I Asked ChatGPT How To Budget Better (Here's What Happened)

Like many of us, I have spent a lot of time reading blogs, books, watching videos and in general consuming content on how to better manage my money.

Often times though, it doesn’t quite do the trick.

A lot of the advice out there is either too generic to make an impact, or just doesn’t work.

So, this time, I decided to outsource my money problems by asking ChatGPT this:

How can I get better at budgeting?

Here’s what it told me, and what happened when I followed it’s advice.

The AI gave me a pretty straightforward list of tips. The main ones were:

Pay yourself first: Move money into savings or investments as soon as you get paid.
Track your spending: Write it down or use an app so you actually see where your money goes.
Audit subscriptions: Cancel or downgrade things you don’t use.
Set realistic categories: Don’t just say “spend less.” Give yourself clear limits (like $200/month for eating out).

It sounded a little generic at first, but to be fair, these are the same tips financial experts repeat for a reason.

Instead of overhauling everything, I picked two things:

The subscription audit: I went through my bank statement and found three recurring charges I’d totally forgotten about. Goodbye, random $9.99 apps!
Pay yourself first: I set up an automatic transfer of $50 a week into a savings account. That’s money I’ll never “see,” so I can’t spend it.

Savings: By the end of the month, I had $200 sitting in my account without even noticing it was gone.
Subscriptions: Cutting those small charges freed up an extra $30/month.
Awareness: Just looking at my spending made me more conscious of little leaks (like ordering food twice in one weekend).

Now, it certainly wasn’t life-changing or anything. But it felt doable.

And that’s more than I can say for most budgeting methods I’ve tried.

ChatGPT didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it did give me a simple, non-judgmental plan.
The trick was choosing just two tips to start with instead of trying to follow everything perfectly.
AI is great for giving a starting point, but the real work is testing what actually fits your life.

Would I recommend using ChatGPT as your personal finance coach?

Maybe.

It really depends on how disciplined you can stay in regards to budgeting.

Asking ChatGPT for money advice won’t magically fix your financial problems, but it can give you a plan to start with.

And in my case, I’m now $230 better off than I was a month ago.

I’ll take it!