Assigning Money

Assigning money is how you tell the budget what each category should be ready to cover. In Common Cents, most of that work happens directly in the Budget grid instead of in a separate wizard.

Start with Ready to Assign #

Ready to Assign is money that has not been given a category job yet. When you increase a category’s Assigned amount, Ready to Assign goes down. When you pull money back out of a category, it goes back up.

When Scheduled Transactions is enabled, you can also use Ready to Plan in Planning Mode. It represents forecast funding from pending scheduled inflows, not cash you can assign now.

The contextual sidebar shows the funding pool and helps you work faster:

• Ready to Assign shows money you can assign now
• Ready to Plan shows forecast funding available for planned entries
• Quick Assign fills eligible target needs from Ready to Assign in Assign Mode
• Quick Plan fills eligible target needs from Ready to Plan in Planning Mode

Use the row fields for day-to-day budgeting #

The budget grid is built so you can type straight into the month you are working on. Assigned commits money now. Planned Assigned in Planning Mode records a planned add-on without changing your live budget. Editable fields save as you work; select a category to make it the sidebar context.

The month and mode matter:

• Assigned is editable in Assign Mode for the current month, or for the immediately previous month after you unlock it.
• Planned Assigned is editable in Planning Mode for current and future months, and for an unlocked immediately previous month.
• Locked past months preserve history but do not accept budget changes.

Future months automatically use Planning Mode. Their forecast grid shows Planned Assigned, Forecast Activity, and Projected Available, rather than an editable Assigned column.

Reassigning between categories #

When you need to move money between categories instead of just typing a new amount, use a category row’s Related Actions menu and choose Move Money. The transfer sheet shows the source available amount, both categories, date, amount, note, and the resulting balance before you save.

This is a current-month budgeting tool. Protected system categories and debt-payment categories do not participate in it. Use See Move History from the same menu to inspect prior category moves.

Use selection-based actions when you need a reset #

Select categories with the checkboxes in the grid. The contextual sidebar then offers actions for that selection. In Assign Mode, you can zero the selected categories’ Assigned or Available amounts. In Planning Mode, you can zero their Planned amounts. Selecting all visible categories applies the equivalent action to the current filtered view.

You can also use a category row’s Related Actions menu to zero that row’s Assigned or Available amount, or to assign all remaining Ready to Assign to that category. These actions are available only when Assigned is editable.

Use Review & Apply when actual funding is available for planned categories. It increases Assigned and reduces the matching planned add-on by the same amount.

Ongoing budgeting is a monthly habit #

After the first setup, assigning money becomes a monthly habit. You are no longer filling a blank budget. You are adjusting a living budget as income arrives, priorities change, and categories need money moved around.