Personal finance

Budget Category Suggester

Paste the list exactly as you keep it. Categories, totals and the needs-wants-savings split come back instantly.

Your expenses — one per line, amount at the endEverything runs in your browser — nothing you paste is sent anywhere.

Monthly take-home income (USD)

Left over each month

$966

Total expenses: $3,234
Needs: $2,437 — 58%
Wants: $447 — 11%
Savings: $350 — 8%
Lines needing a manual category: 1

The common 50/30/20 guide puts needs at 50%, wants at 30% and savings at 20%. Yours sits at 58/11/8.

Where the money goes

Housing: $1,450 — 45%
Groceries: $420 — 13%
Savings: $350 — 11%
Dining & fun: $240 — 7%
Utilities: $175 — 5%
Debt: $155 — 5%
Shopping: $130 — 4%
Transport: $110 — 3%
Insurance: $88 — 3%
Subscriptions: $47 — 1%
Health: $39 — 1%
Other: $30 — 1%

Every line, categorised

Expense	Category	Amount
Rent	Housing	$1,450
Electric and gas bill	Utilities	$130
Internet	Utilities	$45
Groceries Aldi	Groceries	$420
Fuel	Transport	$110
Car insurance	Insurance	$88
Credit card repayment	Debt	$155
Netflix	Subscriptions	$16
Spotify	Subscriptions	$11
ChatGPT subscription	Subscriptions	$20
Gym	Health	$39
Restaurants and takeaway	Dining & fun	$240
Amazon shopping	Shopping	$130
Savings transfer	Savings	$350
Haircut	Other	$30

How lines are matched

Each line is matched against a keyword list for twelve common categories — merchant names like Aldi or Netflix, and generic words like rent, fuel or premium. Anything that matches nothing lands in Other, which is a prompt to rename it rather than a failure.

Needs and wants are assigned per category, not per line, so a gym membership counts as health and a streaming service counts as a subscription. If your judgement differs, edit the label and the split moves with it.

The fastest saving is almost always in subscriptions and dining, because those are recurring and unnoticed. Sort by the bars above and cancel from the top of that list, not the bottom of your grocery bill.