Six ways to map your money
Each method solves a different problem — timing, proportion, direction, or unpredictability. Start with the one that matches what's actually giving you trouble this month.
Cashflow Sankey
A sankey draws one paycheque as a ribbon that splits and thins as it moves toward rent, savings, debt and everyday spending. The width of each branch is proportional to the dollars inside it, so an oversized branch is visible before you've read a single number.
Best for: households who want a single honest picture of where a typical month's income actually goes.
How to start
- List last month's income as one starting ribbon.
- Split it into four or five destinations — rent, debt, savings, essentials, discretionary.
- Redraw it monthly and watch which branch grows or thins.
Bill Calendar
Every due date goes on one monthly grid instead of scattered emails and reminders. Clusters jump out immediately — three bills landing in the same week as the mortgage is a pattern a list will never show you as clearly as a calendar will.
Best for: anyone who's been caught by a due-date pile-up more than once.
How to start
- Mark every recurring due date on a blank month grid.
- Circle any week with more than two due dates.
- Shift a due date or move money forward before the cluster hits.
Budget Heatmap
Categories run down the side, months run across the top, and each cell is shaded by how much landed there. A year of statements becomes one grid you can scan in seconds — the category that's quietly crept up month over month lights up on its own.
Best for: spotting slow creep in categories like groceries or subscriptions that a single month's number won't reveal.
How to start
- List six to eight spending categories down the left edge.
- Add a column per month and shade each cell by amount.
- Scan for a row that's darkening — that's your next conversation.
Debt Snowball Roadmap
Every balance becomes a stop on a route. Pay the minimum everywhere, put anything extra toward the first stop, and once it's cleared, roll that payment into the next. Drawing it as a road — rather than a table of interest rates — makes the order and the momentum obvious.
Stop 1 — smallest balance
Gets the full extra payment. Everything else gets the minimum only.
Stop 2 — next balance
Inherits Stop 1's payment the moment it's cleared, so the "snowball" grows.
Stop 3 and beyond
Each stop clears faster than the last, and the roadmap shows exactly why.
Envelope Budgeting
A classic cash-splitting habit, redrawn as labelled blocks sized to match what's actually available. Digital or physical, the rule is the same: when an envelope's empty, spending in that category pauses until the next cycle — no borrowing quietly from another envelope.
Draw the blocks first
Size each envelope to last month's real spending, not a hopeful guess.
Track the shrink
Shade or fill each envelope down as the cycle goes, so "empty" is visible before it's a surprise.
Rebalance monthly
An envelope that's always empty early needs a bigger block, not more willpower.
Irregular Income Planner
Shift work, contract pay and seasonal income don't fit a single flat number. This map draws two lines instead: a floor — the lowest realistic month — and a comfortable line above it. Everything below the floor is protected first; anything above it is where flexible goals live.
Best for: gig work, tips-based income, commission, or any pay that changes month to month.