Individual skill
budget-tracker-design
Design a budget-vs-actuals tracker that stays alive past February — the category grain that matches real statements, the variance view that answers 'are we okay', the update ritual small enough to survive, and the honest handling of irregular expenses. Use when asked build me a budget spreadsheet, track team spend against budget, why do we always blow the budget invisibly, or design a household/project budget tracker. Produces the tracker structure, the variance logic, the irregulars ledger, and the monthly fifteen-minute ritual.
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# Budget Tracker Design Skill
Budget trackers die two deaths: too granular (forty categories nobody can code a coffee receipt into — abandoned by February) or too vague (three buckets that hide every overrun until it's structural). The living tracker matches its grain to *how spending actually arrives* (statement lines, invoices), answers one question at a glance — "are we okay, and where not?" — handles irregular expenses honestly (the annual insurance bill is not a "shock"), and costs fifteen minutes a month, because the ritual's survivability is the design's real constraint.
## What This Skill Produces
- **The structure** — categories at statement-grain (8–15, not 40), the month × category grid, budget column with its source
- **The variance view** — actual vs. budget with the month-and-YTD dual read, conditional signals at honest thresholds
- **The irregulars ledger** — annual/lumpy expenses spread as monthly accruals so they stop being surprises
- **The ritual** — the fifteen-minute monthly update, sourced from statements, calendared
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