Tracking expenses and setting a monthly budget

Three pages under Money work together: Expenses is where you log what you spend, Budget sets a monthly limit for each kind of spending, and Tax estimate works out what to set aside from what you have been paid.

Log expenses

1. Go to Money → Expenses and use Log an expense.
2. Enter what it was for, the amount, the currency, the date and a category. Add notes if you like.
3. Tick Repeats every month for subscriptions, rent and other regular costs.

Repeating costs that have not been logged for four weeks or more appear under Repeating costs probably due. Select Log it for today to add this month's in one click.

The tiles compare this month with the same point last month, show the year so far and your repeating costs, and link to your budget. Pick another month to see its list and the Where it went breakdown by category, or export the list as a CSV.

If you see a note that some expenses are recorded in USD but you work in another currency, those were saved by the older expenses form, which always used USD. Select Move them to your currency if they were really in that currency. The amounts stay the same.

Set a monthly budget

1. Go to Money → Budget and open Set your budget.
2. Choose the currency, then enter a monthly limit for each category you want to watch. Leave a category empty for no limit.
3. Select Save budget.

Not sure where to start? Suggest a budget from my spending fills in each category from the average of your last three full months, rounded up.

Each category then shows how much of its limit you have used this month: on track, near the limit (85 percent or more) or over. The page also projects where the month will end at your current pace, and The last six months shows the trend. Spending in other currencies is listed separately and never converted.

Overspent categories also appear on your Overview, so you notice without opening the page.

Estimate the tax to set aside

Money → Tax estimate totals, for the year you choose, your paid revenue and your expenses in each currency, and applies your Set-aside rate to the difference. Change the rate and select Recalculate. By quarter breaks the year down, which helps if you pay tax in instalments.

Paid revenue is your saved invoices marked paid in that year, before sales tax, plus invoices you track in Get paid. It is a planning estimate, not tax advice — ask your accountant for your real rate.