budget-basics

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