How the budget planner works
Most budgeting advice starts with your salary. That’s the wrong number: a £35,000 salary doesn’t mean £35,000 to spend. This planner starts from your take-home pay, either the figure from your payslip or one we work out from your salary with the same engine as our take-home pay calculator.
It then does three things:
- Sets targets. Choose a budget rule and we split your take-home pay into needs, wants and savings & debt. The three targets always add up to your take-home pay exactly, to the penny.
- Compares your plan. Add your real bills and spending to each group. We total each group and show how far above or below its target you are.
- Shows what’s left. Anything you haven’t planned yet appears as money left to plan. If you’ve planned more than you earn, we tell you how much you’re over.
The 50/30/20 rule with real UK numbers
On a £35,000 salary in England, Wales or Northern Ireland with no pension or student loan, take-home pay in 2026/27 is about £2,393.34 a month. The 50/30/20 rule splits that as:
| Group | Share | Monthly target | Yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needs | 50% | £1,196.67 | £14,360 |
| Wants | 30% | £718.00 | £8,616 |
| Savings & debt | 20% | £478.67 | £5,744 |
On £60,000, take-home pay is about £3,780 a month, so the 20% savings target becomes £756 a month.
Worked example: a first plan
Say that £35,000 earner lists rent of £950, council tax of £140, energy and water of £150 and food of £300. That’s £1,540 of needs, £343 over the 50% target. With £250 of wants and £250 going into an emergency fund, they have planned £2,040 and still have £353 a month left to plan. Their savings rate is 10% so far. Moving that leftover money into savings would take them past the 20% target.
Other splits
The 50/30/20 split was designed for people whose essential costs are about half their income. In much of the UK, rent alone can take more than that. The planner includes:
- 60/20/20. More room for needs, same savings rate. On a £28,000 salary (about £1,973 a month take-home), that’s £1,184 for needs and £395 for savings.
- 70/10/20. For high-cost areas or tight months: wants are squeezed so savings can stay at 20%.
- Custom. Choose your own percentages. We warn you if they don’t add up to 100%.
What goes in each group
- Needs: rent or mortgage, council tax, energy, water, food shopping, transport to work, phone and broadband, insurance, childcare and minimum debt payments.
- Wants: eating out, takeaways, subscriptions, clothes, holidays, hobbies, gym and gifts.
- Savings & debt: an emergency fund, ISA and pension top-ups, and payments above the minimum on credit cards and loans.
Rename any line, add your own and remove the ones you don’t need. Every item is monthly. For yearly bills such as car insurance or a TV licence, divide by 12 and set that amount aside each month.
Make the plan work
- Pay yourself first. Set up a standing order to savings on payday, so saving isn’t whatever is left at the end of the month.
- Build an emergency fund of 3 to 6 months of needs before investing. The savings calculator shows how long that takes.
- Clear expensive debt. The debt payoff planner shows the cheapest order to pay debts off.
- Check your pension. Extra pension contributions get tax relief. See the effect with the pension calculator.
- Review it every few months, and whenever your pay, rent or bills change.
When you’re done, download the plan as a CSV to open in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, or save it on this device and come back to it later.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 50/30/20 rule?
A simple way to divide your take-home pay: 50% for needs such as rent, bills and food, 30% for wants such as eating out and holidays, and 20% for savings and paying off debt faster. It's a starting point, not a rule you must follow exactly.
Should I budget from my gross or net salary?
From your net, or take-home, pay. That's the money you can actually spend after Income Tax, National Insurance, student loan and pension. If you only know your salary, choose My salary and we'll work out take-home pay for you.
Do minimum debt payments count as needs or savings?
Minimum payments are needs, because you have to pay them. Anything extra you pay to clear debts faster goes in savings and debt. Overpaying expensive debt is often the best use of that money.
What if my needs are more than 50%?
That's common, especially with high rents. Try a 60/20/20 split while you look for savings on the biggest bills, then move towards 50/30/20 as your pay rises or costs fall.
Is my budget saved anywhere?
Only on your device. The plan is kept in the page address after the #, which browsers never send to a server, and you can save it on this device, share the link or download it as a CSV file.
How much of my income should go on rent?
A common guide is no more than about a third of take-home pay. If housing alone is over half, a 60/20/20 split is a more realistic target.
Where do pension contributions go in the budget?
Workplace pension contributions taken from your pay are already out of take-home pay, so leave them out. Extra contributions you make yourself go in savings and debt.
How do I budget for irregular bills?
Add up yearly bills such as car insurance, MOT and gifts, divide by 12 and put that amount aside each month in a separate pot.
Sources
Results are estimates for education and planning, not financial advice. They depend on the figures you enter and the assumptions shown above.