6. Budgeting
Budgeting Overview
Understand the Budget page, its month-aware grid, contextual sidebar, and the difference between assigning and planning money.
Budgeting in Common Cents is where you decide what your money should be ready to do before spending happens. The Budget page pairs one working grid with a contextual sidebar, so the information and actions change with the month, mode, and categories you select.
Read the page layout #
Use the month picker in the app header to move backward and forward. The selected month controls the numbers, editable fields, and actions shown below. Use Go To Current when you have moved away from the current month.
The main area contains the category grid. Above it are a category search, filters, and compact controls to add a category group or expand and collapse the visible groups. The grid has checkboxes for individual categories, groups, and all visible categories; those selections also update the contextual sidebar.
The sidebar normally shows:
- Ready to Assign for money you can still give a job right now
- Ready to Plan when Planning is available; select either card to switch modes in a current, editable month
- Actions appropriate to the current mode and selection
- a history chart for Assigned, Activity, or Available over recent prior months
- target details and target controls when exactly one selected category has a target
You can collapse the sidebar. Its compact rail keeps the most relevant actions and a short history comparison available.
Work with the grid and sidebar #
The filter includes All, Overspent, and Clearing, plus Underfunded and Overfunded when Targets is enabled. Overspent is not offered in a future-month forecast. Filters also limit what “all” means for selection and bulk actions.
With no category selected, the sidebar can offer Quick Assign in Assign Mode or Quick Plan, View Funding Details, and Generate Scheduled Transactions in Planning Mode. Review & Apply appears in Planning Mode for an eligible current or unlocked past month. With multiple categories selected, it offers selection-based actions such as zeroing the relevant amount and applying targets; with all visible categories selected, it offers the applicable bulk zero actions.
Each group and category row has Related Actions. Category actions can include editing, zeroing, assigning or planning remaining funding, target actions, moving money, and move history; availability depends on the month, mode, feature settings, and category type.
Month and mode at a glance #
- Past months show historical Assigned, Activity, and Ending Available. They are locked by default. Only the immediately previous month can be unlocked, which makes its budget changes, targets, planning, and Review & Apply available again; lock it when finished.
- Current month opens in Assign Mode and shows editable Assigned, Activity, and Available. When Scheduled Transactions is enabled, the summary cards let you switch to Planning Mode.
- Future months open in Planning Mode and show Planned Assigned, Forecast Activity, and Projected Available. They do not expose normal Assigned editing. In the next-month view, you can optionally switch the available figure from the expected balance to the current balance for comparison.
Planning Mode shows planned funding separately from actual Assigned funding, so it can include forecast activity without changing your live budget.
In this section #
Use this section when #
Use these pages when you need to organize your budget, assign or move money, or understand what the Budget numbers are telling you. If you are trying to answer “what already happened,” that is usually a Transactions question instead.