Name the categories you really use.
Six to ten is plenty. A budget with thirty envelopes is a budget nobody updates by the second week.
How budgeting actually works.
A budget is not a punishment and it is not a spreadsheet. It is a decision you make once a month about where the money is going, written down somewhere everyone in the house can see it. Here's how to make that decision, and which method to make it with.
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Start with envelopes.
An envelope is one category with one amount in it for the month: groceries, transport, whatever your household actually spends on.
Set each amount from what you actually spent.
Last month is a better starting point than an ambition. You can tighten an envelope once you can see it.
Check it once a week, not once a day.
Ten minutes on a Sunday keeps a budget alive. Daily checking is how people burn out on one.
Then pick a method.
The method decides how you split your income across those envelopes. There are three worth knowing, and you can switch between them whenever you like.
Zero-based
Every unit of income gets a job before the month starts, right down to the last one.
- Allocate all your income across envelopes
- Adjust as the month moves and spending shifts
- Best if you want granular oversight
50/30/20
A rule of thumb rather than a plan: half to needs, 30% to wants, a fifth to savings and debt.
- Quick start with sensible defaults
- Refine the categories to fit your household
- Best if you prefer guidance over precision
Custom
Your own envelopes, your own amounts, with no shape imposed on them.
- Tailor categories and amounts to your priorities
- Blend goals, savings, and everyday spending
- Best if the standard splits never fit you
Where Mitten does the work.
The method is yours to choose. The tedious half, working out what you spend and keeping the numbers current, is Penny's.
Penny proposes the first draft.
Upload a few months of statements and the setup wizard reads what you actually spent, category by category, then suggests an amount for each envelope. You edit anything that looks wrong before it is saved, as with everything else Penny does.
Pacing tells you where you are.
Each envelope shows what is spent, what is left, and how many days of the month are still to come, so ‘on plan’ is something you can read rather than something you have to work out.
Everyone sees the same plan.
The budget belongs to the household, not to whoever set it up, so nobody has to ask how much is left in groceries.