Creating your budget

Your budget is a monthly amount per category

You give each category a monthly amount, and Zypper tracks what you've spent against it. The budget page shows one month at a time: Budgeted is the amount you set, Spent is what your transactions in that category add up to, and the bar between them shows how far through the amount you are and whether you're on pace for the month. Income categories work the same way: you set what you expect to earn, and Earned shows what has actually come in.

There's no pool of money to divide up first, and nothing has to add to zero. Nothing moves money between categories, so a category is never "funded" or "unfunded" — it is only under or over its amount. A category you haven't given an amount to is treated as a $0 budget.

Setting an amount

1. Open the budget page
2. Click a category's amount in the Budgeted column and type the number you want
3. Press Enter or click away to save

While the amount box is focused, a History panel shows what you Spent last month (Earned last month for income) and your Monthly average, with a chart of the last four months. Click either figure, or a bar in the chart, to use it as the amount. Budget amounts are whole numbers — they're planning figures, not ledger figures.

Changing an amount from a month forward, or for one month only

Under the History panel is a checkbox, Apply to [month] forward, and it is checked by default.

• Checked — the new amount applies from the month you're viewing onward, until you change it again. Earlier months keep the amounts they had, so changing a budget today doesn't rewrite your history.
• Unchecked — only the month you're viewing changes. Use this when a single month is genuinely different — a larger grocery budget in December — without touching the rest.

A month-specific amount stays in place even if you later change the ongoing amount. To drop it, view that month and type the ongoing amount back in, or clear the box with the checkbox unchecked.

If an ongoing change would run over months you've customized, or over a change you've already scheduled for a later month, Zypper asks first. Overwrite [month] and later? lists what it would replace. Leave these months unchanged is checked by default and keeps your month-specific amounts; scheduled later changes are always replaced by the new one.

Clearing the box means $0 when the checkbox is checked, and "go back to the ongoing amount" for that month when it's unchecked.

The Edit category dialog

Hover a row and click the gear (Edit category) for the category's full settings. Besides its name, emoji, and group, the dialog holds everything about its budget:

• Spending amount and Spending frequency — Every month, Every week, Every three months, Every six months, or Every year. Income categories offer Twice per month, Every two weeks, Every week, and Every month.
• Flex budget (spending categories) — share one amount with your other Flex categories; see Flex spending. Income categories have a Variable switch instead, for income with an unpredictable amount or frequency.
• Roll over unspent budget (spending categories) — carry what's left into the next month; see Rolling over unspent budget.
• Exclude from the budget — stop tracking the category in your budget; see Excluding transactions from your budget.

Amount changes made in this dialog always apply from the current month forward, whichever month you happen to be viewing — the dialog says so under the amount. The amount box in the row is the place for month-specific changes.

Budgeting on a non-monthly cadence

Categories that aren't monthly can be budgeted on their real cadence. Pick a Spending frequency in Edit category and enter the full amount for each occurrence — $300 every three months, $1,200 a year. The dialog shows the Monthly equivalent, and you can edit either figure. The row's subtitle then reads at that cadence ("$300 every three months"), while the month is tracked at the monthly equivalent so it sits alongside everything else.

Choosing a cadence longer than a month turns on Roll over unspent budget for you, since the budget has to accumulate between occurrences. You can turn it back off, but each month then only has its monthly share.

Viewing other months

Use the arrows beside the month name (or the left and right arrow keys) to move between months. You can look back two years (further when a rollover balance started earlier than that) and ahead twelve months. Away from the current month, a Viewing [month] banner appears with Go to current (or press T).

Past months show what was budgeted and spent at the time. Future months show the amounts that will apply; their rollover balances assume you spend nothing more between now and then. You can set an amount in any month you can view, and an ongoing change applies from that month forward.

Left to budget

Above the category list, Left to budget is your expected income minus everything you've budgeted for spending, including the Flex shared budget, with every amount standardized to a monthly figure. Rollover balances aren't included. A negative figure means you've planned to spend more than you expect to earn — nothing stops you, but it's the number to watch while adjusting amounts.

Common questions

Do I have to budget every category? No. A category with no amount is treated as a $0 budget — anything you spend in it still counts toward the month's total, and the category shows as over. Budget the ones you want to watch.

What happens if I go over? Nothing breaks and nothing needs rebalancing. The category shows as over, and the summary at the top of the page reflects it. See Tracking your spending pace for what the colors and captions mean.

Can Zypper set the amounts for me? Yes — see Auto set, which proposes amounts from your transaction history.

Why doesn't a group's Budgeted total match its rows? The group total includes rollover balances carried into the month, while each row's box shows the amount you set. A category that rolls over can have more (or less) available than its box says.

Do pending transactions count? Yes. A transaction counts toward Spent as soon as it arrives, whether it's pending or posted.

Where do I change a category's name, type, or group? In Settings › Categories — see Customizing categories and groups. The Edit category dialog on the budget page can rename a category too, and move a spending category between spending groups.