Guides

Short, practical guides to the One Number method: how to work out what you can actually spend this month, how to keep it running when money's tight, and how the approach compares to the bigger budgeting apps. Every one is free to read, and the calculator can give you your own number in about a minute.

• How Much Can I Spend Per Month?Your checking balance can't tell you what you actually have to spend this month. Here's the simple subtraction that can, in under a minute.
• Budgeting Paycheck to PaycheckForty-category budgets break when money's tight. Here's the one-number version that holds up paycheck to paycheck, and the habit that stops the ambush bills.
• Cash Stuffing Without the CashWhat makes cash stuffing work is the visible stop of an empty envelope. Here's how to keep that stop with one card and one number, no cash to carry.
• Budgeting Without Linking Your BankYou can run a real budget without connecting your bank account. Here's the no-link method, why you'd want it, and what you give up in return.
• A Simple Alternative to YNABYNAB works, but it's a lot of app. If you want the same principle with one number instead of forty categories, here's the simpler alternative, and where YNAB still wins.
• A Simple Alternative to Monarch MoneyMonarch links everything and tracks your whole financial life. If you just want to know what you can spend this month, here's a simpler, cheaper tool that never links your bank.
• Budgeting App Comparison 2026A side-by-side of Left Unspent, Monarch, YNAB, and EveryDollar, including where each one genuinely wins. One number and no bank linking, next to the dashboards.