Budget planner
Our free online tool helps you keep track of your money and suggests ways to improve your finances.
What do I need to fill out the Budget planner?
You’ll need to work out your income and spending across a few different categories. To help you, it’s a good idea to have these to hand:
- payslips
- bank statements
- bills
- your banking app.
How does the Budget planner work?
The Budget planner adds up all your income and outgoings, and then shows you what’s left over. It breaks down where you’re spending your money, giving you an idea of where you might be able to make savings and cut costs.
Tips for filling out the Budget planner
Our tool is more helpful when the numbers you give it are accurate. Here are some tips to make sure you get useful results.
Work out who you’re budgeting for
It’s best to be consistent when working out your budget, so think about whether you’re including your partner, family members or just doing your own individual budget.
Make sure your figures are accurate
Using bank statements or your banking app can help to make sure the numbers you’re putting in are realistic. It’s important to do this, as it’ll give you a clear picture of where you’re spending your money.
Use ‘per year’ if a cost changes regularly
Our Budget planner lets you change the time period for each entry. So, if one of your costs varies from month to month, you can enter a yearly amount instead and the tool will break that down to a monthly average.
I’ve filled out my Budget planner. What do I do now?
It depends on what your situation is:
If you have money left over
You might want to think about your options for saving. We have a number of guides about Savings that can help you understand your options and what might work best for you.
You might also want to use our Savings calculator to set a goal and work out how long it’ll take to get there.
If you’re managing, but only just
Our guides on Budgeting can help you work out ways to make your money go further, including how to cut household bills and get the most out of comparison websites.
If you’re overspending
We have guides on Money troubles which can help, including what to do if you’re overspending because of debt repayments.
Access your saved budget from the previous version of the tool
If you used our tool previously and saved your budget, you can still access your figures. You will have had a link emailed to you, which you can use to return to your budget at any time.
Budget planner FAQs
Why is budgeting money important?
Setting up a budget helps you keep track of your money, so you know when you can spend and how to avoid going into the red.
Taking the time to manage your money better can really pay off. Understanding what to focus on now and then putting a long-term plan in place will help you cope better with your current and future needs.
Learn more in our guide Managing your money.
Who can I go to for help with my budget?
Our Budget planner should be a good starting point, but if you need further help you can always:
- talk to us via webchatOpens in a new window for money guidance
- join our Budgeting and Saving Facebook groupOpens in a new window
- view our guides on Budgeting
- download our printed guide to find out how to make your money go further (PDF, 165KB)
What if my income changes from month to month?
If your income varies, it can be tempting to budget as if every month will be a good one. But this can leave you with not enough if you have a bad month.
A good tip is to budget for your lowest monthly income – at least you’ll always have the major costs covered. Then, if you have a good month, you can revise your monthly budget up or put the extra into savings.
There’s more help in our guide How to budget for an irregular income.
How do I get help to pay off debt
It’s a good idea to check out our guides on Dealing with debt to understand what options are available to you.
If you’ve missed a payment due to debt, you can find free debt advice using our Debt advice locator tool.
