Ladabo

Budget Calculator

Where your money goes each month, and what is actually left.

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Eating out, subscriptions, hobbies, clothes, holidays set aside monthly.

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Results update as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Left at the end of the month —
Savings rate — Saving as a share of take-home pay.
Needs — Housing, bills, food, transport, minimum debt. Guideline is 50%.
Wants — Discretionary spending. Guideline is 30%.
Total going out —

How this is worked out

This is straightforward arithmetic — income minus everything going out. What it adds is the split, because the split is where the useful information is.

The 50/30/20 guideline says roughly half your take-home pay goes on needs, three tenths on wants, and two tenths on saving and extra debt repayment. It is a starting point, not a law, and it breaks down in expensive cities where rent alone can pass 50%.

Treat it as a diagnostic rather than a target. If your needs are at 70%, the guideline is not telling you that you have failed. It is telling you that your budget has very little slack, so an unexpected bill has nowhere to come from except debt. That is worth knowing even when there is nothing you can immediately do about it.

The figure that matters most over years is the savings rate, because it works on both ends at once: it is money going in, and it is evidence that your lifestyle costs less than you earn.

A worked example

On 3,200 a month after tax:

  • Needs (1,100 + 280 + 420 + 180 + 150) = 2,130, or 67%
  • Wants = 400, or 12%
  • Saving = 300, or 9%
  • Left over: 370

This is a common real-world shape: needs well above the guideline, wants well below it, and a modest savings rate. The person here is not overspending on luxuries — they are being squeezed by fixed costs. Cutting the 400 of discretionary spending in half would add 200 a month to savings, but the far larger lever is the 1,100 of housing, which is also the hardest to move.

The 370 left over is the number to watch. If it disappears every month without a clear destination, it is not really left over.

What this doesn't cover

  • Annual and irregular costs are the usual reason a budget looks fine and the bank balance still falls. Insurance renewals, car servicing, birthdays, holidays: divide the yearly total by twelve and include it.
  • Only enter your minimum debt repayments under loan repayments. Extra repayments belong under saving, because that is what they are.
  • Income that varies month to month is best entered at its realistic low point, not its average.

Common questions

What is a good savings rate?

Anything above zero beats where most people start. Ten per cent is a reasonable early target, twenty is comfortable, and above thirty is genuinely fast progress. Rate matters more than amount, because it scales with you as your income grows.

My needs are far over 50%. Is that bad?

It is common and it is mostly a housing story. It means less room for error rather than a personal failing. The realistic responses are raising income, reducing housing cost, or accepting a slower savings rate for now and protecting the emergency fund first.

Should paying off debt count as saving?

Extra repayment beyond the minimum, yes — it increases your net worth just as saving does, and on high-interest debt it usually returns more than investing would. The minimum payment is a fixed cost, so it belongs under needs.

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