# Budgets

The Budgets page lets you set monthly spending limits by category and track your progress against them. Tally separates verified spend from estimated spend so you can see both what has been confirmed by your bank and what you expect to spend.

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## How Budgets Work

Each budget is a monthly spending limit for one category. At any point in the month, Tally calculates:

- **Verified spend** — the total of all Verified transactions in that category for the month
- **Estimated spend** — the total of all Estimate transactions in that category for the month
- **Budget limit** — the amount you set for that category

Budget progress is shown as a dual-segment progress bar. Transfers and non-expense transactions (savings transfers, debt payments) are excluded from budget calculations.

Budgets set on a weekly or yearly period are pro-rated into the month view, so every budget is compared against the current month on the same basis.

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## Reading the Progress Bars

Each budget card shows a progress bar with two segments:

| Segment | Style | Meaning |
|---------|-------|---------|
| Verified | Solid green | Spend confirmed by bank imports |
| Estimated | Translucent pink | Spend from manual entries not yet verified |

The bar fills left to right. From 80% of the limit the bar shows a warning state, and it turns red for "over" once combined spend passes 100% of the limit.

Below the bar, the card shows:
- Verified spend amount
- Estimated spend amount
- Budget limit
- Remaining headroom (or overspend)

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## Month Navigation

Use the **← Previous** and **Next →** controls at the top of the Budgets page to move between months. Tally calculates the verified and estimated spend for whichever month is selected.

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## Creating a Budget

1. Click **Add Budget**
2. Select a category from the dropdown
3. Enter a monthly limit amount
4. Click **Save**

The budget appears immediately on the page for the current month.

**Note:** Only owners can create, edit, or delete budgets.

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## Editing a Budget

Click the edit icon on a budget card to change the category or limit. Changes take effect immediately.

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## Deleting a Budget

Click the delete icon on a budget card and confirm. Deleting a budget removes the limit tracking — it does not delete any transactions.

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## Spend Breakdown

Below the budget cards, the page shows a spend breakdown table for the selected month. This lists every category with spending that month, whether or not it has a budget set. Use this to identify categories you may want to add budgets for.

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## Budget Behaviour with Transaction Types

Tally only counts **expense** transactions in budgets. The following are excluded:

- Transfer transactions (money moved between your accounts)
- Debt payment transactions (linked via the debt tracker)
- Savings transfer transactions (linked via the savings allocation workflow)

This means your budget figures reflect actual spending, not money movements between your own accounts.

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## Tips

- Set budgets for your main spending categories first (groceries, eating out, fuel, utilities)
- The estimated segment lets you see where you're tracking mid-month before your bank statement is available
- After importing a bank statement, the verified segment updates automatically — no manual step required

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## Related

- [Transactions](transactions.md) — categorising transactions that feed budget totals
- [Import](import.md) — importing bank statements to move estimates to verified
- [Dashboard](dashboard.md) — overall financial summary