Budget planner.

Let’s put you in control of your finances.

The Real Debt Guy Budget Planner is designed to help you keep up with your finances. Spending the time to complete this correctly will help provide you with an accurate picture of your situation, whether good or bad and indicate where you can improve. Those of you who need to submit an income and expenditure form to your creditors can download your results and email them to your creditors. Alternatively, you can print them out if you need to post them.

Useful information.

For the best results, it’s important that you fill in the budget planner as accurately as possible. The process takes roughly 20 minutes to complete so go and stick the kettle on and let’s get it done! We also recommend having your financial documents to hand. We’ve created this Budget planner checklist to help you prepare everything before we start.

Simplifying complicated matters.

Complete

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Earnings.

Salary or Wages (after tax)

Guaranteed Bonus/Commission

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

Property Rental Income

Child Maintenance

Benefits.

Universal Credit

Child Benefit

Child Tax Credit

Sickness and Disability Benefits

Job Seekers Allowance

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

Working Tax Credit

Housing Benefit

Personal Independence Payments (PIP)

Attendance Allowance

Carer's Allowance

Maternity Allowance

Pension.

Pension Credit

State Pension

Workplace Pension

Annuity or Private Pension

Student income.

Student Grant

Other income.

Other

Rent/mortgage

Ground Rent

Service Charges

Mortgage Endowment

Building and/or Contents Insurance

Life Insurance

Council Tax

Gas (If Singular)

Electricity (If Singular)

Gas and Electricity

Water

Other Utilities (Coal, oil, calor gas etc)

Maintenance (Window Cleaner etc)

Improvements (Kitchen Upgrade etc)

Other

Other

Allowance/Pocket Money

Health Insurance (If Separate)

Opticians

Prescriptions (health, contact lenses etc)

Childcare

Clothing (uniform, shoes etc)

School Meals

School Trips

Memberships (chess clubs, swimming clubs, after school clubs etc)

Private Tuition

Nappies/Diapers and other baby items

Toys

Other

Other

Groceries (including cleaning products)

Restaurants

Takeaway/Takeout

Laundry/dry cleaning

Beauty (Manicure, Pedicure etc)

Hair

Grooming and Beauty Products

Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions

Alcohol

Cigarettes/Cigars/E-Cigarettes

Food at work

Mobile Phone

Clothing and footwear

Other

Other

Other

Opticians

Dental care

Health Insurance

Regular Prescriptions (health, contact lenses etc)

Massages

Reflexology

Other

Tuition

Books

Courses

Other

Books / Audible

Hobbies (Gym, clubs, etc)

Music

Sports (Tickets, Memberships)

Netflix

Sky Subscription

Internet Package

Spotify

YouTube Subscription

Cloud Subscription (Apple, Google Drive, One Drive etc)

SoundCloud

Other App Subscriptions

Other

Other

Birthday Gifts

Donations (charity)

Religious Occasions

Other

Other

Fuel

Vehicle Finance (HP, Lease etc)

Maintenance

MOT

Vehicle/Road Tax

Vehicle Insurance

Breakdown Cover

Car Cleaning

Parking Charges/Toll Charges

Public Transport

Taxis

Other

Other

Food

Vet/Medical Costs

Supplies (Toys etc)

Pet insurance

Other

Mortgage/Rent Arrears

Secured Loans

Tax Arrears

Court Fines

Council Tax Arrears

Child Maintenance / Child Support Arrears

Student loans

Other priority debts

Other priority debts

Other priority debts

You're nearly there!

We understand that this can be a long process but keep going, you're almost finished! This is the first step in controlling your finances, you've got this.

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Debt 11

Debt 12

Calculate

Click me!

In the red.

Your budget suggests things may be under real pressure. Do not panic, but do not ignore it either.

Before you offer payments or reply to creditors, it may help to get your letters, income, spending and debts in order. If you have a creditor letter, default notice, claim form or debt collection letter, the Letter Review & Action Plan can help you understand what to check and prepare a written response in your own name.

Start with the support options when you are ready.

Very tight.

Your budget looks very tight, which means there may not be much room for mistakes.

Before agreeing to a payment plan, check what is genuinely affordable after rent, council tax, utilities, food, travel and other essentials. If a creditor is asking for more than you can afford, you may need to respond clearly and in writing.

You may also find these guides useful: I want to stay out of debt, token payments, and dealing with debt collectors.

Room to improve.

You are not in the worst position, but your budget may still need attention.

Look at any areas where spending is creeping up, then check whether your debt payments are realistic. If you are only just keeping up, it is worth acting before missed payments, default notices or collector letters become the problem.

The spending guide and Budget Planner results can help you spot what to change next.

Looking stronger.

Your budget looks healthy, but it is still worth keeping an eye on the details.

If you have money left over, think about whether it should go towards emergency savings, clearing expensive debt, or preparing for future costs. If you are using credit regularly despite having money left on paper, check whether your budget reflects real life.

The spending guide can help you spot patterns before they become bigger problems.

In the green.

Your budget looks positive, which is a good place to be.

The next step is to keep it that way. Think about building an emergency buffer, reducing expensive debt, and checking your budget regularly so small changes do not turn into bigger problems.

If you want weekly plain English money help, you can also join the TRDG newsletter.

Summary total

Income

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Spending

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Total savings

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Your breakdown

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View your summary

Your budget is a starting point, not the final answer.

Use your results to understand what is affordable before you reply to creditors, agree to a payment plan, or complete an income and expenditure form. You can save or print your results and keep them with your letters, statements and account details.

If your results show you are under pressure, the next step is to turn the numbers into a clear written response.

Budget Planner

To download your results, click the print button and look for the option to “save as PDF”. If you have any issues drop us an email. We got you!

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Spending

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