Skills / Budget basics
Budget basics
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".
Use this skill. Nothing to install.
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Watch the first two minutes
This is how a session goes, including the part where the real numbers come out. Click through it.
Scripted example of a real session.
Income too small to be worth budgeting?
Small and irregular is the normal case this skill is built for: allowance, a part-time job, gig money. The sheet is built on what actually arrived last month, in your own category names, with formulas doing the totals. The first honest look at the gap between money in and money out is the point of the exercise, and it works at any scale. Nobody sees your account but you: you read your own history out loud, and the agent never accesses anything.
What you end up with
A working spreadsheet: last month's real numbers, next month planned in three columns per category, formulas live, and the monthly review already on your calendar.
- Fixed obligations first. Anything owed gets a line before anything optional. Then saving if there is a goal (the save-for-a-goal skill sets that number properly), then everything else splits what remains.
- Planned from actuals. November's food-with-friends really was $61, so December plans $45, a cut that can survive a Friday. The actuals column starts empty and gets filled weekly from your own account history.
- The buffer is the system working. Around 10% for surprises. An overrun that lands in the buffer is not a failure; it is what the buffer is for.
- The bottom line is big on purpose. Formulas keep it current with zero arithmetic effort, and the review changes exactly one number per month. Budgets die of ten simultaneous resolutions.
Questions people actually ask
Do you look at my bank account?
No. You pull up your own bank or payment app history and read the transactions out; the agent never accesses the account, and account or bank questions go to your bank and, for minors, a parent or guardian.
My income is different every month. Does this still work?
Yes; irregular is treated as the normal case. You list what really arrived, with actual amounts and dates, instead of a hoped-for average. Planning then works from last month's real numbers, and three months of accumulated history beats any estimate.
What if I blow the plan in week one?
Two things catch it. The "no idea" buffer absorbs month-one surprises by design, and the plan itself is built from actuals rather than aspirations, so it is survivable in the first place. If a number still turns out to be fantasy, the monthly review renames it: one change per month, chosen at the fifteen-minute check-in.
Do I need a budgeting app?
No. A spreadsheet is the whole tool; Google Sheets is free and fine. Formulas do the totals, the sheet gets copied forward each month so history accumulates, and your category names stay in your own words.
Is this financial advice?
No, and the skill says so: it is not a financial advisor, it is help seeing your own numbers. Nothing here involves investing or touching accounts. Where to keep money and anything bank-related goes to your bank and, for minors, a parent or guardian.
Where to go from here
Sheet running? These build straight on it:
Like tracking things? Build a tracker that isn't about money:
Curious? Read the full skill — the exact instructions your agent gets
--- 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