Budget Buster

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These extras cost$12,100 a year

That is $33 a day. Choose Half or Skip on any row.

What you keep, and what you spend

Look ahead3 years

1 year10 years

Kept, saved at 4%At the national average rate, 0.38%Still spent on extrasYour goal

Press or drag the chart to look ahead.

In 3 years: kept $0; spent $36,300 on these extras. Example amounts are filled in; move them to match your own. Nothing you enter leaves this page.

Where the kept money goes

What you keep goes into a high-yield savings account at an example yield of 4% a year, with interest added each month. The dashed line is the same money at 0.38%, the national average rate on savings accounts (FDIC, October 2026). Savings rates change. Banks set their own. No inflation is assumed.

Swap ideas

Choose Half or Skip on a row to see what it keeps and an idea for each.

On a card

A year of these extras carried on a credit card ($12,100) costs about $225 a month in interest at 22.36%, the average rate on credit card accounts that pay interest (Federal Reserve G.19, August 2026).

Hours of work

Add your take-home pay per hour to see these extras in hours of work.

What a lender sees

Lenders review recent bank statements for deposits, balances and overdrafts. Card balances add minimum payments that count in your debt-to-income ratio. Save in a bank account rather than cash, so the money can be documented. See the affordability calculator and how much you need saved.

What do the small things cost you each year? Move each one to match your own, then choose Keep, Half or Skip.

How this tool works

Each row turns a habit into its cost a year, in the unit you think in: a day, a workday, a week or a month. Choose Half or Skip and the money you keep builds toward your savings goal on the chart.

The money you keep goes into a high-yield savings account and earns interest, added each month. The yield is an example you can change. A second line shows the same money at 0.38%, the national average rate on savings accounts (FDIC, October 2026), and the answer says how much sooner the higher yield reaches your goal. Savings rates change. Banks set their own. No inflation is assumed, and the tool makes no forecast.

Everything runs in your browser. No amounts leave this page, and none are recorded.

To see how much you need saved, start with how much you really need down, then finding the money for a home.

Learn more

Finding the money for a home

Loans it explains

See it with your own numbers

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