Start with the truth
This isn't a shame spreadsheet. We are not cutting your coffee, lashes, hockey, Amazon or the stuff that makes life yours. We are finding the number.
Rule: enter what you really spend. If something happens once or twice a year, include it. Reality Check converts it into the monthly amount your life needs to carry.
Your setup
Added on top of your actual-life number.
Bare Minimum$0Keep the lights on.
Actual Life$0Your real monthly cost.
Breathing Room$0Actual life + buffer.
Your life, in numbers
Use the starter rows, delete what doesn't apply, and add the weirdly specific things that absolutely do.
Your Reality Check
This is the number the rest of EFTERA gets to work from.
YOUR ACTUAL LIFE NUMBER
$0/month
This is what your current life actually costs when recurring and irregular expenses are accounted for.
Bare Minimum$0$0/year
Actual Life$0$0/year
Breathing Room$0$0/year
Where it goes now
This is accounting, not judgement.
The part that sneaks up on you
Annual, seasonal and occasional costs still belong to your life. We converted them to a monthly carrying cost.
Irregular expenses carried monthly$0
Irregular expenses per year$0
EFTERA REALITY CHECK
Your life has a number. Now you know it.
Bare minimum$0/month
Actual life$0/month
Breathing room$0/month
Annual take-home target$0/year
Next: take this number into the EFTERA Money Map and ask the question that matters: is the job actually worth it?