Budgets

Control your spending with budgets and spending limits

Overview

Budgets help you control your spending by setting limits on how much you can spend in specific areas. Unlike categories which simply classify transactions, budgets actively help you manage where your money goes and alert you when you’re approaching your limits.

What Are Budgets?

A budget is a spending limit for a specific purpose:

• Food Budget: Limit grocery spending to $400/month
• Entertainment Budget: Cap fun activities at $100/month
• Transportation Budget: Restrict fuel and transit to $200/month

Budgets only apply to withdrawals (expenses). Income and transfers don’t affect budgets.

Budgets vs. Categories

Budgets

For planning and control

• Set spending limits
• Track progress toward goals
• Get alerts when overspending
• Focus on the future

Categories

For classification

• Organize transactions
• Analyze past spending
• No limits or goals
• Focus on understanding

Use both together! A “Groceries” transaction can have the category “Food” and count toward your “Weekly Food Budget”.

Creating a Budget

1. Navigate to Budgets

   Go to Budgets in the main navigation.

2. Create New Budget

   Click Create New Budget.

3. Name Your Budget

   Choose a descriptive name like “Monthly Groceries” or “Quarterly Travel”.

4. Save

   Click Save to create the budget.

5. Set Budget Limits

   After creation, add budget limits (see next section).

Setting Budget Limits

Budget limits define how much you can spend and when:

1. Open Budget

   Click on your budget from the budget list.

2. Create Budget Limit

   Click Create Budget Limit.

3. Set Date Range

   Choose the period:

   • Monthly (most common)
   • Weekly
   • Quarterly
   • Yearly
   • Custom date range
4. Enter Amount

   Set your spending limit for this period.

5. Save

   Click Save to activate the limit.

Multiple Budget Limits

You can set different limits for different periods:

• January: $500 (holiday recovery)
• February-November: $400 (normal months)
• December: $600 (holiday season)

Budget Dashboard

The budget overview shows your budget health at a glance:

Budget Progress Bars

• Green: Under budget, spending safely
• Yellow: Approaching your limit (typically 80%+)
• Red: Over budget, spending beyond your limit

Available Budget

See how much money you have available:

• Total Available: All budget limits combined
• Spent So Far: How much you’ve already used
• Remaining: What’s left to spend

Assigning Transactions to Budgets

During Transaction Creation

When creating a withdrawal:

1. Fill in the transaction details
2. Select a budget from the Budget dropdown
3. Save the transaction

After Transaction Creation

To add a budget to an existing transaction:

1. Open the transaction
2. Click Edit
3. Select a budget
4. Save changes

Use Rules to automatically assign budgets based on transaction patterns!

Auto-Budgets

Auto-budgets automatically set budget limits based on your income or previous spending:

Fixed Amount Auto-Budget

Sets the same limit each period:

• Amount: $400
• Period: Monthly
• Result: $400 budget limit every month

Percentage-Based Auto-Budget

Set budget as percentage of income

Configure the budget to automatically adjust based on your income:

• Set percentage: 20%
• Period: Monthly
• Result: If you earn $3,000, budget is$600; if you earn $4,000, budget is$800

Rollover Auto-Budget

Roll unused budget to next period

Save unused budget for the next period:

• Budget: $400/month
• Spent in January: $350
• February budget: $450 ($400 + $50 rollover)

Budget Strategies

Zero-Based Budgeting

Allocate every dollar of income to a budget:

1. Calculate total monthly income
2. Create budgets for all expense categories
3. Ensure budget totals equal income
4. Adjust as needed throughout the month

The 50/30/20 Rule

Divide income into three budget categories:

• 50%: Needs (housing, food, utilities)
• 30%: Wants (entertainment, dining out)
• 20%: Savings and debt repayment

Envelope Budgeting

Traditional envelope method, digital style:

1. Create a budget for each spending category
2. “Fill” budgets at the start of the month
3. Only spend what’s in each “envelope”
4. Stop spending when a budget is empty

Available Budget

Available Budget tracks your overall monthly capacity:

1. Navigate to Budgets

   Go to the Budgets page.

2. Set Available Budget

   Enter your total budget capacity for the month.

3. Create Budget Limits

   Divide this amount across your individual budgets.

4. Monitor Balance

   See how much budget capacity remains unallocated.

Available Budget is informational only. You can exceed it, but it helps ensure you don’t over-commit your income.

Budget Reports

Analyze your budget performance:

Current Period Report

• Spending by budget
• Over-budget warnings
• Progress toward limits
• Unbudgeted expenses

Historical Analysis

• Budget performance over time
• Average spending per budget
• Trends and patterns
• Seasonal variations

No-Budget Report

Run the “No Budget” report to find expenses that aren’t assigned to any budget. These might need their own budget or could be occasional expenses.

Best Practices

Start with Major Categories

Don’t create too many budgets at first. Start with:

• Housing
• Food
• Transportation
• Utilities

Add more specific budgets as you get comfortable.

Be Realistic

Set achievable budget limits. Look at past spending to understand realistic targets. Overly strict budgets lead to frustration and abandonment.

Review and Adjust Monthly

Budgets aren’t set in stone. Review performance each month and adjust limits based on reality and changing priorities.

Account for Irregular Expenses

Create budgets for irregular costs:

• Annual insurance premiums
• Quarterly tax payments
• Holiday shopping

Divide the total by 12 and budget monthly to avoid surprises.

Don't Forget Fun Money

Include a budget for guilt-free spending on wants. This prevents budget burnout and makes the system sustainable.

Common Budget Scenarios

Variable Income

If your income fluctuates:

1. Calculate your average monthly income
2. Budget conservatively based on lower estimates
3. Use percentage-based auto-budgets
4. Build an emergency buffer

Bi-Weekly Paychecks

1. Calculate Monthly Average

   If paid bi-weekly, you get 26 paychecks/year. Monthly average: (annual income) / 12

2. Set Monthly Budgets

   Base budgets on monthly average, not individual paychecks.

3. Handle Extra Paychecks

   Twice a year you’ll get a “third” paycheck in a month. Use it for savings or irregular expenses.

Shared Expenses

For households with shared finances:

• Create budgets for joint expenses
• Use tags to track who spent from shared budgets
• Review spending together regularly

Active vs. Inactive Budgets

• Active budgets appear in dropdowns and on the dashboard
• Inactive budgets are hidden but preserve historical data

Make budgets inactive when:

• You’re temporarily not tracking that category
• The budget is for a completed project
• You want to simplify your budget list

Budget Order

Customize how budgets appear:

1. Go to the Budgets page
2. Drag and drop budgets to reorder
3. Put your most important budgets at the top

Troubleshooting

Budget limit not showing

Check:

• The date range includes the current date
• The budget limit was saved successfully
• Your browser isn’t caching old data (refresh)

Spending doesn't match budget

Verify:

• Transactions are assigned to the correct budget
• Date range of budget limit matches transaction dates
• No duplicate transactions are counting twice

Can't delete a budget

You can’t delete budgets that:

• Have transactions assigned to them
• Have active budget limits

Instead, make the budget inactive to hide it.

Integration with Other Features

Rules

Automate budget assignment:

• Create rules to assign budgets based on descriptions
• Automatically budget grocery store transactions
• Set budgets by merchant or amount

Reports

Budget data appears in:

• Monthly expense reports
• Budget performance reports
• Category vs. budget comparisons

Recurring Transactions

Assign budgets to recurring transactions:

• Rent automatically counts toward housing budget
• Monthly subscriptions auto-budget to entertainment
• Regular expenses planned in advance

Related Features

• Transactions - Assign budgets to expenses
• Categories & Tags - Combine with budgets for better organization
• Rules - Automate budget assignment
• Reports - Analyze budget performance