Money & financial recovery~25 minFinancial counseling
My monthly spending plan
See what comes in and what goes out, then give every dollar a job — including your recovery and a small cushion.
A simple written spending plan is the starting point of financial counseling. For people in recovery it also defuses a common trigger: money stress. Seeing the numbers, even hard ones, is usually less frightening than not knowing.
Don't type account numbers, card numbers, PINs or passwords here — rough amounts and names are all you need.
- Use rough monthly amounts. If you're paid weekly, multiply a week's pay by 4.3.
- Start with needs: housing, utilities, food, transportation, phone, insurance, child support, minimum debt payments.
- Then recovery costs: meetings, therapy, medication, program fees.
- Then a small cushion — even $10 a week adds up.
- If there isn't enough, that's information, not failure. It shows you the next step.
1. Money coming in each month (source — amount)
Paycheck — $1,800
2. Needs (bill — amount)
Rent — $650
3. Recovery costs (item — amount)
4. Everything else — eating out, smokes, apps, subscriptions, fun
5. Money in minus money out, roughly
6. What surprised me
7. Where I can cut or change something
8. My cushion goal — a small amount to save each week or payday
9. When I'll review this each month, and with whom