. Not medical, tax, legal or financial advice.