Envelope Budget Calculator

The envelope method puts a fixed amount of cash for each spending category into its own envelope at the start of a pay period; when an envelope is empty, spending in that category stops until the next period. This calculator checks your envelopes against your income, tracks what is left in each, flags overspending and tells you exactly which bills to withdraw so every envelope gets the right amount.

How to use this tool

1. Enter your income for the period and the bills you pay from your bank account.
2. List each envelope as "Name: budget", or "Name: budget / spent" to track spending.
3. Tick the box if you only want $20 bills and smaller.
4. Withdraw the cash shown and fill each envelope with the bills listed in the table.

Formula

Unassigned = Income − Bills from checking − Σ envelope budgets

Left in an envelope = budget − spent, and Used = spent ÷ budget. Bills are counted for each envelope separately, from the largest note down.

Example

A $2,400 paycheck with $1,280 of rent and bills paid from checking leaves $1,120 for eight envelopes, and the sample envelopes use exactly that, so $0 is unassigned. Midway through the period you have spent $622 and have $498 left, but dining out is over by $20. To fill the envelopes you withdraw 8 × $100, 5 × $50, 2 × $20 and 3 × $10 — $1,120 in total.