Home & couples
Family budget calculator
Split your monthly income and expenses into three buckets — needs, wants and savings — and see whether your budget fits the 50/30/20 rule, a simple guideline for how to divide your money each month.
Household net monthly income
$
Needs
$
Housing, utilities, food, transport, insurance...
Wants
$
Leisure, dining out, subscriptions, non-essential shopping...
Resets these values back to their defaults.
What's left to save
$700
$2,100
Total expenses
25%
% of income saved
How your income splits up
$2,800
Income
Needs
$1,400 · 50%
Wants
$700 · 25%
Savings
$700 · 25%
Comparison with the 50/30/20 rule
Needs
50%
$1,400 · recommended: 50%
Wants
25%
$700 · recommended: 30%
Savings
25%
$700 · recommended: 20%
With this split, you're saving 25% of your income: $700 per month.
The 50/30/20 rule
It's a simple way to split your income: roughly 50% to needs (housing, utilities, food, transport, insurance, debt payments), 30% to wants (leisure, dining out, subscriptions, non-essential shopping) and at least 20% to savings. It's not a strict rule or the only correct way to budget, but it's a useful reference to check whether your current split makes sense.
What counts as a need vs. a want
Needs are expenses you couldn't stop paying without serious short-term consequences: rent or mortgage, electricity, water, basic food, commuting, mandatory insurance. Wants are expenses you could cut or drop if you needed to: eating out, streaming subscriptions, non-essential clothing, hobbies. The line isn't always exact — you know your own situation better than any general rule.
What the results mean
If any of the three buckets falls outside the recommended share, we flag it — not as a mistake, but as a starting point to decide whether you want to adjust something. The savings figure we show is what's left after needs and wants: if it's negative, you're spending more than you earn.
How to use the result
If needs are above 50%, look at the big fixed costs first (housing, utilities) rather than small ones — that's usually where the real room is. If wants are above 30%, identify which ones give you the least value and cut those first. If savings fall short of 20%, it doesn't need to happen overnight — starting with whatever you can and increasing it gradually is already real progress.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to hit exactly 50/30/20?
No. It's a general reference, not a fixed rule. Your own situation — a city with high rents, dependents, existing debt — can make a different split perfectly reasonable. The useful part of the rule is having a point of comparison, not a mandatory target.
Where do debt payments (loans, credit cards) go?
The minimum required payment on a debt (a loan installment, for example) counts as a need, since skipping it has serious consequences. If you pay extra to pay it off faster, that extra portion can be counted as savings, since it's money reducing your debt rather than being spent.
What if my income is irregular (freelance, self-employed)?
Use an average of your last few months as your monthly income, and lean conservative so you don't overestimate what you actually have available. With irregular income, having a savings cushion matters even more than hitting the 20% exactly — our emergency fund calculator can help you size one.
What if my savings come out negative?
It means you're spending more than you earn each month, which isn't sustainable long-term. Look at your biggest need expenses first (housing, utilities), then your wants; if the gap is large, it may help to talk to a financial advisor or look into additional income options.
Related tools
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