Budget calculator for Australian households
Works out your surplus or shortfall from figures on any pay cycle, then shows what your debts cost over time. You enter your numbers first, across five short steps, and the result appears at the end. No account, and nothing is sent anywhere.
What it works out
Income on any pay cycle, converted to one period
Rent is monthly, pay is often fortnightly, rates arrive quarterly and rego lands once a year. Nothing can be compared until all of it sits on the same clock. Each amount keeps the frequency you gave it and is converted like this:
| How often | Calculation | Example | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | amount x 52 / 12 | $285 a week | $1,235.00 |
| Fortnightly | amount x 26 / 12 | $2,400 a fortnight | $5,200.00 |
| Monthly | amount, unchanged | $1,950 a month | $1,950.00 |
| Quarterly | amount / 3 | $420 a quarter | $140.00 |
| Annual | amount / 12 | $984 a year | $82.00 |
This is where hand-built budgets usually go wrong. Four weeks is not a month, so $285 of groceries a week is $1,235 a month rather than the $1,140 you get by multiplying by four. That one line is short by $95 every month, which is $1,140 over a year. A fortnightly wage doubled has the same problem in reverse: $2,400 a fortnight is $5,200 a month, not $4,800.
Spending, grouped the way bills actually arrive
Every outgoing carries a category, and the categories roll up into groups, so you can see what transport costs you without having to hold fuel, insurance and rego in your head at once. Categories stay finer than the groups: electricity, gas, water and internet are separate lines that all count as Utilities.
Surplus or shortfall, in the period you think in
Income, less everyday spending, less debt repayments, less anything going to savings. What remains is the number the whole exercise exists to produce, and you can read it weekly, fortnightly, monthly or annually. If it comes out negative, the result says so plainly and points at your largest outgoings without telling you which one to cut.
What a debt costs before it is gone
For the debt with the highest rate, the calculation returns how many months remain at your current repayment and how much interest you will pay along the way. You can then add an amount on top to see how much sooner it clears and how much interest that saves. If the repayment is below the monthly interest, it says so instead of inventing a payoff date.
A worked example
A two income household with a child in care. Every figure below is what the calculator returns for these inputs.
Step one: what comes in
| Item | Amount | How often | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary (after tax) | $2,400 | Fortnightly | $5,200.00 |
| Second salary (after tax) | $1,800 | Fortnightly | $3,900.00 |
| Family Tax Benefit | $900 | Monthly | $900.00 |
| Total money in | $10,000.00 | ||
Two fortnightly wages and one monthly payment, none of which could be added together until they were converted. Only afterwards do they make $10,000.00 a month.
Step two: where it goes
| Item | Amount | How often | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home & bills | |||
| Rent or mortgage | $1,950 | Monthly | $1,950.00 |
| Council rates | $480 | Quarterly | $160.00 |
| Home & contents insurance | $1,440 | Annual | $120.00 |
| Electricity | $420 | Quarterly | $140.00 |
| Water | $270 | Quarterly | $90.00 |
| Internet | $85 | Monthly | $85.00 |
| Home & bills subtotal | $2,545.00 | ||
| Health & family | |||
| Childcare | $690 | Fortnightly | $1,495.00 |
| Private health insurance | $210 | Monthly | $210.00 |
| Health & family subtotal | $1,705.00 | ||
| Food & everyday | |||
| Groceries | $285 | Weekly | $1,235.00 |
| Eating out & takeaway | $90 | Weekly | $390.00 |
| Food & everyday subtotal | $1,625.00 | ||
| Transport | |||
| Fuel | $75 | Weekly | $325.00 |
| Car insurance | $984 | Annual | $82.00 |
| Rego & CTP | $864 | Annual | $72.00 |
| Transport subtotal | $479.00 | ||
| Personal | |||
| Mobile phone | $45 | Monthly | $45.00 |
| Subscriptions | $60 | Monthly | $60.00 |
| Personal subtotal | $105.00 | ||
| Total money out | $6,459.00 | ||
Step three: the result
| Money in | $10,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Money out | $6,459.00 |
| Debt repayments | $730.00 |
| Savings and goals | $250.00 |
| Left over each month | $2,561.00 |
Outgoings come to $7,439.00 once the $6,459.00 of living costs, $730.00 of debt repayments and $250.00 going into savings are added up. Against $10,000.00 of income that leaves $2,561.00. Here is the same surplus on each of the cycles the results screen offers:
- $591 a week
- $1,182 a fortnight
- $2,561 a month
- $30,732 a year
Seeing $591 a week is what tends to land, because that is the size of the decision being made every week without anybody deciding it.
Step four: what the debts are costing
The $730.00 of repayments above is a $300 credit card payment and a $430 car loan payment. The card carries $4,500 at 19.99%, which makes it the expensive one, so that is the debt the projection picks up. At $300 a month it clears in about 18 months and costs about $721 in interest before it is gone.
Putting an extra $150 a month against it, so $450 in total, changes the answer to about 12 months and about $463 of interest. That is 6 months sooner and about $258 saved, out of a surplus that was sitting there unallocated anyway.
An estimate, worked out with the same calculation engine ClearBalance uses, so the numbers won't change when you import. It assumes the rate and the repayment stay as they are today.
How to calculate your monthly budget
Five steps, two of them optional, that turn income and outgoings on any pay cycle into one monthly figure and the amount left over. It usually takes about five minutes, and you can leave and come back because your progress is kept in this browser.
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Enter what comes in
Pick how often you are paid, then enter your take-home pay, the amount that actually lands in your account after tax. Add any other regular income on its own line.
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Enter what goes out
Work through a prepared list of what Australian households usually pay for, grouped into Home and bills, Food and everyday, Transport, Health and family, Personal and Other. Leave anything blank that does not apply, and change the frequency where yours differs.
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Add any debts
Enter the balance, the rate and the repayment for a credit card, loan or mortgage. This step is optional, and skipping it only removes the payoff projection.
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Add savings and goals
Record any regular amount you set aside, plus anything specific you are saving towards with its target and date. This step is optional too.
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Read your result
See your surplus or shortfall for the period you choose, a breakdown of where the money goes, and what your most expensive debt costs over its remaining life.
At the end you can take the whole thing away as a spreadsheet. The budget template page shows the sheet you get, formulas and all.
About the projections
About these numbers. Budget Genie shows you the maths on the figures you enter. Projections assume your interest rates, repayments and spending stay the same, which in real life they won't. It's general information to help you see your own position. It isn't financial advice, and it doesn't take your personal circumstances into account.
That wording is carried on the results screen and on the file itself, so it travels with any projection rather than being left behind on a web page.
Run the numbers on your own household
Bring your last payslip and a rough idea of your bills. Everything else it asks for, it asks for one step at a time.
Start calculating