I’m new to Goodbudget and I’m currently using the free version. I’ve lumped together a couple of fixed expenses (Internet, subscriptions) but I forgot to account for my cellphone bill. So I adjusted the Internet&subscription envelope amount to include the cellphone amount, but I think that resulted in a negative unallocated amount. In retrospect, I think what I should have done was adjust multiple envelope amounts (so decreased another envelope to account for the increase in the internet etc envelope).
I hope that’s clear to understand. Is there a way I can fix this to accurately reflect my accounts and get rid of the negative unallocated?
I should add that some of my envelopes are unused yet, so I technically have that money to use to reconcile negative unallocated… if that makes sense? Haha, guidance in using this tool is appreciated!
Welcome to Goodbudget! It sounds like you’re right on track to get your envelopes where you want them, but there are two things you’ll need to do so this pattern won’t pop up again next month.
First, you’re right in that the easy way to keep a zero Unallocated balance would have been to do an “envelope transfer” from one (or more!) envelope(s) into your fixed expenses envelope. That way the same amount of money is available, it just has a “new job”. You could also accomplish this by opening your Fill transaction and moving things around in there.
To fix this month’s envelopes you’ll need to subtract money from an envelope, either by adjusting the original month’s fill as mentioned above or by just transferring it to Unallocated through an envelope transfer.
For next month, you’ll need to be sure you’ve adjusted your budget to account for the cellphone and that any scheduled Fill takes that into account too.
Here’s an example if that wasn’t clear:
On July 1 I add $1000 (my monthly budget) to my empty Fixed Expenses envelope and $500 to Dining Out. On July 8 I realize I haven’t included my cellphone so I add $100 more to the Fixed envelope, but now my Unallocated balance is -$100; oops! If I had just transferred the $100 from Dining Out to Fixed, the unallocated would remain at $0 because I haven’t used any “new” money.
Now I change my monthly budget to $1100 for Fixed and $400 Dining Out, and be sure that any automatic Fills reflect the adjustments.
I hope this helps!
