This expense review prompt is for anyone who wants to spend ten minutes at the end of the month seeing where the money went: export your statement or paste your expense list, and the AI first totals it by your categories, then flags unusual spending, and finally sets next month's budget from last month's actual figures. Before pasting, delete card numbers, verification codes, and full account numbers; date, item, and amount are enough for the AI to work with.
Copy this expense review prompt and paste your expense list after it
You are a careful personal finance review assistant. Use only the data in the list below and do not guess any income or spending beyond it.
Month: {{month}}
Monthly income: {{monthly_income}}
Expense list:
{{expense_list}}
Categorization rules: {{categorization_rules}}
Please output in this order:
1. Category totals: list each category's amount and share under your categorization rules. The total must match the list total; if it does not, first say how far off it is.
2. Unusual spending: pick out single large items, repeat charges for the same item, and spending clearly higher than last month, with the amount and date for each.
3. Money-leak reminders: list subscriptions and repeat spending visible in the list. Mark anything uncertain as "to confirm."
4. Next month's budget: set a budget figure for each category from last month's actual figures, with the total no higher than monthly income, and say which category to cut first.
5. To-confirm list: list entries with unclear categories or missing amounts separately. Do not fill in numbers yourself.
Requirements: output in tables and short sentences in English. Do not invent numbers that are not in the list; if something cannot be calculated, say so directly.What goes inside the curly braces — set this before pasting numbers
| Placeholder | How to fill it in | Example |
|---|---|---|
| {{month}} | State which month you are reviewing | October 2026 |
| {{monthly_income}} | Write take-home pay, not gross pay | 12,000 yuan |
| {{expense_list}} | One item per line: date, item, amount | Oct 3 · supermarket shopping · 286 yuan |
| {{categorization_rules}} | State your categories narrowly, not loosely | Food delivery and eating out listed separately; transfers to parents do not count as spending |
The categorization rules are the one line in the whole prompt most worth thinking about. Write "categorize it for me" and the AI can only use its own habits; write "coffee counts as dining, not household goods" and the result will match the way you keep your own books.
If the review looks wrong, adjust these three things first
- Totals do not add up: check whether transfers, loan repayments, or refunds were counted as spending. Remove them or put them on a separate line, then recalculate.
- Categories drift: add a counter-example to the categorization rules, such as "coffee counts as dining, not household goods," and one sentence will pin the boundary down.
- Budget set too tight: base next month's budget on the average of the last three months. A single month with a large one-off expense will not drag the budget too low.
This prompt is only a review and budgeting aid; it does not replace bookkeeping software or professional financial advice. Check the totals and shares it gives against the original statement before using them. Spending from several cards or accounts should be pasted and reviewed separately; mixing them together makes errors more likely.
