A little clarity for every month
Give your money
a place to go.
Slide a few numbers. Try a different salary. Give your leftover money a job. Start with our example and make the month your own.
1. Play with your month
See my map ↓Drag to explore. Tap any amount for an exact number. Spending is monthly; income can be annual, monthly, or hourly.
25% is an editable example, not a tax estimate. Set your own deduction share or use the paycheck calculator for a more detailed estimate.
Hourly income uses your hours and paid weeks, with no overtime premium. Monthly amounts are annual averages.
Household income & workplace retirement
Money growing outside your checking account
Enter known annual workplace retirement contributions. These are tracked separately from take-home pay, so nothing is deducted again. When using gross income, include your payroll retirement contributions within your assumed deduction percentage. Employer match never increases spending money.
Track amounts from your pay or benefits records. This section does not calculate tax savings, plan limits, or vesting.2. See where it goes
Start with your take-home pay
Your month, mapped.Separate from spending money
workplace retirement contributions / yearFrom pay: · Employer match:
3. Try a small change
What if everyday extras cost a little less?
Make the picture more complete
A budget is a draft, not a grade.
There is no ideal split here. Include the costs that matter to you, check against real transactions, and revisit when life changes. This map does not connect to your bank or keep a history.
How to read your map
How does annual or hourly income work?
Annual income is divided by 12. Hourly pay is multiplied by hours per week and paid weeks per year, then divided by 12. These are monthly averages, not a prediction of pay dates or overtime. For gross pay, we subtract the deduction percentage you choose. The initial 25% deduction setting is illustrative, not a tax calculation.
What does “unassigned” mean?
Take-home pay minus all entered spending and saving. It is money you have not given a job in this plan. It is not a bank balance, and it is not automatically savings.
What if I spend more than I earn?
The map shows the shortfall directly. Its bar scales to your planned outflow, and category percentages still use income as their base, so they may total more than 100%. Check for duplicate entries and missing income before testing changes.
What should I include?
Use amounts for the same month. Include your share of shared bills and monthly provisions for irregular costs. Count car and mortgage payments once. Because income is take-home pay, do not add payroll retirement or insurance deductions again.
How is the small-change scenario calculated?
The slider subtracts an amount you choose from everyday extras and adds it to unassigned cash. The annual figure is that change multiplied by 12. It assumes you repeat the change for a year and includes no interest, returns, or tax effects.
Educational planning estimate only, not financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. No allocation is recommended. Read our methodology.