---
name: basic-budget
description: Use when someone has never kept a budget, has abandoned complicated ones, or wants a first budget built in one sitting with a few broad buckets. This is the starter version of [[personal-budget]], the fuller zero-based household plan, so graduate to that once this holds. Related to [[automated-savings]] (moving the savings bucket on payday), [[money-map]] (which accounts exist, not how much goes where), and [[bill-autopay]] (paying the fixed bucket without effort).
---

# Basic Budget

A basic budget is the smallest plan that still works: one income
figure, three to five broad buckets, and one monthly check. It is the
starter version of [[personal-budget]]. That skill assigns every unit of
income a job across many categories; this one accepts rougher numbers
in return for being finished in a single sitting and survivable for
months. The aim is a plan the user actually follows, not an exact one.

## Input required

- **Country and currency**, so terms such as "take-home pay" fit.
- **Monthly take-home income** after tax and deductions, using the
  lowest typical month if income varies.
- **Fixed costs**: housing, utilities, insurance, loan minimums, phone,
  transport passes.
- **Rough spending** for food and everything else, ideally read from
  one or two recent bank or card statements.
- **One goal** to fund (emergency cushion, a debt, a purchase).

If details are missing, state assumptions or ask the questions below
once, then proceed.

## Questions to ask first

Ask in **one batch of at most five questions**, skipping any already
answered:

1. What do you take home in a typical month, and in a low month?
2. What are your fixed bills and loan minimums each month?
3. Roughly what do you spend on food and everything else? Can you open
   a recent statement to check?
4. What is the one thing you most want the budget to do?
5. How long can you give this today? About an hour is enough.

## Method

1. **Write the income line.** Use take-home pay. For uneven income, use
   the low month and treat anything above it as a bonus to assign later.
2. **Create four buckets.** Fixed (must-pay bills), Flexible (food,
   transport, fun, everything else), Savings and debt (the goal), and
   Buffer (a small unassigned amount for surprises). Add a fifth,
   Yearly (insurance, registration, gifts), only if annual costs have
   hurt before.
3. **Fill Fixed first** from statements, not memory.
4. **Set Savings and debt next**, before Flexible. Pick a modest amount
   that survives a bad month. The default to propose is a round number
   the user can keep for six months; raising it later is easy, while
   breaking a too-high plan costs trust.
5. **Give Flexible what is left**, then compare it with the last month's
   actual spending. If the gap is large, adjust the plan or the goal now,
   not in week three.
6. **Make the check small.** One fixed day a month, ten minutes: total
   what went out of each bucket, note one change, done. No per-purchase
   tracking is required.
7. **Name the upgrade trigger.** When the basic budget has held for
   about three months, or irregular costs keep breaking it, move to
   [[personal-budget]].

## Output format

- **Assumptions** stated in one or two lines.
- **The budget table**: bucket, monthly amount, and what it covers.
- **The check routine**: day, length, and the two numbers to look at.
- **One rule for overspending**, for example "Flexible runs out, so
  fun stops until the first of the month."
- **Next step** toward [[personal-budget]] and when to take it.

| Bucket | Covers | Monthly amount |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Rent, utilities, insurance, minimums | from statements |
| Savings and debt | The one goal | chosen amount |
| Flexible | Food, transport, fun | the remainder |
| Buffer | Surprises | small, deliberate |

## Ground rules

- Never ask the user to paste account numbers, card numbers, passwords,
  or government ID numbers. Amounts and categories are enough.
- Do not give tax, investment, or debt-advice specifics; point to a
  qualified local source for those.
- Keep the buckets few. Resist adding categories to be thorough.
- Use the user's real figures, not typical ones, and mark guesses.

## Self-check before answering

- Does the plan fit in four or five buckets and one page?
- Did Savings and debt get funded before Flexible?
- Is the income figure a realistic low month, not a hoped-for one?
- Can the user complete the monthly check in ten minutes?
- Is the path to [[personal-budget]] stated?

## Common pitfalls

- **Counting gross pay** and finding the money missing.
- **Budgeting from memory** and underestimating Flexible spending.
- **Savings as leftovers**, which usually means zero.
- **No buffer**, so the first surprise ends the plan.
- **Over-tracking**: logging every coffee, then quitting in a month.
- **Treating one bad month as failure** rather than adjusting a bucket.

## Example prompt

> I have never kept a budget and I always give up. Build me the
> simplest version that works, from my take-home pay and last month's
> statement, with a ten-minute monthly check.

## Learn more

- [[personal-budget]] for the fuller zero-based plan to graduate to.
- [[automated-savings]] to move the Savings bucket on payday.
- [[bill-autopay]] to pay the Fixed bucket without effort.
- [[money-map]] to see which accounts hold each bucket.