So, I’m convinced that the amounts available (or not, as the case may be) in my envelopes are not consistent with the checking account I’m primarily using to fund those envelopes. Here’s an example:
Let’s say I have $1000 in my checking accunt. That means I should see some green lines in at least some of my envelopes, showing that the $1000 still has a purpose, right?
But now let’s say that my envelopes are -$1000 at the same time. Not only do I see no green lines, I’m also seeing red ones, showing that I don’t have enough funds.
Am I just misunderstanding something? I’m starting to feel stupid, and I’ve never felt stupid about money math before. This has been going on for a while, so any help would be immensely appreciated… and yes, I did email support. I’m just hoping to hear something faster in the community.
It doesn’t sound like a money math issue, it just sounds like an envelope fill issue 
The budgeted amounts in each envelope are just targets, but in order to allocate the money from checking you’ll need to fill each envelope with that money. So, $1000 in checking = $100 you can add to each of 10 envelopes, and then they’ll all have green lines. The checking balance won’t change until you spend the money, so if you buy $40 of groceries from the envelope you filled with $100, it will show a balance of $60 and your checking account will show $960.
My suggestion would be to try a Fill instruction first, and see if you don’t get the result you’re expecting.
Hope that helps!!
Hi Tiffany -
That’s not my issue.
If I have $1000 in the bank, I should be able to fill envelopes with that $1000 and see $1000 worth of green lines until that money is spent.
I don’t get any green lines.
The total amount in all of my envelopes is -$1000. So I’d have to put ANOTHER $1000 worth of money into the envelopes to see green lines.
My account thinks I’ve already spent that money when I haven’t.
Does that make sense?
I think I understand but let me make sure—you have $1000 in Checking, but all your envelopes are empty even after a Fill? In that case, your Unallocated should be $1000, right?
If I’m imagining it correctly, you should be able to do a one-off Fill where you Set every envelope balance (assuming you have ten for this illustration, obviously) to $100. That will leave your Unallocated at $0 and your envelopes wholly or partially filled, with green bars, depending on their budgets.
It sounds like either a Set/Add error occurred somewhere early on making your Fills always retroactive, or your current Fill isn’t doing what you expect on the Add/Set front.
I hope that’s what you’re describing—if not, you may have to wait for the Admins to actually look in your household and see what’s up although I’m happy to keep trying if I’m just not getting what you’re saying!