Budget Calculator
Enter your monthly take-home pay and your regular costs. The calculator splits your money into needs, wants and savings, compares it to the 50/30/20 guideline, and shows what is left over each month.
Income
Expenses
Share of your take-home pay you keep.
Enter amounts to see this chart.
Every slice is a share of your monthly take-home pay.
A common starting target — not a rule. Housing above 50% of take-home is the usual squeeze.
| Category | Monthly | % of take-home |
|---|---|---|
| Rent or mortgage | $0 | 0.0% |
| Utilities & phone | $0 | 0.0% |
| Groceries & eating out | $0 | 0.0% |
| Transportation | $0 | 0.0% |
| Debt payments | $0 | 0.0% |
| Fun & subscriptions | $0 | 0.0% |
| Everything else | $0 | 0.0% |
What this means
You keep $0 a month. A common target is saving 10–20% of take-home pay — you are at 0.0%.
How it works
A budget is simply income minus spending. Whatever is left is what you can save, invest, or use to pay down debt faster. Track it monthly and adjust one category at a time.
Nothing you type here is saved or sent anywhere — it stays in your browser.
How the 50/30/20 budget works
The 50/30/20 guideline puts roughly 50% of your after-tax pay toward needs (rent, groceries, transit, insurance, minimum debt payments), 30% toward wants, and 20% toward saving and paying down debt faster. It is a starting point, not a rule — in expensive Canadian cities, housing alone can eat most of the needs bucket, so the useful question is which number you can move next month.
Budgeting with an irregular income
If you are paid hourly, on commission, or by contract, budget on your lowest realistic month rather than your average. Anything above that becomes savings in a good month, which smooths out the slow ones without changing your plan every few weeks.
Making the budget actually stick
Automate the savings transfer for the day after you are paid, keep spending money in a separate account, and re-check the numbers once a quarter. Paying yourself first beats trying to save whatever is left at month end.
Common questions
- Should I budget with gross pay or take-home pay?
- Always take-home (net) pay — the amount that lands in your account after tax, CPP and EI. Budgeting on gross pay overstates what you can spend by roughly 25–30%.
- Is my information saved?
- No. Everything you type stays in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere, and no account is needed.
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