Create your envelopes

Envelopes give money a purpose. They help you see what is assigned to rent, groceries, transport, or anything else your budget needs to cover.

Accounts tell you where; envelopes tell you what for

Suppose you have $1,000 in Chequing. You can assign part of it to Groceries and part to Rent without opening separate bank accounts. The cash stays in Chequing; the envelopes describe its jobs.

Likewise, a grocery purchase belongs to Groceries whether you pay from Chequing or use a credit card. The account records the payment method, and the envelope records the purpose.

Create your first few envelopes

1. On the budget screen, select Add envelope beneath the envelope rows.
2. Enter a Name, such as Groceries.
3. Select Add envelope to save.
4. Repeat for your next bills and spending needs.

Start with a small set you will actually use. You can refine the names as you learn what works for you.

To group related envelopes with Alphabetical enabled, use the format Category - Bill. For example, Home - Rent and Home - Electricity appear under Home. A colon also works: Home: Rent. The first hyphen or colon separates the category from the rest of the name, with spaces optional.

To add another envelope to an ordinary category, hover over its category row and select the + button (Add Envelope). The name field starts with the category and a hyphen, such as Home -, ready for you to type the envelope name. The Uncategorized row opens the same form with a blank name. On touch screens, the button is visible without hovering.

Why a new envelope starts at zero

Creating an envelope names a purpose; it does not assign money to it. A new envelope starts at $0.00 with funding enabled.

Add a dated expense or target to give the funding calculation something to work toward. Future allocations appear on the timeline. Nightly funding records actual allocations as the budget is processed; simply viewing a projection does not add that projected money to the envelope today.

If you want to assign money now, use Move Funds to move it from Available funds into the envelope.

Enabled and paused funding

The funding control beside an envelope name lets you pause or enable funding. On the envelope details page, it reads Funding nightly or Nightly funding paused.

A paused envelope keeps its balance and plans but receives no new automatic funding. Its plans also stop requesting cash in the projection. Pausing does not release money already assigned to it or cancel its bills.

For a reserve you want to keep untouched, you can assign money to an envelope without adding a spending date. A dated target has a different meaning: it models spending by that date, rather than a balance to maintain indefinitely.

Open an envelope to inspect it

Select its name on the budget screen, then choose Envelope Details. The details page shows Already in this envelope, Planned expenses, Targets, and Latest moves. These let you compare the current balance with the plans and activity behind it. Latest moves shows the five most recent movements, with the time each was recorded. If its activity date differs, that date appears in the description. Use the linked account to inspect the transaction ledger.

For renaming, regrouping, or moving a row into Hidden, see Adjust your plan. Hiding an envelope does not pause its funding.

Continue with Plan expenses and targets.