A budget is just a plan for your money: how much you expect to spend in each category this month. Budget Planner keeps that plan on the Monthly Budget page and checks it against what really happened, category by category.
What you'll learn
- How categories and groups work
- How to set a planned amount for a category
- How to read the Budgeted, Actual, Difference and Status columns
Part 1 — Organize your categories
Open Categories from the Overview section of the sidebar. Categories live inside groups, and each group has a type: Needs, Wants, or Savings. The cards at the top count how many categories you have of each type.
Add a group
Click Add Group, enter a Group Name (for example "Essential bills"), choose the Group Type, and save. The type decides where the group's spending counts on the 50/30/20 Analysis page.
Add a category
- Click Add Category at the top of the page, or the Add Category link at the bottom of a group.
- Enter the Category Name, for example "Groceries".
- In Select group, choose the group it belongs to.
- Leave Section set to Expenses, or choose Subscriptions for things like streaming services. Subscription categories show a small "Subscriptions" label in the list.
- Click Save.
Use the pencil and trash icons to rename or delete a category or a group. Use Reorder to change the order, and the All / Needs / Wants / Savings buttons to filter the page.
A group can only be deleted when it's empty. Move or delete its categories first, then delete the group.
Part 2 — Set your monthly plan
Open Budget from the Planning section. The page shows one month at a time. Use the arrows at the top or the month list on the left to switch months. Each month in that list shows how much of its budget has been used.
At the top you'll find:
- Actual Income and Actual Expenses, each with the planned amount underneath
- Remaining — what's left after expenses, with a label showing your strategy (Zero-Based or Carry Over)
Below that, a status message tells you how you're doing. With a Zero-Based budget you'll see Unallocated Funds until your plan reaches zero, then Balanced. With Carry Over you'll see Healthy or Caution. In both cases, Over Budget means your spending has gone past your income.
Where the planned amounts come from
Your categories are grouped into sections such as Income, Bills, Subscriptions, Debts, Savings, and Expenses. Each section shows a Budgeted and Actual total and a progress bar.
- For bills, income and other regular items, the Budgeted amount is filled in for you from your recurring payments.
- For everyday spending (the Expenses section), nothing is planned until you set an amount yourself.
Change a planned amount
- Hover over a number in the Budgeted column. A small pencil appears.
- Click the number and type the new amount.
- Press Enter, or click anywhere else, to save. Press Esc to cancel.
You'll see "Budget updated". The new amount applies to that month only.
Set your plan at the start of each month. Go through the Expenses section and give each everyday category, like groceries, dining out, and fuel, a realistic amount based on last month's Actual column.
Reading the table
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Budgeted | What you planned for this category this month |
| Actual | What really happened: payments that are paid or past their due date, plus your transactions |
| Difference | Actual minus Budgeted |
| Status | On Budget, Under Budget, or Over Budget |
Click the Status header to show only categories with one status, for example everything that's Over Budget.
Under the sections, the Analysis area breaks your month down further, and you can download the month with Export CSV, Export PDF, or Print / PDF.
FAQ
No. Every month has its own plan. Changing October's grocery budget leaves November untouched.
Once a payment's due date has passed, it counts toward Actual, even if you haven't marked it as paid yet. That keeps your month realistic.
For income, the status compares what you received with what you expected. Over Budget there simply means you earned more than planned.