diff --git a/app/models/budget.rb b/app/models/budget.rb
index f8cb991c..37e76238 100644
--- a/app/models/budget.rb
+++ b/app/models/budget.rb
@@ -133,8 +133,13 @@ class Budget < ApplicationRecord
     # Continuous gray segment for empty budgets
     return [ { color: "var(--budget-unallocated-fill)", amount: 1, id: unused_segment_id } ] unless allocations_valid?
 
-    segments = budget_categories.map do |bc|
-      { color: bc.category.color, amount: budget_category_actual_spending(bc), id: bc.id }
+    # Pre-compute category totals to avoid repeated lookups in the loop
+    category_totals_by_id = expense_totals.category_totals.index_by { |ct| ct.category.id }
+
+    # Use includes to prevent N+1 queries on category association
+    segments = budget_categories.includes(:category).map do |bc|
+      actual_spending = category_totals_by_id[bc.category.id]&.total || 0
+      { color: bc.category.color, amount: actual_spending, id: bc.id }
     end
 
     if available_to_spend.positive?
@@ -187,7 +192,8 @@ class Budget < ApplicationRecord
   # Budget allocations: How much user has budgeted for all parent categories combined
   # =============================================================================
   def allocated_spending
-    budget_categories.reject { |bc| bc.subcategory? }.sum(&:budgeted_spending)
+    # Use includes to prevent N+1 queries when checking subcategory?
+    budget_categories.includes(:category).reject { |bc| bc.subcategory? }.sum(&:budgeted_spending)
   end
 
   def allocated_percent
diff --git a/test/models/budget_test.rb b/test/models/budget_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4b290b57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/models/budget_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+require "test_helper"
+
+class BudgetTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  def setup
+    @family = families(:one)
+    @budget = Budget.create!(
+      family: @family,
+      start_date: Date.current.beginning_of_month,
+      end_date: Date.current.end_of_month,
+      currency: "USD"
+    )
+  end
+
+  test "to_donut_segments_json returns proper structure" do
+    # Test with empty budget (should return single unused segment)
+    segments = @budget.to_donut_segments_json
+    assert_equal 1, segments.length
+    assert_equal "unused", segments.first[:id]
+    assert_equal "var(--budget-unallocated-fill)", segments.first[:color]
+    assert_equal 1, segments.first[:amount]
+  end
+
+  test "to_donut_segments_json with categories doesn't cause N+1 queries" do
+    # Create some test categories and budget categories
+    category1 = @family.categories.create!(name: "Food", color: "#ff0000")
+    category2 = @family.categories.create!(name: "Transport", color: "#00ff00")
+    
+    @budget.budget_categories.create!(category: category1, budgeted_spending: 1000, currency: "USD")
+    @budget.budget_categories.create!(category: category2, budgeted_spending: 500, currency: "USD")
+    
+    # Mock budget to be valid
+    @budget.stubs(:allocations_valid?).returns(true)
+    @budget.stubs(:available_to_spend).returns(Money.new(100))
+    @budget.stubs(:expense_totals).returns(
+      double(category_totals: [
+        double(category: double(id: category1.id), total: 800),
+        double(category: double(id: category2.id), total: 300)
+      ])
+    )
+
+    # Count the number of queries when generating segments
+    queries_before = count_queries do
+      @budget.to_donut_segments_json
+    end
+
+    # Should not cause excessive queries due to our optimization
+    assert queries_before < 10, "Expected fewer than 10 queries, got #{queries_before}"
+  end
+
+  test "allocated_spending uses includes to prevent N+1 queries" do
+    # Create some test categories and budget categories
+    category1 = @family.categories.create!(name: "Food", color: "#ff0000")
+    category2 = @family.categories.create!(name: "Transport", color: "#00ff00", parent: category1)
+    
+    @budget.budget_categories.create!(category: category1, budgeted_spending: 1000, currency: "USD")
+    @budget.budget_categories.create!(category: category2, budgeted_spending: 500, currency: "USD")
+
+    # Count queries when calculating allocated spending
+    queries_before = count_queries do
+      @budget.allocated_spending
+    end
+
+    # Should not cause excessive queries due to our optimization
+    assert queries_before < 5, "Expected fewer than 5 queries, got #{queries_before}"
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def count_queries(&block)
+    query_count = 0
+    subscriber = ActiveSupport::Notifications.subscribe("sql.active_record") do |*args|
+      query_count += 1
+    end
+    
+    block.call
+    query_count
+  ensure
+    ActiveSupport::Notifications.unsubscribe(subscriber) if subscriber
+  end
+end