Budgets

Budgets help you control how much you spend. Set a limit and Finerdy shows you how much you've spent based on your defined filters.

What is a budget?

A budget is a spending limit based on filters (categories and/or tags) over a period of time.

Example

Budget: Groceries
Filters: Categories [Food, Supermarket] + Tags [#essential]
Amount: 500 USD
Period: Monthly

January 2025:
  Spent: 320 USD (64%)
  Available: 180 USD

Creating a budget

To create a budget you need to define:

Field Description
Name Budget identifier
Description Optional explanation of what the budget covers
Filters Categories and/or tags that determine which expenses count
Amount Maximum limit in your reference currency
Period How often it resets

Budget filters

Filters determine which expenses count toward your budget. You can combine categories and tags for flexible tracking.

Filter options

Filter Description
Categories One or more expense categories
Tags One or more tags
Exclude transfers Whether to exclude transfer-related transactions (default: yes)

Requirement

At least one category OR one tag is required. You can use both together for more precise tracking.

How filters work

Filters use the following logic:

  • Within categories: OR - matches any of the selected categories
  • Within tags: OR - matches any of the selected tags
  • Between categories and tags: AND - if both are defined, the expense must match at least one category AND have at least one tag
Budget: Food & Dining
Filters:
  Categories: [Groceries, Restaurants]
  Tags: [] (empty)

This budget will include:
- Any expense in "Groceries" OR "Restaurants" category

Budget: Project expenses
Filters:
  Categories: [Travel, Software]
  Tags: [#project-alpha]

This budget will include:
- Expenses in "Travel" or "Software" category
  AND tagged with #project-alpha

Important

If you want OR logic between categories and tags, create separate budgets or use only one filter type.

Filter examples

Category-only budget:

Budget: Entertainment
Filters:
  Categories: [Movies, Games, Streaming]
  Tags: []

Tag-only budget:

Budget: Project Alpha expenses
Filters:
  Categories: []
  Tags: [#project-alpha]

Combined filters:

Budget: Monthly essentials
Filters:
  Categories: [Groceries, Utilities, Transport]
  Tags: [#essential, #recurring]

Available periods

Finerdy supports 6 types of periods:

Period Description When it resets
Weekly For weekly expenses Every 7 days from anchor date
Biweekly For those who get paid every 2 weeks Every 14 days from anchor date
Semimonthly For twice-a-month tracking The 1st and 16th of each month
Monthly For recurring monthly expenses Same day each month
Quarterly For less frequent expenses Every 3 months
Once For one-time expenses Never (fixed dates)

Monthly period

The most common. Uses the anchor date to determine when the period starts.

Budget: Entertainment - 200 USD/month
Anchor: January 15

Period 1: Jan 15 - Feb 14
Period 2: Feb 15 - Mar 14
Period 3: Mar 15 - Apr 14

Weekly / Biweekly periods

Use the anchor date as the starting point.

Budget: Daily expenses - 300 USD/biweekly
Anchor: January 1

Jan 1-14: maximum 300 USD
Jan 15-28: maximum 300 USD (resets)
Jan 29 - Feb 11: maximum 300 USD (resets)

Once period

For non-repeating expenses, like a trip or big purchase.

Budget: Summer vacation
Amount: 2,000 USD
From: Dec 1, 2024
To: Jan 31, 2025

How spending is calculated

The budget automatically sums all expenses that:

  1. Match any of the budget's filter categories OR have any of the filter tags
  2. Are of type expense
  3. Occurred within the current period
  4. Are not transfers (if "exclude transfers" is enabled)

Important

  • Uses the reference amount (in your workspace's base currency)
  • Expenses are matched automatically based on filters
  • No manual assignment needed - if an expense matches the filters, it counts

Automatic expense matching

Unlike the old system, you don't need to manually assign expenses to budgets. Finerdy automatically detects matching expenses:

Budget: Groceries
Filters: Categories [Food, Supermarket]

When you record:
  Account: Credit Card
  Amount: 50 USD
  Category: Food  ← Matches budget filter!

This expense automatically counts toward "Groceries" budget.

Budget tracking

Finerdy shows you in real time:

Metric Description
Spent Total spent in current period
Available How much is left (Amount - Spent)
Percentage What percentage of budget you've used
Status Whether you're within or over budget

Visual example

Groceries                             ████████░░░░ 64%
320 USD of 500 USD                    180 USD available

Entertainment                         ██████████████ 110%
220 USD of 200 USD                    Exceeded by 20 USD

Exceeding the budget

When you spend more than the limit:

  • The percentage goes over 100%
  • Finerdy shows you a visual alert
  • The expense is still recorded normally

Budgets are informational, they don't block transactions.

Editing budget filters

When you change a budget's filters:

  • The spending is recalculated immediately based on the new filters
  • All matching expenses within the current period are included
  • No synchronization needed - it's automatic

Example

You have a "Monthly Groceries" budget with filter [Food category]. It shows 500 USD spent. You add [Supermarket category] to the filters. The budget immediately recalculates and now shows 650 USD spent (including all Food + Supermarket expenses).

API Example: Creating a Budget with Filters

POST /budgets
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "Monthly Food",
  "description": "All food-related expenses",
  "filters": {
    "categories": [1, 2, 3],
    "tags": [5, 8],
    "exclude_transfers": true
  },
  "amount": 500,
  "period": "monthly",
  "anchor_date": "2025-01-15"
}

Filter options: - categories - Array of category IDs (at least one required if no tags) - tags - Array of tag IDs (at least one required if no categories) - exclude_transfers - Boolean, defaults to true

Archiving budgets

You can archive a budget you no longer use:

  • It disappears from the active list
  • History is preserved
  • You can unarchive it whenever you want

Useful for one-time period budgets that have ended.

Budget tips

  1. Use filters wisely: Combine categories and tags for precise tracking without creating too many budgets.

  2. Start simple: Create 3-5 budgets for your main expenses.

  3. Be realistic: Base it on what you actually spend, not what you "should" spend.

  4. Review and adjust: If you always exceed it, maybe the limit is too low.

  5. Use tags for projects: Track project expenses across categories with a single tag-based budget.

  6. Use once period for goals: Vacation savings, big purchases, etc.

Next steps

Learn how to organize your finances in different contexts with Workspaces.