A budget is your spending target: you set how much you plan to spend in a category during a month, and WiseData Finances tracks — automatically — how much you've already used. It's the simplest way to avoid surprises at the end of the month.
Create a budget
On the Budget page, click New budget and fill in:
Category (required) — the expense category you want to control (see the Categories guide).
Limit amount (required) — how much you plan to spend, at most, in that category.
Month and Year — the period the budget refers to.
Notes (optional) — a free note, if you like.
Each category has one budget per period: you can't create two budgets for the same category in the same month. For different months, just create one for each.
Example: you want to rein in restaurant spending. Create a budget in the "Food" category, limit amount $600, in the current month. From then on, every expense you add in that category counts against this limit.
Automatic tracking
You don't have to add anything up by hand. As you add expenses in that category, in the budget's month, the spent amount is updated on its own. Each budget shows a progress bar with how much has been spent versus the limit, and the color gives you the message at a glance:
Green — you're comfortably within the limit.
Yellow — heads up, you've passed 75% of the limit.
Red — you've reached (or passed) the limit. When it overflows, an exceeded indication appears.
View the budget's statement
Want to know exactly what consumed your budget? Each budget has a view statement option: it lists the expenses in that category, for the period, that added up to the spent amount. Great for understanding where the money went and adjusting course.
Edit and delete
You can edit a budget (for example, raise the limit) or delete it at any time. Deleting the budget doesn't remove any expense — it only removes the spending target for that period.
Tip
Start by setting a budget only for the two or three categories where you tend to overspend — that's where the control makes the most difference. Review the amounts each month, based on what the statement showed, and adjust until you find a realistic limit.