FIRE Household Ledger budget category template

In their words

We retired early in 2026 and needed budgeting that works without a paycheck. Three groups hold money that isn't spending: Revenue (real income only),
Investments (capital moving between positions), and Ledger Movements (transfers, credit card payments, reconciliation). The last two carry
exclude_from_budget and exclude_from_totals so reports show actual consumption, not shuffling. FIRE Drawdowns is the trick that makes
budgeting work: it never receives a transaction. You type your monthly safe-withdrawal amount into its Budgeted column and set "Base income on"
to "Larger of budgeted and actual income activity" — the General Pool fills with your planned spend while income reports stay honest. Actual
brokerage-to-cash moves get categorized as Brokerage Draw under Ledger Movements, so you can measure what you really pulled against plan.
Working households can ignore the placeholder, set income to actual activity, and use Paycheck/Bonus as-is; traditionally retired users add
Social Security and Pension beside RMD. Oddities we hit along the way have homes too: reverse-signed cash back and sweep-fund dividends
(Inverted Cash Deposits), partner allowance transfers (FI-RE), and balance plugs (Audit Adjustment).

Charles from Queens, NY