A first budget from one paycheck

Start with the amount that reaches your account. That is take-home pay, after tax and the deductions that already left. The number on an offer letter is a different number, and a budget built on it will not match the rent when rent is due.

If you are paid twice a month, use one paycheck. Add the second when this one is clear.

See the sketch, then type your bills

Open the budget builder. It starts at 50/30/20, which means half the take-home for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings and any extra you put on debt. Leave those percentages alone for the first look, so you can see the dollars before you start defending them.

Needs are the costs that keep the month going: rent, groceries, getting to work, insurance, and the minimum payment on a debt. A subscription can be a need when it is how you get to work, or the one plan the household actually watches. The other repeating charges belong with wants until you have looked at them.

If you don't know those repeating charges, list them on the subscription cost worksheet before you fill the budget in. A guess of "about $40" is how a plan looks calm and then breaks on a Tuesday.

Move the split when rent doesn't fit in half

In a lot of cities, rent alone is more than half of one paycheck. When needs are already over 50%, change the percentages until they match what you pay. The worksheet tells you if the three numbers don't add to 100. A first budget that pretends the rent is smaller will not pay the rent.

Savings can be a small amount on the first try. If this money is a cushion and it doesn't have a purchase attached, the emergency fund worksheet turns "some savings" into one month of essential costs, times however many months you pick. Three is a common first target. If the money has a name, a deposit, a laptop, a trip, the savings goal worksheet will tell you the monthly amount, or the month you would get there.

On the next paycheck, compare

The budget builder has a place for what you actually spent. Where you went over, either the plan changes or the spending does.

The 30-Day Money Quest is the slower pass at the same work. One short page a day, starting with a look at where the money goes, before you try to fix a month in one evening. The percentages are a sketch. The worksheet does not know your rent, your city, or which debt is the expensive one.