Prompts · Money & admin

Make a budget from last month's bank statement

Paste a month of transactions. Get them sorted into categories, with what's fixed and what you could cut.

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Help me make a budget from last month's spending.

My transactions:

01 Aug Rent -1,250.00
01 Aug Salary +3,480.00
02 Aug Netflix -15.49
03 Aug Kroger -86.20
04 Aug Shell -48.00
05 Aug Spotify -11.99
06 Aug DoorDash -32.75
08 Aug Kroger -64.10
09 Aug Amazon -41.99
10 Aug Electric company -94.00
12 Aug DoorDash -27.40
14 Aug Gym -40.00
15 Aug Phone -60.00
17 Aug Kroger -71.35
19 Aug Shell -45.00
20 Aug Bar -38.00
22 Aug Amazon -23.50
24 Aug DoorDash -35.10
27 Aug Car insurance -118.00
29 Aug Kroger -58.90

What I want to do: save $400 a month toward a car

Things the statement doesn't show: I pay about $600 a year for car registration and renewal in March. I spend maybe $50 a month in cash.

Do this:
1. Sort every transaction into a category (housing, groceries, eating out, transport, subscriptions, and so on). Show a table with each category's total, and add up income and spending so I can check your numbers against my statement.
2. Split the categories into fixed costs I can't easily change, and flexible spending I choose each month.
3. Turn the yearly or irregular costs I mentioned into a monthly amount and add them in.
4. Show what's left after everything, and whether my goal fits.
5. If it doesn't fit, give me two or three specific changes that would get me there, with the monthly saving for each, taken from my actual spending. Don't suggest cutting things I haven't spent money on.

Keep it practical and don't lecture me about any single purchase. If you're unsure which category something belongs in, ask rather than guess.

This is a budget, not financial advice. If anything in my situation looks like it needs a real adviser, such as debt I'm struggling with, say so and tell me what kind of person to talk to.

Open in ChatGPT Open in Claude

What you get: Your month sorted into categories with totals, and whether your goal fits once the yearly bills are counted.

Check the totals against your statement

Chatbots are good at sorting but less reliable at adding a long column of numbers. The prompt asks for the totals in a table so you can hold them against your statement's own figures, and if the two disagree, trust the bank.

Strip out account numbers and anything you'd rather keep private before pasting. The descriptions and amounts are all it needs.

One month is a snapshot. If August had a vet bill or a wedding in it, say so in the last box, or run it again on a quieter month.

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