Budgeting: help guide

How Envelope Budgeting Works

Picture cashing your paycheck and splitting the money into labeled envelopes: one for rent, one for groceries, one for fun. When an envelope is empty, you stop spending from it (or move money over from another envelope).

Your categories are your envelopes. Give every dollar a job: put money into categories until ‘Ready to assign’ hits $0.

That’s the whole method. The rest of this guide explains the Budget screen and a few handy features.

The Budget Screen

The Budget screen is where you plan your money. Here’s what’s on it.

Ready to assign

At the top of the Budget screen you’ll see Ready to assign. It’s money in your budget accounts that hasn’t been put into a category yet.

Your goal is to get it to $0 by giving every dollar a job.

What the number means:

More than $0: you have money waiting for a job
$0: every dollar has a job. This is where you want to be
Less than $0: you’ve put more into categories than you have. Take a little back out of one or more categories

Switching months

Use the arrow buttons to move between months. Your budget is planned month by month, so you can:

Plan future months ahead of time
Look back at past months
See how your spending has changed

Categories and Groups

Groups

Groups keep related categories together. Your budget starts with groups like:

Essentials: groceries, gas, transit
Housing: rent or mortgage, home maintenance
Utilities: electric, water, internet
Quality of Life: dining out, entertainment, vacation savings
Savings & Debt: emergency fund, debt payments

Adding a group

Click + Add Category Group on the Budget screen
Type a name for the group
Click Add

Adding a category

Hover over a group
Click the + button that appears
Type the category name
Click Add

Renaming or deleting a category

Click a category name to edit it right there:

Type a new name to rename it
Press Enter to save
Press Escape to cancel
Click the delete button to remove it (we’ll ask you to confirm)

Reordering with drag and drop

Drag things around to organize your budget:

Drag categories up or down within a group
Drag groups to reorder them
Drag a category into a different group to move it

Collapsing groups

Click the arrow next to a group name to collapse it. This helps when you want to:

See less at once
Focus on one part of your budget
Hide groups you rarely change

The collapse/expand button in the header opens or closes all groups at once.

Putting Money into Categories

The basics

Find the category you want to fill
Click its Assigned amount
Type how much you want to put in
Press Enter (or click somewhere else) to save

Quick math

You can type simple math instead of a final number:

You type	What happens
`500`	Sets the amount to $500
`+100`	Adds $100 to what’s there
`-50`	Takes $50 away
`*2`	Doubles it
`/4`	Divides it by 4

For example, if a category has $400 assigned:

+100 makes it $500
-50 makes it $350
*2 makes it $800

Where the money comes from

When you put money into a category:

Ready to assign goes down by that amount
The category’s Assigned amount goes up
The category’s Available amount updates

Every dollar is always somewhere you can see it.

The Three Numbers on Each Category

Assigned

How much you put into this category this month. It’s your plan.

Activity

The total of this month’s transactions in this category:

Spending shows as negative (money going out)
Refunds and money in show as positive

Available

What you have left to spend:

Available = Assigned + Activity + anything left over from earlier months

Money left over from last month carries forward. If a category went below $0 last month, it starts this month at $0, so overspending doesn’t follow you forever.

For example:

You had $40 left in Groceries last month
You assign $400 this month
You spend $150
You have $290 available ($40 + $400 − $150)

When a Category Goes Below $0

If you spend more than a category has, its Available amount goes negative. It happens to everyone, and it’s easy to fix.

How to fix it

Option 1: Move money from another category

Find a category that can spare some money
Lower its Assigned amount
Raise the Assigned amount of the category that ran short

Option 2: Use Ready to assign If you have money in Ready to assign, put some of it in the category that ran short.

Option 3: Cover it next month Next month’s money will cover it, but that means you’re borrowing from next month.

Spotting it

Categories that are below $0 are highlighted so you can find them quickly. They’re worth fixing today, before they affect the rest of your plan.

Leftover Money Carries Forward

Money left over

If you set aside $100 for Dining Out and only spend $60, the other $40 carries into next month. You start the month with $40 before you add anything.

This is great for:

Growing savings categories over time
Categories where spending changes month to month
Saving up for bills that don’t come every month

Money you went over

If a category is below $0 at the end of the month, you’ll want to cover it so the next month starts clean.

Moving Money Between Categories

Plans change. To move money from one category to another:

Find the category with money to spare
Click its Assigned amount and lower it (for example, type -50)
Find the category that needs it
Click its Assigned amount and raise it by the same amount (for example, type +50)

Moving money is a normal part of budgeting:

Cover a category that went below $0
Shift money when your priorities change
Handle a surprise expense from categories that can spare it

Your total stays the same. You’re just changing where the money is.

Show Upcoming Bills

Show upcoming bills adds your scheduled (future) transactions to the transaction list, so you can see what’s coming before it’s due.

What it does

When you set up repeating transactions (like rent, subscriptions, or paychecks), the app creates the next one ahead of time. With Show upcoming bills turned on, you see more of them:

On: shows up to 90 days of upcoming transactions, up to 12 of each repeating one
Off (default): shows only the next upcoming transaction for each repeating one

Seeing bills ahead of time helps you:

Know what’s due before it’s due
Set money aside for bills that are coming
Understand how much you’ll have in the weeks ahead

Turning it on or off

On the Transactions screen, use the Show upcoming bills switch at the top of the list, or
Go to Settings, find Recurring Transactions, and use the switch there

Which one should I use?

Turn it on when:

You want to see the next few months at a glance
You’re planning for bills that are coming up
You want to make sure money is ready before bills are due

Leave it off when:

You prefer a shorter, simpler list
You only care about what’s due next

Tidying up upcoming transactions

If you turn Show upcoming bills off after using it, you may have lots of future transactions in your list. The app tidies these up for you, keeping only the next 14 days, and tells you how many it removed.

You can also do this yourself: go to Settings, find Maintenance, and click Clean Up next to “Clean Up Scheduled Transactions.”

Credit Cards

Credit cards work a little differently. It can feel unfamiliar at first, but it means the money to pay your card is already set aside when the bill arrives.

The credit cards summary

At the top of the Budget screen there’s a Credit Cards section (you can collapse it). For each card it shows:

Owed: what you currently owe on the card
Ready to Pay: how much you’ve set aside to pay it
Status: whether the full balance is covered

The header also shows totals for all your cards together.

How card spending works

When you buy something with a card from a budgeted category, that money moves into the card’s payment category automatically.

Example:

You have $300 in Groceries
You buy $50 of groceries with your Chase card
$50 moves from Groceries to “Chase payment”
Groceries now has $250 available
Chase Ready to Pay goes up by $50

The money hasn’t disappeared. It moved from your Groceries envelope to your “pay the card” envelope, so it’s there when the bill comes.

Reading the summary

Column	What it means
Owed	Your current card balance (what you need to pay)
Ready to Pay	Money set aside to pay the card
Status	A checkmark means the whole balance is covered; otherwise it shows how much isn’t set aside yet

When Ready to Pay is at least as much as Owed, you’ll see a checkmark and “Fully funded”: you can pay the card off completely.

When Ready to Pay is less than Owed, you’ll see how much isn’t set aside yet.

Changing Ready to Pay

Click the Ready to Pay amount to change it. This helps when:

You’re starting with a balance already on the card
You want to set aside extra to pay the card down
Something needs a correction

You can type quick math here too:

You type	What happens
`500`	Sets Ready to Pay to $500
`+50`	Adds $50
`-25`	Takes $25 away

You’ll see a preview as you type. Press Enter (or click away) to save, or Escape to cancel.

The Cover button

If part of a card balance isn’t set aside yet, a Cover button appears. One click moves exactly that amount into the card’s payment category from Ready to assign.

Common situations

You already have a balance on the card

The balance shows as Owed
Ready to Pay starts at $0
Click Ready to Pay and enter how much you’ll pay this month
Or click Cover to set aside the whole balance

You don’t have to pay it all at once. Set aside what you can; the rest carries forward.

You went over budget using the card

The extra shows as part of the balance that isn’t set aside yet
Move money from other categories to cover it
Or click Cover to use money from Ready to assign

You want to pay the card down faster

Click Ready to Pay
Type +100 (or any extra amount)
When you pay the card, pay the full Ready to Pay amount

Paying the bill

Look at Ready to Pay. That’s how much you can pay
Pay that amount from checking to your card
Record it as a transfer from checking to the card
The payment lowers what you owe, and new card spending builds Ready to Pay back up

Tips

1. Fill the most important categories first

When money comes in, a good order is:

Bills due soon (rent, utilities, minimum debt payments)
Bills that come less often (insurance, yearly subscriptions)
Everyday needs (groceries, transportation)
Goals (savings, extra debt payments)
Fun (entertainment, dining out)

2. Get a month ahead

Over time, try to budget this month’s paycheck for next month’s bills. It gives you breathing room if income is uneven or something unexpected comes up.

3. Plan for bills that don’t come every month

Big bills that come a few times a year (car insurance, yearly subscriptions, holiday gifts) are easier when you save a little each month. If car insurance is $600 every 6 months, put $100 a month into it.

4. Build an emergency fund

A category for surprises, even a small one, helps you avoid reaching for a credit card when something unexpected happens.

5. Check in and adjust

Your budget is a plan you can change. Look at it once a week, or whenever something changes:

Your income changes
A new bill starts
Your priorities shift

Common Questions

”Which category does this go in?”

If a transaction doesn’t fit neatly, you can:

Make a new category for that kind of spending
Use a general category like “Miscellaneous”
Split the transaction across more than one category

”I went over. Now what?”

No problem. Move money from a category that can spare it, or spend a bit less somewhere else. What matters is noticing and adjusting.

”How do I handle reimbursements?”

If you’ll be paid back (like a work expense), you can:

Make a “Reimbursements” category
Put the expense there
When you’re paid back, the money goes back into that category
It evens out to zero

”Do I need income categories?”

No. When a paycheck or other money comes in, it goes straight to Ready to assign so you can give it jobs.

”How often should I assign money?”

Most people do it each time they get paid. If you’re paid twice a month, you might:

First paycheck: cover the bills in the first half of the month
Second paycheck: cover the rest and add to savings

Find a rhythm that fits your pay schedule.

Next Steps

Adjust your groups and categories to match your life
Add categories for anything that’s missing
Put your Ready to assign money into categories until it hits $0
Categorize spending as it happens and adjust as you go
If you have debts, see Debt Payoff to make a plan to be debt-free

The more you use it, the clearer your money picture gets.