Savings and goal colouring charts
Type your goal and how many cells you want. The chart solves for amounts that add up to it exactly — then you colour one in as you go.
Start from a challenge
- 100 envelope challenge£5,050 in 100 envelopes — 1 to 100
- 100 envelopes, randomisedThe same amounts, drawn in random order
- 52 week savings challenge£1,378 over a year — 1 to 52
- A6 binder insertThe 52 week challenge sized for a pocket binder
- Sinking fund£1,200 over twelve equal months
- Credit card payoff£3,500 over 50 cells, biggest payment first
- Debt snowball£2,000 in a repeating four-week cycle
- House deposit tracker£20,000 over 100 rising cells
- Weight loss tracker30 lb, one pound a cell
- Running mileage chart500 miles over 52 weeks, building up
- Reading pages chart3,000 pages over 30 sittings
Every one of these charts is the same arithmetic problem: find N amounts that sum to the goal, arranged so the early ones are bearable. The 100 envelope challenge is 1 to 100, which comes to 5,050. The 52 week challenge is 1 to 52, which comes to 1,378. But almost nobody's goal is 5,050 or 1,378 — it is 5,000, or 3,270, or whatever is left on the card — and that is the arithmetic a printed PDF cannot do.
So this does it. Pick the goal, the number of cells and the shape of the distribution: sequential, randomised, a fixed amount, a progressive ramp, or a repeating cycle. The amounts are solved as whole pennies and the remainder is handed out one penny at a time, so the cells sum to the goal exactly — not to within a rounding error. The sheet prints what they add up to, so it proves its own sums.
Because it is only arithmetic and shapes, it is not only a savings chart. Set the unit to lb, miles, pages or km and the same engine is a weight loss tracker, a mileage chart or a reading log. Set the paper to A6 and it is a binder insert.
Questions
Do the cells really add up to the goal?
Exactly, every time, and the sheet prints the total so you can check it at a glance. The amounts are worked out in whole pennies rather than in decimals, and the few pennies that will not divide evenly are handed out one at a time to the cells that were rounded down hardest. That is why a goal of 5,000 across 12 cells gives four cells of 416.66 and eight of 416.67 rather than twelve cells of 416.67 and a four penny hole.
What if I want whole notes rather than odd pennies?
Set the rounding to whole units, or to multiples of 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100. Rounding cannot be allowed to change the total, so whatever is left over — always less than one of your chosen multiples — is carried by the largest cell, and the sheet says so in print rather than quietly losing it.
What is the difference between sequential and progressive?
Sequential is 1, 2, 3 up to N, scaled to your goal — the classic envelope challenge, where the last cell is N times the first. Progressive is the same ramp with the steepness in your hands: set it to 3 and the last cell is three times the first, which is far gentler over 100 cells.
Can I use it for something other than money?
Yes. The unit is a free text box, so lb, kg, miles, km, pages or minutes all work, and it can sit after the number where those units belong. A 30 lb weight loss tracker and a 500 mile running chart are the same solver as a savings challenge.
Will it fit an A6 binder?
Yes — A6 is on the paper list, along with A5, A4, Letter, Legal, Tabloid and A3, and the cells are laid out to fill whichever you choose. Everything prints at true size, so an A6 insert really is 105 by 148 mm.
Is anything I type sent anywhere?
No. The whole page runs in your browser, so your goal, your debt and your weight target never leave the machine.
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