Guide
How to build a daily budget starting from your salary
Start from your net salary, take off the fixed costs for the cycle and the amount you want to set aside, and divide by the days until your next payday. With €1,450 net, €700 of fixed costs and €150 set aside, you are left with €600: €20 a day for everyday spending.
Updated 9 October 2026. By Matteo De Min.
The five steps
- Net salary. The amount that reaches your account, not the gross figure.
- Fixed costs. Everything that goes out each cycle with a known amount: rent or mortgage, bills, instalments, subscriptions.
- Amount set aside. A figure you decide yourself, taken off straight away, before everyday spending.
- Days in the cycle. From payday to the day before the next one, usually 28-31.
- Divide. What is left divided by the days is the daily budget.
An example with numbers
Net salary of €1,450, 30-day cycle.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net salary | €1,450 |
| Rent | −€480 |
| Bills | −€110 |
| Instalment | −€85 |
| Subscriptions | −€25 |
| Set aside | −€150 |
| Left for everyday spending | €600 |
€600 ÷ 30 days = €20 a day, that is €140 a week.
Why it makes sense to do it on the cycle and not the month
Your bank account fills up on payday, not on the first of the month. Dividing by the calendar days of the month counts days when the money hasn’t arrived yet. Dividing by the days of the cycle makes the budget match the period the money has to last.
After the first week
The first day’s budget is an estimate. After seven days, compare what you have actually spent with the figure: if you are under, the figure for the remaining days goes up; if you are over, it goes down. To recalculate it on the go, use the method in the guide on how much I can spend a day.
What this method doesn’t do
It doesn’t distinguish between categories: an average of €20 could be €5 of coffee and €35 of groceries. That is why it is worth pairing the spending that weighs most with a cap per category. And it doesn’t cover irregular costs (a repair, a gift): if you know about them, put them under fixed costs or in the amount set aside.
How MoneyLeft does it
In MoneyLeft you set your payday once, and the app works on the cycle that follows from it. The “How much you can spend today” card does the daily calculation starting from what has come in during the cycle, and recalculates it every day with the expenses you record. For the categories that weigh most there is the budget with a cap for each one: the app tells you how you are doing, without blocking anything. Savings goals show your progress towards the amount you have decided to set aside.
Download MoneyLeft on the App Store