UK Budget Planner: what's left after rent and bills?
Start from your monthly take-home pay, take off your rent or mortgage, bills and other spending, and see what's left each month and each year. Coming from the take-home pay calculator? Your figure is already filled in. Results update instantly. No sign-up, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
All amounts a month. Bills paid yearly or quarterly: divide by 12 or 3 first. The planner only adds and subtracts; it has no tax rules of its own.
- Take-home pay£0
- Rent or mortgage£0
- Bills£0
- Other spending£0
- Total going out£0
- Left each month£0
Where each pound goes
Your take-home pay split into rent or mortgage, bills, other spending and what's left.
| Item | Month | Year | Share of take-home |
|---|
Quick answer
Taking home £2,288 a month and spending £950 on rent or mortgage, £350 on bills and £600 on everything else leaves £388 a month, or £4,656 a year. Simple arithmetic on the figures you enter. Not advice: what you do with what's left is for you to decide.
How to use it
- Start with take-home pay. This is what reaches your bank account each month after Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and any student loan. The take-home pay calculator works it out and its "Plan what you keep" button carries it here.
- Add your rent or mortgage. The monthly payment, not the loan.
- Add your bills. Energy, water, council tax, phone, broadband and insurance. Anything paid yearly or quarterly: divide by 12 or by 3.
- Add everything else. Food, transport, childcare, subscriptions, debt repayments and spending money. A rough monthly figure from your bank statements is fine.
The result is what's left each month. It is just your numbers added up: the planner does not judge them, compare you with anyone else or suggest a budget.
What's left is for you to decide
Some people keep it as a cushion for bills that come up once a year, some save it, some pay down a debt, some spend it. If you want to see what a regular amount could do, the buttons above open other calculators with your amount already filled in:
- Stocks and Shares ISA calculator: what a monthly amount could grow to at a return you choose, and whether it fits the yearly ISA allowance.
- UK mortgage calculator: the interest and time a monthly overpayment could save.
- Extra £200 a month planner: an ISA, a pension and a mortgage overpayment side by side.
None of these is a recommendation. For a personal recommendation, speak to a regulated financial adviser; MoneyHelper offers free, impartial guidance on budgeting, saving and debt.
The formula
- Going out: rent or mortgage + bills + other spending, all a month
- A year: the monthly figure × 12
- Share of take-home: each amount ÷ take-home pay
See the formula with your own numbers
These update live from the calculator inputs above.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as take-home pay?
The money that actually reaches your account each month, after Income Tax, National Insurance, pension contributions taken from your pay and any student loan repayments. The take-home pay calculator works it out for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and can pass the monthly figure straight to this planner.
How do I include bills I pay once a year?
Divide them by 12 (or a quarterly bill by 3) and add the result to your monthly bills. A car insurance premium of £600 a year, for example, is £50 a month.
What should I do with what's left?
That is for you to decide; this planner does not recommend anything. The buttons under the results open our ISA, mortgage overpayment and side-by-side calculators with your monthly amount filled in, so you can see what each could do. For personal advice, speak to a regulated financial adviser.
Is anything I type saved or sent anywhere?
No. The sums run in your browser. If you use "Copy link with my numbers", the figures are put into the link so you can come back to them; nothing is stored by us.
Method & sources
- Calculation: left each month = take-home pay − (rent or mortgage + bills + other spending); a year = × 12; shares = each amount ÷ take-home pay. No tax rules: the planner only adds and subtracts the figures you enter.
- Take-home pay: from our UK take-home pay calculator, whose tax, National Insurance and student loan figures are sourced from GOV.UK and HMRC and listed on that page.
- Next steps: the whole pounds left each month are passed to the ISA, mortgage and extra £200 planner calculators through their normal link prefill; each of those pages applies and sources its own rules.
- Verification: automated tests, run before every update, check the arithmetic and the amounts passed on.
- Reviewed: .
Not advice. This planner adds up the figures you enter; it does not recommend how to spend, save or invest. Investments can fall as well as rise. For personal advice, speak to a regulated financial adviser.
Run your own numbers
Change your take-home pay or any spending line to see what's left.
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