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Balanced

Zero-based budgeting

Concepts

Before you spend, you decide. Balanced shows how much money still has no plan, until there's nothing left to assign.

A budget that only looks back tells you where your money went. A zero-based budget looks ahead. When money comes in, you decide what every euro is for, such as rent, groceries or saving for a holiday, before you spend any of it. You’re done when the amount left to assign is zero. That zero gives the method its name.

From income to a plan

Section titled “From income to a plan”

Three numbers make up your budget for the month:

  • Available is the money you can budget this month. It counts:

    • income that is marked Cleared and dated today or earlier,
    • opening balances and corrections, booked between an Equity account and an Assets account,
    • money from a loan paid into an Assets account.

    A salary you’ve already entered for next week doesn’t count yet. It counts once its date has come and you’ve marked it cleared, so you never budget money that hasn’t arrived.

  • Assigned is the total you’ve given your categories this month.

  • To assign is what’s left: Available minus Assigned, plus or minus what last month left behind (see Month to month).

If you assign more than you have, the amount turns negative and the budget shows Overassigned instead. Lower an amount somewhere until it’s gone.

Try it

Section titled “Try it”

You’ve been paid €2,500 and it’s cleared. Move the sliders until nothing is left to assign.

Try it · Assign this month's salary

Salary (cleared)€2,500.00
To assign€500.00

Each category now has an amount you can spend this month. When it’s gone, it’s gone, unless you move money from another category.

Where you do this in the app

Section titled “Where you do this in the app”
  1. Tap Adjust in the Budget section to open this month’s budget. Type an amount for each category.
  2. Ready to assign shows money that has no category yet. Assign it until the row disappears. In the budget editor, confetti falls when To assign reaches zero. 🎉

If you’ve assigned too much, the row reads Overassigned and shows a red icon. The step-by-step routine is in Budgeting each month.

A budget for each month

Section titled “A budget for each month”

Every month has its own budget. What you assign in October is for October; in November you assign again, from November’s income. Budget that’s left in a category doesn’t disappear at the end of the month, it carries over.

Credit cards and loans have their own Liabilities section in the budget editor, above your categories. Credit cards and debt explains it.

Budgeting is optional

Section titled “Budgeting is optional”

You don’t have to budget. Balanced keeps your books either way: your accounts, balances, transactions and charts all work without a single assignment. You can start budgeting in any month you like.

Under the hood · for the curious

Assigning doesn’t move any money. Your euros stay in Checking: a budget is a plan that sits on top of your accounts. Only spending moves money, and it’s a transaction like any other:

Supermarket · Oct 5
Expenses:Groceries
+42.80
Assets:Checking
−42.80
Balanced
0.00 ✓

Because Groceries is an expense account, the €42.80 also comes off what’s left of the Groceries budget. In numbers:

Available =
    cleared income up to today
  + Equity ↔ Assets postings
  + loans paid into Assets


To assign =
    Available − Assigned
  + Remaining last month

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