I finally took control of my budget with the Money Wellness calculator – here’s how you can too

I always thought I had a pretty decent grip on my money. At the very least, I knew roughly what was coming in each month and that my bills were getting paid on time.

But when I saw World Financial Planning Day was coming up on 8 October, I thought, maybe it’s time to stop guessing and start knowing where my money was really going.

That’s how I found myself spending the best part of a morning knee-deep in my finances, using the Money Wellness budget calculator.

It was eye-opening, a little intense at times, but actually, weirdly satisfying and very helpful.

Here’s what I learned.

What you’ll need before you start

Preparation is key. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and hassle if you gather your information beforehand.

Here's what I had ready:

• three months of bank statements, printed out, as it’s a lot easier than scrolling on your phone
• recent payslips for me and my partner
• information on benefits, bills, debt payments and annual subscriptions
• a calculator for breaking annual costs down to monthly
• a quiet space

Also, don’t start it if you’re tired. It’s not complicated, but it does require a bit of concentration.

As I included my partner’s details, I needed his paperwork too. If you're budgeting as a household, it’s definitely worth doing it together.

Do you need to sign up?

You don’t have to create an account to use the calculator but if you want to save your results and come back to it later, it’s worth signing up.

I chose to just power through in one go, so no sign-up was needed.

How long did it take?

This isn’t a five-minute job. It took me a solid three hours to complete, but it was totally worth it. Once I got into it, the time flew by and I actually started enjoying myself.

So if you’re planning to use the calculator, I’d recommend setting aside a good chunk of time, ideally a few hours where you won’t be disturbed.

The layout – easy to follow and detailed

The calculator is split into eight sections:

• income
• bills
• household living
• family and personal
• travel
• leisure
• debts
• summary

You move through each one step-by-step, entering figures based on how often you pay or receive them - monthly, weekly, four-weekly or fortnightly.

You can skip anything that doesn’t apply by leaving it as £0, and there’s helpful guidance along the way if you’re not sure what to include.

I especially liked how it accounted for real-life expenses like child maintenance, pet costs, side hustle income and school-related costs.

The ‘oof’ moments and tricky bits

The bills section was definitely one of those ‘oof, really?’ moments. I thought I had a pretty good idea of how much my regular payments added up to but seeing the exact total in black and white was pretty shocking.

One useful tip is that if you pay your gas and electricity together, like I do, just enter the full amount in one box and leave the other at £0 to keep things simple.

Some areas were trickier than others. Estimating things like socialising, gifts or even fuel can be tough because they vary so much from month to month.

That’s why having a few months of bank statements is helpful, as it gives you a better average rather than relying on guesswork.

The travel section was another eye-opener. I hadn’t fully appreciated just how much we spend keeping two cars on the road.

The debts section

I’m not juggling many debts at the moment, so this part was pretty quick for me. But it’s a really handy section if you’re trying to get a handle on repayments like credit cards, overdrafts, payday loans or store cards, as it makes it easy to see where your money’s going each month.

The grand finale: budget summary

This is where the calculator really shines. Once you’ve entered everything, it gives you a full breakdown of your monthly income verses expenses and a colour-coded pie chart showing exactly where your money goes, from bills to leisure and everything in between.

Seeing everything laid out visually was genuinely satisfying. It made it really clear which areas were eating up the biggest chunks of my budget and where I might be able to cut back.

The calculator even gave me a little ‘good news’ message, telling me I had money left over each month, which was good to hear. It then suggested looking into savings plans or finding better ways to make my money work harder.

Next steps

After the summary, the calculator offers some practical next steps, like:

• reviewing your energy, insurance, mobile or broadband providers to save money
• checking if you're eligible for additional benefits, with a link to the Money Wellness benefits calculator
• speaking to an adviser if you're struggling with debts

Saving and using the results

Once you’re done, you can:

• download your budget as a spreadsheet
• email it to yourself
• or save it online, if you’re signed in

I downloaded mine and saved it to my desktop as ‘my monthly budget’. It’s already been useful to refer back to when planning out the month ahead.

My top tips for using the Money Wellness budget calculator

To recap, if you’re thinking of giving it a go, here are my top takeaways:

• set aside a few hours and don’t rush it
• use actual figures, not estimates, as the more accurate, the more helpful the result
• print your bank statements, it’s easier to flick through
• have a calculator handy, as annual payments need converting to monthly
• be honest, as this is for you, not anyone else
• download the summary, as it’s great to refer back to later

Using the Money Wellness budget calculator has definitely made me feel more in control of my finances than I’ve felt for a long time. It’s thorough, easy to follow, and, best of all, completely free.