Build a Budget From Real Numbers

What you'll need

• Last 1-2 months of categorized income and expenses
• Any AI chat assistant

The steps

1. Have your income and expense totals by category handy (use the sort-expenses recipe first if needed).
2. Paste the prompt and your numbers.
3. Review the budget — adjust anything that doesn't feel realistic.
4. Check back against it monthly.

Build me a simple monthly budget from my real numbers below.

Monthly income (average): [amount]
Expenses by category: [paste your category totals]
A savings or buffer goal, if any: [amount or "none yet"]

Give me a budget table with a target amount per category based on my actuals, flag any category that's eating an unusually large share of income, and suggest one realistic place to trim if I'm not hitting my savings goal.

Here's what I actually spent this month vs. the budget: [paste actuals]. Where did I go over, and is that a one-time thing or a pattern?

What you'll get

A realistic monthly budget built from your actual numbers, plus one concrete place to trim if needed.

If it's not quite right

• Income varies a lot? Add "My income is irregular — build this around my lowest typical month."
• Want a buffer built in? Add "Include a 10% cash buffer category."