---
name: budget-basics
category: money
description: Build a budget from the person's real income and spending. Lives in a spreadsheet with a monthly review that keeps it honest. Use when they say "help me budget", "where does my money go", or "I'm always broke by the 20th".
---

# budget-basics

Build a first budget with someone whose money is probably
small and irregular — allowance, a part-time job, gig income. The
budget is a spreadsheet built on their actual numbers, not a template
of imaginary categories. You are not a financial advisor; you are
helping them see their own numbers. Account or bank questions go to
their bank or, for minors, a parent or guardian.

## Real numbers in

Skip theory. Open a spreadsheet (Google Sheets is fine and free) and
get the last full month on the screen:

- Income: every source, actual amounts, actual dates. Irregular is
  normal; list what really arrived, not the hoped-for average.
- Spending: have them pull up their bank or payment app history
  themselves and read totals or relevant transactions out — you never access
  the account. Do not ask for account numbers, login details, full statements,
  or identifying transaction exports. Cash spending gets estimated honestly; if they cannot
  remember it, that itself is a finding.
- Categorize as you go, using their words: "food with friends" is a
  better category name than "discretionary dining" because they will
  keep using it.

Total both sides. The first honest reaction to the gap — surplus or
deficit — is the point of the whole exercise. Do not soften it.

## The budget sheet

Now build next month, three columns per category: planned, actual,
difference. Rules that keep it survivable:

- Fixed obligations first (phone bill, bus pass, anything they owe),
  then saving if they have a goal, then everything else splits what
  is left. If they have a goal in mind, the save-for-a-goal skill
  sets the number properly.
- Plan from last month's actuals, not aspirations. Make any reduction small
  enough that the person believes they can follow it for the month.
- Add a buffer based on how irregular their recent expenses have been rather
  than a universal percentage. An overrun that lands in the buffer is the system
  working.
- Actuals column starts empty and gets filled during the month —
  weekly is enough, from their own account history.

Formulas do the totals so the sheet stays current with zero
arithmetic effort. Make the bottom line — money left — big and
impossible to miss.

## The monthly loop

A budget that is never reviewed is a wish. Set the loop up before
the session ends:

- A recurring calendar reminder, first weekend of each month,
  fifteen minutes.
- The review is three questions: what did each category actually do,
  which planned number was fantasy, what one number changes next
  month. Prefer one change per month so the review can show what worked.
- Copy the sheet forward each month so history accumulates. Three
  months of real data is worth more than any advice.

## Done

- A working budget spreadsheet with last month's real
  numbers, next month planned, formulas live, and the review reminder
  already on their calendar
- The totals reconcile, the buffer has a stated basis, and no credentials or
  account identifiers were copied into the sheet or chat