Family budgeting, made human
What can Mamisbudget help your family budget for?
Free calculators and honest money advice for parents running a household: plan the month, tame the grocery bill, price out childcare, build your safety net, and survive the holidays with your budget intact. Set a weekly grocery budget for your household size and see how your spending compares to national benchmarks. Compare daycare, nanny, and after-school costs side by side, monthly and annually, for your number of kids.
Free calculators and honest money advice for parents running a household: plan the month, tame the grocery bill, price out childcare, build your safety net, and survive the holidays with your budget intact.
Built by a mom, checked against the official numbers
I am Jennifer Beckett, a mom budgeting for a family of three, and I built these tools because general budgeting apps kept pretending my household was one person with a gym membership. Every calculator here assumes kids, groceries, and childcare are in the picture, and every benchmark behind them comes from a named official source. Read how we check our prices, or just pick the bill that is on your mind and start.
Family Budget Planner
Map your monthly income against real household expenses and see your surplus, deficit, and savings rate at a glance.
Calculate →Grocery Budget Calculator
Set a weekly grocery budget for your household size and see how your spending compares to national benchmarks.
Calculate →Childcare Cost Calculator
Compare daycare, nanny, and after-school costs side by side, monthly and annually, for your number of kids.
Calculate →Emergency Fund Calculator
Find your 3, 6, or 9 month safety net number and see exactly how long it takes to build it.
Calculate →Holiday Budget Planner
Split your holiday budget across gifts, travel, and food, with per-person gift math that keeps you on track.
Calculate →Baby's First Year Cost Calculator
Your state's infant childcare prices plus health care, feeding, diapers, gear and clothing: the whole first-year bill, itemized.
Calculate →Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Calculator
Size the turkey for your guest list and price the whole meal, sides, pies and all, before you shop.
Calculate →Sinking Funds Planner
Car repairs, holidays, birthdays, vacation: set a target and a timeline for up to 8 goals and see the monthly amount for each.
Calculate →Cost Per Meal Calculator
Turn your weekly grocery spend into a cost per plate, compare it with takeout, and see what one swapped meal a week saves.
Calculate →Back-to-School Budget Calculator
Price the whole list per kid: supplies, clothes, shoes, tech, and fees, with a per-child total you can shop against.
Calculate →Birthday Party Budget Calculator
Guests, food, cake, and the bounce house: build the party line by line and see the per-guest cost before you book anything.
Calculate →Meal Planning Savings Calculator
See what planning a week of dinners does to your grocery and takeout spending, in dollars per month and per year.
Calculate →What things cost where you live
State by state data, from federal and published sources, for the two questions new parents ask most.
Grocery Costs by State
What a family of four spends on groceries in your state, from MIT Living Wage Calculator food estimates, plus USDA food plans by family size.
Cost of a Baby's First Year, by State
Your state's infant childcare prices plus health care, formula, diapers, gear and clothing: the full first-year bill, state by state.
Childcare Costs by State
Median infant, toddler and preschool prices at centers and home-based care, from the federal childcare price database.
Price Trackers: Eggs, Milk, Bread, Diapers
Monthly federal average prices and verified store-brand checks for the staples that drive the grocery bill.
Benefits Eligibility Screener
Your state, household size and income, checked against the official limits for WIC, Medicaid and CHIP, SNAP, LIHEAP energy help and state tax credits, all on one page.
Why Mamisbudget exists
Most budgeting tools are built for single twenty-somethings with one rent payment and a coffee habit. Family money is messier: groceries for five, childcare that costs more than the mortgage did ten years ago, school fundraisers, birthday parties, and a holiday season that arrives like a freight train every December. These calculators were designed around that reality, with the expense categories families actually have and benchmarks that reflect real household spending.
Everything runs 100% in your browser. The numbers you type never leave your device, so you can budget honestly without wondering who is watching. No accounts, no paywalls, no judgment about the takeout line in your budget.
Start with the family budget planner to see the full monthly picture, then use the grocery calculator to find the leak most families never notice. If little ones are in the picture, the childcare comparison will save you from sticker shock before it happens.
From the blog
Practical money writing for parents. New posts when the news matters.
10 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill Without Eating Sad Dinners
Meal planning, store-brand swaps, and the freezer trick that saves one family $200 a month.
How to Build an Emergency Fund on a Tight Budget
Start with $500, automate the rest, and why the perfect number matters less than starting.
The Real Cost of Childcare (and How to Plan for It)
Daycare vs. nanny vs. after-school: what families actually pay and how to budget for it before the sticker shock.
Frequently asked questions
Are Mamisbudget calculators really free?
Yes. Every calculator is completely free with no account, no signup, and no limits.
Is my family's financial data private?
Yes. All calculations run entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your calculation inputs never leave your device: nothing you type is sent to our servers or stored. Like most websites, this page loads standard third-party scripts (for example, advertising) that may collect page-visit data; see our privacy policy for details.
Who writes the Mamisbudget blog?
The blog is written by a mom, for parents managing real household budgets: practical posts on groceries, childcare, saving, and making the money stretch. New posts arrive when the news matters for family budgets.
Are the results financial advice?
No. Our calculators give estimates for planning purposes using standard budgeting math. For big decisions, talk to a qualified financial professional.