Track budget progress

Prerequisites

• A budget exists for the month you want to review (see Set up a monthly budget)
• Transactions are categorized so actuals match your spending

Steps

1. Open Budgets and select the month to review.
2. The tracking screen lists only categories you included when you set up the budget.
3. Read each row:
   • Badges — Recurring or Variable, plus Envelope when that category saves month to month
   • Actual — month-to-date spending in that category
   • Target — your budget amount
   • Rollover — unused or overspent balance carried from last month (envelope categories only)
   • Balance — remaining under a simple cap, or available in an envelope (including rollover). Positive amounts use the same green/yellow as the progress bar; over-budget amounts show a leading − and use red
4. Read the progress bar:
   • Recurring — green when you are at or under the expected amount; red if you exceed it
   • Variable — green while more than 10% of the budget remains; yellow at 10% or less; red at or over the cap
5. When expected income is set for the month, read Plan balance (expected income minus expense targets):
   • Near $0 is the healthy plan — you usually do not need to change anything
   • Negative shows as over-assigned — you allocated more than expected income
   • Positive means some expected income is not yet assigned to categories
   • If income received so far is more than expected, the same area also shows Received $X — more than expected (the plan still uses expected income)
6. If expected income was not included on setup, Plan balance is hidden.
7. Click Edit on a row to open Edit [category name] Budget — change Target, Recurring / Variable, or Simple / Envelope, or Stop budgeting this category for the month (you will be asked to confirm). You do not need the full setup table for these changes.
8. Click Edit budget to return to the setup screen — add categories, review six-month history, change expected income, or make bulk edits.
9. Click a category row (when it has activity) to open the transaction register filtered to that category and month.

Over and under budget

Budget type	Under	Over
Simple	Balance is positive (remaining under the cap), green or yellow	Balance is negative (leading −), red
Envelope	Balance is positive (money still available), green or yellow	Balance is negative (leading −), red

Recurring categories are meant to hit a predictable amount each month — meeting the target is shown as on track (green), not as “under budget” in a warning sense.

Transfers between your own accounts do not count toward category budgets.

Expected result

• After grocery spending posts, Groceries shows updated Actual and a progress bar that reflects how much of the variable target remains.
• Rent (recurring) shows green when the payment matches your target.
• Car repair (envelope) shows rollover building up when you contribute monthly but spend less often.
• With expected income set, Plan balance stays near $0 even before the first paycheck posts; it turns over-assigned only when expense targets exceed expected income.
• When received income exceeds expected, tracking still keeps Plan balance on expected and shows Received $X — more than expected.
• Without expected income, Plan balance does not appear.
• Edit Groceries Budget (or another category) can change target, type, and budget style, or stop budgeting that category after confirm.
• Categories you excluded on the setup screen do not appear on the tracking screen.
• Clicking a category opens transactions filtered to that category and the selected month.