How to make a family budget: a worked example in euros

A family budget comes down to five steps: write down everything that comes in, put every cost into a fixed category, check it against the bank once a week, close the month and give what's left a goal with a date. To see the figures involved, take a real benchmark: in Spain, a couple with children spent €44,438 on average in 2025 INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, spending by type of household (in Spanish), about €3,703 a month. In our example, the family brings home €4,000 a month, so about €300 is left over. Set aside every month, that's €3,600 in a year. If you're planning money as a household, the page on saving as a family explains how Huchy fits in.

The worked example: a couple with children

Meet the example family: two adults and two children, living in Spain. Together they bring home €4,000 a month after tax. This income is an assumption for the example, not an official figure. Their spending matches the average that Spain's national statistics office, INE, gives for a couple with children: €3,703 a month.

INE splits household spending into 13 groups. It publishes the share of each group for the average household, not for each type of household. So, to build the example, we spread the family's €3,703 using the average household shares INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, spending per household by group, share of total (in Spanish). A real family with children will spend a bit more on food and education and a bit less on some other lines, so treat the table as a starting template, not a target.

The lines add up to a few euros less than €3,703 because of rounding. Three groups take more than 60% of the money: housing, food and transport. For the 20% of households that spend least, housing and food alone took 61.5% of the budget INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, lowest quintile (in Spanish).

One detail when you read INE figures: for people who own their home, the survey counts an imputed rent, a cost that never leaves your account INE, Household Budget Survey 2025, methodology note (in Spanish). If your home is paid off, your real housing line is lower. If you pay rent or a mortgage, count what you actually pay.

The €300 left over is the figure that turns a budget into a plan. The calculator below shows it as a goal: €3,600 in 12 months, starting from zero.

What a family budget is for

A budget is an honest list: what comes in, what goes out and what's left. Finanzas para todos, the financial education programme of Banco de España and Spain's securities regulator, the CNMV, calls it the most effective tool for making the most of your money, because it shows what your income goes on and lets you adjust to reach short, medium and long term goals Finanzas para todos (Banco de España and CNMV), “How to make a budget” (in Spanish).

The word that matters there is goals. A budget that only records what's already been spent is a look back. It becomes useful when you turn it into a number for the future: how much the family can set aside each month, and what for.

How to make a family budget in five steps

1. Write down all income. Salaries are usually the largest line. Don't forget child benefit, maintenance, a side job, rent from a room or anything else that arrives during the year. Use the net figure: what actually reaches the account.
2. Record every cost, including the small ones. From the school snack to the rent. Add the costs that don't come every month: holidays, birthday presents, Christmas and the unexpected Finanzas para todos, “How to make a budget”, recording spending (in Spanish). Divide them by 12 and budget that amount every month.
3. Pick your categories and keep them. Each cost goes into exactly one category. If you invent new ones every month, you can't compare one month with the next.
4. Check it every week. Ten minutes with the bank statement and the card statement. Forgotten direct debits and double charges show up here.
5. Close the month and plan what's left. Take spending away from income. Whatever remains gets a goal with an amount and a date, before the next month swallows it.

Start small. A month with gaps beats a perfect plan that never starts. After three months you know your real averages, and from then on it gets easy.

Which categories a family budget needs

Ten to fifteen categories are enough for most families. Fewer is too vague, more makes recording a chore. INE's groups in the table are a good skeleton, and for daily use you can merge a few:

• Housing: rent or mortgage, community fees (the building's service charge), electricity, gas, water.
• Food and household: the weekly shop, cleaning products included.
• Transport: fuel, public transport, car insurance, repairs.
• Children: school, books, clothes, after-school activities, childcare.
• Health and insurance: premiums, dentist, pharmacy.
• Phone, internet and subscriptions.
• Clothes.
• Leisure and eating out.
• Presents and celebrations.
• Other: anything that doesn't fit. If this line grows, a category is missing.
• Saving: a line of its own, so it doesn't vanish into “Other”.

On top of that, Finanzas para todos suggests sorting costs into three kinds Finanzas para todos, “How to make a budget”, classifying spending (in Spanish):

• Fixed costs you must pay: rent or mortgage and loan repayments. They barely change from month to month.
• Necessary variable costs: food, clothes, electricity. You need them, but comparing prices or making small cuts saves money here.
• Costs you can do without: everything you enjoy but don't strictly need. If you have to cut, start here.

With this second layer, your budget answers not only “how much?” but also “where can we change something?”.

Budgeting as a couple or as a family

A budget kept by one person misses half the spending. Finanzas para todos recommends using a system that is comfortable for everyone, whether a diary, a calendar or a computer program Finanzas para todos, “How to make a budget”, tips for keeping track (in Spanish). A few habits help:

• One date a month. Half an hour together to look at the month and decide what to do with what's left.
• Clear rules on what's shared. Rent and the weekly shop, usually yes. One person's hobby, perhaps not. Write it down so nobody has to remember.
• A way to split the bills. Some couples split shared costs in half. Others split them in proportion to income. With incomes of €2,400 and €1,600, the proportional split is 60% and 40%: of €3,000 of shared costs, one pays €1,800 and the other €1,200. Neither way is better; what matters is that both of you agree.
• A calendar of due dates. Finanzas para todos also suggests noting the dates of payments that come once or twice a year, such as local taxes, insurance premiums and loan repayments Finanzas para todos, “How to make a budget”, tips for keeping track (in Spanish). The car insurance renewal stops being a surprise.

Children can join in too, at their own level. Seeing that the holiday is a line in the budget, with a monthly target, teaches more than any explanation.

From the budget to a goal with a date

Many family budgets fail at the same point: there's something left at the end of the month, but nobody decides what it's for, and by the next month it's gone. This is how to close the gap:

1. Find the real surplus. Take the average of three months, not the best one, with the yearly costs already spread across the months.
2. Pay yourselves first. Finanzas para todos puts it like this: commit to setting aside a fixed amount each month before you plan the variable and less necessary spending Finanzas para todos, “How to make a budget”, “Pay yourself and save” (in Spanish). A standing order on payday makes it automatic.
3. Give the money a name and a date. “Saving” isn't a goal. “€3,600 for a cushion by next December” is. With an amount and a date, you know each month whether you're on track.
4. Work out the monthly target. The amount, minus what you've already set aside, divided by the months until the date.

Back to the example family: €3,600 in 12 months means €300 a month, about €69 a week or €9.86 a day. If they want it sooner, the monthly target goes up; if they give themselves more time, it comes down. You can try your own numbers in the savings calculator.

Which goal first?

That's your decision. Many families start with an emergency fund, so a broken washing machine doesn't knock every other plan off course. The usual range is three to six months of essential costs: housing, utilities, food, transport and debts Finanzas para todos (Banco de España and CNMV), “How much should your emergency fund be?” (in Spanish). Your budget gives you exactly those figures. After that come the goals with a fixed date: the summer holiday, a car, a house deposit.

In Huchy, each goal has its own amount, date and monthly target, and the overview shows how much is left to go. Huchy doesn't hold your money or invest it: the money stays in your bank, and Huchy keeps track of what you've set aside.

Why this guide uses Spanish figures

Huchy works in euros and is made in Spain. That's why the example uses INE data for Spain, not figures from other countries. If you live somewhere else, the method is the same, but your numbers will be different: use three months of your own bank statements, not an average.

If you've moved to Spain recently, count your Spanish costs, not your old ones. Rent, utilities and transport can be very different from what you paid before, so give yourself a few months of real bills before you fix the budget.

Common mistakes

1. Using gross pay. The budget needs what reaches the account, not what's in the contract.
2. Forgetting yearly costs. Insurance, annual subscriptions, school books in September. Without them, every month looks better than it is.
3. Too many categories. Thirty lines make recording tiring, and the budget gets dropped by spring.
4. Leaving someone out. If only one person records spending, the other half of the household stays invisible.
5. Leaving the surplus without a goal. Money without a purpose gets spent. Give it an amount and a date on the same day you close the month.

Your budget, as a plan

A family budget is income, spending in categories and a surplus with a purpose. For a couple with children in Spain, the average spending is about €3,703 a month, and every euro left over can go towards a goal with a date. To see how Huchy helps a household plan its money, read the page on saving as a family, or try other amounts in the savings calculator.