Turn 3 messy monthly bank & card CSV exports into a 60-second automated budget dashboard.
You came in spending 3.5 hours at the end of every month manually colour-coding bank statements in Excel. Here is your complete post-call playbook: what we spoke about, what we learnt and built live, and the exact 3 steps to run now.
1. This Is What We Spoke About
Why pasting raw bank CSVs into a bare chat window failed, and the 3 Locks we set before building.
2. This Is What We Learnt & Built
Separating deterministic JavaScript math from AI merchant tagging inside a local offline HTML sorter.
3. Now: Do This, Do This, Do This
Your 3 concrete actions in order + your 2 copy-paste prompts ready to run tonight.
Why your monthly budget felt like groundhog day — and how we reframed it.
The problem wasn't discipline; it was friction. When a system takes 3.5 hours of manual copy-pasting on a Sunday night, humans avoid it.
Copy-Pasting CSVs + Guessing Merchant Codes
Every month you exported 3 separate CSVs ( Everyday Offset, Joint Credit Card, Bills Account ), manually deleted transfers between your own accounts, guessed what "SQ *BLUE BOTTLE 042" meant, and tried pasting 400 rows into ChatGPT — where it silently dropped 30 rows and miscalculated the sum.
Deterministic Code for Math + AI Only for Tagging
We stopped asking an LLM to do arithmetic. Instead, we built a local single-file HTML tool that parses your CSV rows with 100% deterministic JavaScript math, and uses a permanent BUDGET_RULES.md file so you only ever classify a new merchant once in your life.
Never ask a language model to be a calculator. Give it a rulebook instead.
Great systems help people do great work. AI is the force multiplier that writes your budget-sorter.html and classifies messy merchant names — while deterministic browser code handles 100% of the dollar addition and privacy.
🛠️ What We Built Together on the Call
A zero-cloud, single-file monthly-budget-sorter.html that runs offline on your Mac/PC + your reusable BUDGET_RULES.md merchant dictionary.
BUDGET_RULES.md Pattern Match: Known merchants (`WOOLWORTHS`, `ORIGIN ENERGY`, `NETFLIX`) map to your 6 buckets in 0.01 seconds.| Bucket | Tx Count | Monthly Total | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Fixed Essentials & Mortgage | 19 | $3,840.00 | On Target |
| 2. Groceries & Household | 44 | $1,285.40 | On Target |
| 3. Family & Kids Activities | 16 | $610.00 | On Target |
| 4. Subscriptions & SaaS | 14 | $312.80 | ⚠️ +$64 Creep Flagged |
| 5. Dining & Lifestyle | 31 | $745.20 | +$95 Over Cap |
| 6. Net Savings & Offset | 4 | +$1,950.00 | Locked In ✓ |
Your exact 3-step checklist — plus the 2 prompts to copy and paste.
Don't overcomplicate it. Follow these three steps in order tonight and your monthly budget system is permanently operational.
Run Last Month's CSV Through Your Sorter
Open monthly-budget-sorter.html in Chrome, drag in last month's Everyday & Credit Card CSV exports, and click "Export Unmatched Merchants" (usually ~8–12 mystery rows).
Paste Prompt #1 to Lock Your Rules
Copy Prompt #1 below into Claude or ChatGPT with those unmatched merchant names (no account numbers needed). Paste the clean JSON rules back into your sorter once — it will remember them forever.
Run Your 60-Second Executive Review
On the 1st of each month, drop your new CSV into the sorter, verify the green Variance: $0.00 badge, and paste your summary table into Prompt #2 to spot subscription creep and set 1 tweak for next month.
How to verify your numbers in 5 seconds — and where to go next.
You now own a working system. Run it solo for a month, and if you want to automate the next bottleneck in your life or business, pick your rung below.
Before acting on any monthly budget report, check the green Reconciliation Box at the bottom of your sorter: Total Outflows across all 6 buckets + Internal Transfers MUST equal your raw Bank CSV Total Debit column to the exact cent ($0.00 variance). If Variance ≠ $0.00, check the "Unmatched Rows" tab before trusting any chart.
Booked 60-Min Deep Dive: Connect your budget sorter to a 12-month cashflow forecaster, offset mortgage simulator, and automated tax-deduction tagger.
3-Hour Builder Pack (Save $60): Three 60-minute sessions to automate your personal finance, weekly family/admin ops, and work reporting stack.
Bring This to Work: Option A ($1,000) custom tool build for your team; Option B ($2,500) workflow audit & SOPs; Option C ($1,500/mo) after-hours systems retainer.