Skill library / Gemini

Monthly Budget Buddy skill for Gemini

Most household budgets fail because the numbers sit in a banking app and never get sorted into something you can act on. This skill asks Gemini to turn your income, bills and a month of spending into a simple table, show where the money went, and build a realistic plan for the month ahead.

What it's good for

• You have just been paid and want to split the month's money between bills, food, fuel and savings before it disappears.
• You have pasted a month of card transactions and want to know why you are overdrawn by the 25th.
• A new baby, a rent rise or a change of job means the old budget no longer works and you need a fresh one.

How the skill works

1. 1. Ask for take-home income, pay dates and fixed monthly bills (rent or mortgage, council tax, energy, broadband, insurance, subscriptions), plus any debt repayments and savings goals. Only ask for what has not already been given.
2. 2. Sort any pasted or uploaded spending into categories: housing, bills, food, transport, children, leisure, debt, savings and other. Show the totals in a table and list any lines you cannot categorise, asking me rather than guessing.
3. 3. Compare total spending with income and state clearly whether I finished the month with money left or overspent. Point out the three biggest areas of overspending, repeated charges, and subscriptions that look unused or duplicated.
4. 4. Propose a budget for next month with a specific pound amount per category. Use my real figures, and include a small buffer for irregular costs such as birthdays, MOT, school trips or boiler repairs.
5. 5. Finish with three small, practical actions for the coming month and a short summary of this month's totals that I can paste in next time for comparison.

Built-in rules

• Use only the figures I give you. Never invent amounts, and show your sums so I can check that the categories add up to the total.
• Do not present this as regulated financial advice. If I mention missed payments, arrears or borrowing I cannot repay, point me to free help such as MoneyHelper or StepChange.
• Remind me to remove account numbers, sort codes, card numbers and full names from anything I paste before I send it.

Example

You: “I take home £2,350 a month. Here are my bills and last month's card spending. I always run out before payday. Can you sort it and tell me what to change?”
Result: A category table showing where the £2,350 went, a note that eating out and takeaways cost £310, and a next-month budget with a £120 buffer and three actions.

SKILL.md template

Save as monthly-budget-buddy/SKILL.md.

---
name: monthly-budget-buddy
description: "Helps a household plan and review its monthly budget. Turns income, bills and bank statement lines into clear categories, spots overspending, and suggests a realistic plan for next month. Use it after payday, when money feels vague, or before a big expense."
---

# Monthly Budget Buddy

## Workflow
1. 1. Ask for take-home income, pay dates and fixed monthly bills (rent or mortgage, council tax, energy, broadband, insurance, subscriptions), plus any debt repayments and savings goals. Only ask for what has not already been given.
2. 2. Sort any pasted or uploaded spending into categories: housing, bills, food, transport, children, leisure, debt, savings and other. Show the totals in a table and list any lines you cannot categorise, asking me rather than guessing.
3. 3. Compare total spending with income and state clearly whether I finished the month with money left or overspent. Point out the three biggest areas of overspending, repeated charges, and subscriptions that look unused or duplicated.
4. 4. Propose a budget for next month with a specific pound amount per category. Use my real figures, and include a small buffer for irregular costs such as birthdays, MOT, school trips or boiler repairs.
5. 5. Finish with three small, practical actions for the coming month and a short summary of this month's totals that I can paste in next time for comparison.

## Rules
- Use only the figures I give you. Never invent amounts, and show your sums so I can check that the categories add up to the total.
- Do not present this as regulated financial advice. If I mention missed payments, arrears or borrowing I cannot repay, point me to free help such as MoneyHelper or StepChange.
- Remind me to remove account numbers, sort codes, card numbers and full names from anything I paste before I send it.

How to install in Gemini

Copy the template above, then open Gemini. This opens the New Gem page. Works on the free plan, on a computer. Name it "Monthly Budget Buddy" and paste into Instructions. Click Save. Your Gem is in the sidebar on your computer and phone whenever you need it. Google is turning Gems into Gemini skills from November 2026, and your Gem will move across automatically. You can also download the skill file and upload it in Gemini under Settings, then Skills, then Upload.

Pro tip

Save the instructions as a Gem in Gemini so you do not retype them each month. A Gem will not remember last month's figures on its own, so keep the summary it gives you at the end and paste it in at the start of the next chat.

FAQ

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