If you're the type of person who sticks to a rigid household budget, I admire you. For most of us, bills are still rising and the weekly food shop costs more than it should.
Then came last week’s budget: income tax thresholds frozen until 2031, meaning any pay rise could push you into higher tax brackets, and the cash ISA allowance for under-65s will fall to £12,000 from April 2027. For many people, it feels that their finances are being stretched even further.
So we try to stay organised. There are the spreadsheets we swear we’ll maintain, and that nagging sense we should be more on it than we are. Which is why, over the past few months, I’ve been experimenting with a simpler approach. I handed some of the heavy lifting to ChatGPT.
Here are five ways it may help you to take more control of your household finances in the year ahead.
1. Start with a simple budget
Budgeting systems can be notoriously difficult to stick to, yet the principles remain sound: understand what comes in, what goes out, and what can be changed. What surprised me is how quickly ChatGPT (or your chatbot of choice) can produce something helpful from a few figures.
Type something like: “We’re a household with joint income £5,200 after tax. Our monthly outgoings are (for example): mortgage £1,500; council tax £180; utilities £230; phones £50; food £500; transport £340; gym £70. Create a simple monthly budget table showing essentials, discretionary spending and the amount that is left.”
Within seconds ChatGPT categorises everything and shows what's left after essentials. You could then ask it to show your outgoings as percentages, to see where you are overloaded; it can also suggest where people on similar incomes struggle.
2. Find the subscriptions you've forgotten about
It’s surprising how much money disappears in little monthly payments we don’t have time to check. I asked ChatGPT to help me hunt them down: “We’re a household of two adults, both working from home. Give me a full checklist of every type of subscription we might have.”
It listed dozens of categories I’d never have thought to check, from cloud storage to premium apps and old Amazon subscribe and save orders. But don’t upload your bank statements to ChatGPT; just use the checklist as a guide.
Then go through your regular payments properly. Not the quick skim, but the full review. I uncovered a yoga app from last year that had slipped through the net. Identifying these leaks is one of the fastest ways to free up money for more important goals.
3. Run the "what if?" scenarios before life does
Most budgets fail because life refuses to be predictable. Here, ChatGPT is surprisingly helpful. It can model changes instantly, without formulas or specialist tools. It handles hypothetical situations with the emotional detachment we all wish we had when checking our bank balance.
Try prompts such as: "What happens if our rent rises by £75 a month?" or "What if nursery fees increase by £100?" and "What if one of us drops to working four days a week?" When I asked what redirecting the gym money could do, ChatGPT said that £70 a month into a pension (including tax relief) could add more than £1,000 a year.
4. Turn new year resolutions into practical numbers
Resolutions such as “save more” or “reduce debt” are vague, so try something like: “How can a couple save £3,000 by next Christmas? Break it into monthly, weekly and daily amounts.” It will produce figures like £250 a month or £8.22 a day, which are far easier to plan around.
Alternatively, try: “We have £3,000 on a credit card at 23.9 per cent APR. What's the difference between paying minimum repayments and adding £50 monthly?” This kind of calculation, shaving months off the repayment term and saving hundreds in interest, often provides the motivation people struggle to find on their own.
5. Know where AI stops and actual advice begins
ChatGPT is useful for categorising spending and modelling scenarios. But it can also make mistakes, so treat its answers as a starting point only. It’s not a regulated financial adviser, so any important decisions with long-term implications still warrant proper advice.
Take precautions. Avoid typing in account numbers or other identifying details. Switch off "Improve the model for everyone" in data controls (under settings) so your conversations aren’t used for training, and steer clear of uploading documents that contain sensitive personal data.
I've been checking in with my AI-generated budget every month since September. I've boosted my savings and found room for a pension top-up. The gym membership remains intact but mainly unused.
For me, ChatGPT has turned basic household budgeting into a small, interactive habit that’s oddly enjoyable. In the world of personal finance, that’s often the real victory.
Harriet Meyer has spent more than 20 years writing about personal finance before becoming somewhat obsessed with artificial intelligence
Illustration by Charlotte Durance