Trying to wrap my head around a few things

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Hey guys sorry I wante dto ask a few questions to understand some things. SO I built my own budgeting system and I want to stop maintaining it and just pay someone else then programming myself :slight_smile: So a few things I use the money jar system which is the same as envelope system so this is great. Difference is that I only use jars for non recuring bills because they are set amounts and I know what they are (fixed expenses) BUt I cannot find any way to do this in your system. Is every single fixed bill needs an envelope? so Gas, Hydro, Phone, Spotify, Netflix…

If i have to make an envelope for each one that is fine but both my partner and I contribute to the same account. So how do i choose what to fill and when. With my budgeting system I have all my budgeted amounts to go into each jar and all my recuring bills and expected income. This helps me know each month if we are short or not. All Income - Budgeted amounts to put in jars + recuring bills = what ever is left (hopefully positive) at the beginning of each month we process the budget (just move money from the budget to fill the jars) now the jars show that they have money in them… How do I do the same thing in Goodbudget? does it work differently, do I have to wait for a week later to move my partners income to other envelopes when she gets paid or do you just do it all at the beginning of the month and run a deficit till my partner gets paid?

Also there is no semi monthly option for getting paid. I get paid 1st and 15th how do I do this in the system?

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Hi @MrCaspan

Thanks for your questions!

To answer your first, yes, everything you plan to spend on needs to be represented in your budget via an Envelope. That way, when you spend on that item, you can record that spending against the Envelope.

In terms of filling your Envelopes, if you have a cushion and can fill them with the existing money in your Accounts, you’ll fill your Envelopes from your Available.

(If you don’t have enough money to cover filing all of your Envelope to completely full, fill the ones you need to use between paycheck 1 and paycheck 2. Then, add more money to your Envelopes when you receive your second income.)

As you receive your income, you’ll add that back into your Available to pay it back. If you’d like
to schedule it to post automatically, schedule two ‘Monthly’ incomes. One with recur Monthly on the 1st, and the second will recur Monthly on the 15th.

Does that answer your question? Let me know if I’ve misunderstood you.

Karisa