Tracking your spending pace

The summary shows the month at a glance

The card at the top of the budget page — Spent this month, or Spent in [month] when you're viewing another month — adds up every spending category. The large figure is what you've spent, and the pill beneath it counts down from the month's total budget:

• $X remaining — what's left to spend this month
• $X over — you've spent past the month's total budget
• $X short — the month's budget is below zero before any spending: the reserve for upcoming non-monthly bills is larger than the budget, a negative rollover balance has used it up, or, with Hide recurring on, the bills committed this month exceed it; see Recurring bills in your budget

Hover the pill to see the two figures it's the difference of: the month's budget and what you've spent.

Green, orange, and red mean on track, ahead of pace, and over

Every spending bar and pill on the page uses the same three states, judged for the whole month rather than for today alone (income rows have no pace, so their pills stay green):

• Green — on track. Spending is at or below where it should be this far into the month.
• Orange — warning. You're ahead of pace, but by no more than a quarter of what you'd be expected to have spent by now — or this month's bills and reserves together add up to more than the budget.
• Red — over. You've spent past the budget, your spending plus the bills still due this month would exceed it, the budget is short (above), or you're more than a quarter ahead of pace.

Pace is measured against the part of the budget not already committed to bills, spread evenly across the month: on the 10th of a 30-day month, a third of it is expected to be gone. Rollover balances carried into the month are spread the same way rather than being spendable on day one. Once a month is complete, only the final totals matter.

The pace chart

The summary chart draws your cumulative spending through today against a dashed pace guide. The guide is the part of your budget not committed to bills, spread evenly across the month; each recurring bill steps the guide up on the day it's paid, or, while it's still due, on the day it's expected (an unpaid bill due today or earlier is placed on tomorrow, or on the month's last day if that comes first), so paying it doesn't look like running ahead. Hover any day for that day's Spent and Pace figures, how far over pace or under pace you were, and the bills paid, expected, or missed that day.

Over pace on the chart compares you with the guide on one day; over on the pill means you've exceeded the whole month's budget. It's normal to be over pace mid-month and still end the month under budget.

Open Display settings (the gear on the summary card) to switch between the Line chart and a Bar, which shows the month as a single bar with a tick marking how far through the month you are.

Hide recurring focuses on discretionary spending

Display settings also has a Hide recurring toggle. Turn it on and the summary shows only your discretionary, non-recurring spending: recurring payments come out of the spent figure, and the amount committed to bills — paid, still expected, or late this month — comes out of the budget. A dot on the gear reminds you the toggle is on.

The equation under the chart shows how the total budget was reached in either mode: any rollover balance, the month's budgeted amount, and then either the reserve for non-monthly bills (with Hide recurring off) or the committed recurring amount (with it on — labelled adjusted recurring when a reserve is folded into it). Hover any term for detail.

Each category has a detail panel

Click a category row to open its panel. For a budgeted spending category it shows the spent amount and remaining pill, a pace bar with a tick at today's position, the spent figure from the row, and the month's budget figure — the amount you set plus any rollover balance, minus any reserve. Income panels show what you've earned instead (a variable income category shows just that, with no pill or bar), and a Flex category's panel shows the shared budget — see Flex spending. Categories that roll over show their rollover equation, and categories with recurring bills list the month's bills — Late, due Today or Tomorrow, later This month, Paid, or Settled.

Below that are two tabs. Transactions lists the month's transactions in the category. Activity records budget changes — amounts set, rollover turned on or off, Flex turned on or off, exclusion, and archiving — so you can see what changed and when.

Finding categories

Type in Search categories (or press Ctrl+F / ⌘F) to filter the list; the number of matching categories appears beside the box. Archived and excluded categories sit under Show N unbudgeted at the bottom of their group.

Common questions

Why is the pill red when the chart line hasn't crossed the guide? The status looks at the whole month, not just today: if what you've spent plus the bills still expected this month would exceed the budget, the month reads as over before the charges arrive. With Hide recurring on, a bill that's already been paid past the budget can also turn the pill red while the discretionary chart looks calm.

Why does the pill say "short"? The month's budget is below zero on its own: the reserve for upcoming non-monthly bills is larger than the budget, a negative rollover balance has used it up, or, with Hide recurring on, this month's committed bills exceed it. Raising the amount, or catching up on the rollover balance, clears it. See Recurring bills in your budget.

Why do income rows say "extra"? Income counts up rather than down: $X remaining is what you still expect to earn this month, and $X extra means you've earned more than you budgeted.