Backing Up Goodbudget File Before Reset

My budget has gone off the rails and I want to start from scratch again - I know about the “clear all my data” function, but is there a way to back up what I currently have, just in case?

The problem I am having is that I have several envelopes in the green, including savings envelopes, but the total of those green envelopes is not reflected in my actual bank account balance. That money should be there but it is not, and I do not know where it went. All transactions are entered in GB and my account balance in GB is the same as my actual bank account balance ($30). Green envelopes total over $400.

Hopefully you can get this square without a complete do-over, since some of the info is correct and your transactions are up to date. Does the total of your (envelopes plus your Unallocated balance) equal your (Account balance minus any money owed on credit cards you pay off monthly)?

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Thanks for posting and sorry for the trouble!

You can back up your transaction data by exporting that into a CSV file. In order to get that data back into Goodbudget, you’d then import it.

But, as Tiffany said, it sounds like some things are correct, so I think it’s worth investigating if there’s an easier way to get you back on track.

It sounds like you have some Envelopes that are green and total up to more than what you have in your Accounts. Do you also have Envelopes that are negative? If so, then that’s probably what’s causing the mismatch (although, that’s not the right word).

Because the balances of all of your Envelopes (plus what’s in Unallocated) need to tally up to match what’s in your Account, it’s possible to have Envelopes that look overfilled while having Envelopes that are really negative. The math works out (i.e. The Envelope balances match what’s in your Accounts), but it certainly makes things a little confusing when it comes to figuring out how much you can actually spend.

If that’s what’s going on, a quick fix is to transfer some of the positive funds over to the negative Envelopes so they get paid back. Once you’ve done that, the Envelopes with positive funds should more closely align with what’s in your Account.

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, the math does not work out in my situation. My account balance is $29.53. My envelopes in the green total $532; unallocated is empty and envelopes in the red total -$212 (both of these are debt envelopes).

Thanks for clarifying! At this point, it’d be most helpful if we could take a look at your Household so that we can give you better feedback. Can you send us an email to support@goodbudget.com so we can take a look?

Thanks for all the suggestions and help, but I went ahead and ‘reset’ my budget. I just couldn’t get the numbers to work, so figured I’d start from scratch, again.

So I have ‘reset’ my budget, and am having the same problem. However, I have determined that the issue lies in my Debt Envelopes and Accounts. I just cannot figure out how to fix it. I have sent an email to the noted support email. Hopefully, someone can help me fix this issue.

Do you have any credit card accounts that you pay off over time that may be mislabeled as paid off monthly? Or vice versa?
Your debt accounts shouldn’t affect your Unallocated balance because they’re managed separately. Is the total of all your Envelopes (including Debt envelopes, as those should only reflect the money allocated for payments this month) plus your Unallocated envelope equal to your total account balance now? In other words, if you transferred the balance of every envelope to Unallocated and had every envelope at $0, would the Unallocated be the same as what’s in the bank? (I know you said it was off before, but that was before your reset). If so, then everything is aligned appropriately and you just need to re-allocate your Unallocated balance to your envelopes. If not, there’s something wrong with either a balance or a Debt or credit card account. and the most common would be in either the payoff setting or current balance.
Your original post made it seem as if your Unallocated should have been very negative in order for your envelopes to be so overfilled, but it wasn’t. Another possibility would be if you entered a debt as a negative balance–which then looks like a credit and therefore available funds. For example, a credit card you pay off monthly that currently has a balance of $50 should show a positive $50, not negative. It’s the opposite of an Account but Goodbudget is programmed to understand that.
Hopefully this isn’t too much of what you’ve already done, but it just sounds like there’s a very simple explanation that’s been overlooked, especially since you in essence started over. I hope you can find it!