Set up your monthly budget
In FIYR you budget per category, per month. Open Budget, click the amount on a category row, type a number and press Enter. The totals at the top add up every category for that month.
Budgets come with your subscription and with the free trial. There is no separate total to type in: your Monthly budget is simply the sum of the amounts you give each spending category for the month you are looking at.
Set a budget on a computer
- Click Budget in the sidebar.
- Check the month in the header. It opens on the current month. Use the month dropdown (for example OCTOBER 2026) to pick another one.
- Find the category. Categories you haven't spent in or budgeted yet are hidden, so turn on Show Unbudgeted under the list if you don't see it.
- Click the amount on the right of the row. It turns into a plain number with a teal border.
- Type the amount. A $ sign or commas are fine. Press Enter or click anywhere else to save.
There is no Save button and no confirmation. The amount reformats as currency and the totals at the top update. Try it here: change a budget and watch the row, the bar and the summary band.
Set a budget on your phone
- Tap the Budget tab. If it isn't one of your tabs, tap More, then Budget.
- Stay on the Categories tab. Each row shows what you've spent, with of $X (your budget) under it. Rows without a budget say set budget.
- Tap the amount or set budget, type a number on the keypad, then tap away to save.
- To budget a category you haven't spent in yet, scroll to the bottom and turn on Show unbudgeted.
Use the ‹ › arrows next to the month name to move between months. On the Groups tab, tap a group to open it, then tap the of $X on any category inside.
Read a category row
- Background fill
- A pale teal wash fills the row from the left as you spend, up to the full width at 100%. Over budget, the wash turns gradually red, and gets redder the further over you are.
- Percentage badge
- Spent ÷ budget, rounded. It only appears when the category has a budget, and turns red above 100%.
- Spent
- The small grey amount: what you've spent in the category this month. See What counts toward a budget.
- Budget field
- The bold amount on the right. Click it to change it. Unbudgeted categories show $0.
- Progress bar
- The thin line along the bottom. Under budget it is solid teal at your percentage. Over budget it runs the full width: teal up to where your budget ends, then fading to red.
Where teal turns red = 100 ÷ % used × 100
- Eating Out has $318 spent against a $250 budget: 127% used.
- 100 ÷ 127 × 100 = 79, so the bar is teal for the first 79% and red after that. The red part is the overspend.
Rows are sorted so the ones that need attention come first: categories with both spending and a budget, then categories with spending but no budget, then the rest. Inside each of those, the biggest spender is on top. The order refreshes when you finish editing an amount, not while you type.
The summary band
The card above the rows sums up the month. Its thin bar splits your income into Savings (green), Spending (teal) and Unspent (grey), with your Income on the right. Under it are three numbers:
| Number | What it is |
|---|---|
| SPENT SO FAR | Spending across all your spending categories this month, budgeted or not. |
| REMAINING | Monthly budget − spent so far, with the share of the budget used. When you pass your budget it turns red, shows +$X and reads OVER BUDGET. |
| MONTHLY BUDGET | The sum of this month's category budgets. Savings targets and Credit Card Payment are not included. |
Remaining = Monthly budget − Spent so far
- Budget $2,940, spent $2,594: $346 remaining, and 2,594 ÷ 2,940 = 88% used.
The income and savings parts are explained in Savings and savings rate.
Categories that work differently
- Income categories (Payroll Income and the rest of the Income group) never count as spending. They only show when Show Unbudgeted is on. There is nothing to budget on them: an amount typed on an Income category is not added to your Monthly budget.
- Savings categories (Investments and Internal Transfer by default) are budgeted on the Savings card, or the Savings tab on a phone. There the amount is a savings target, not a spending limit, and it stays out of your Monthly budget.
- Credit Card Payment is always left out of your totals, so card purchases aren't counted twice. A budget typed on it isn't added to your Monthly budget.
Remove a budget
Click the amount, delete it or type 0, and press Enter. That removes the budget for that category in that month only. Other months are untouched.
Months, groups and the date line
- On a computer the month dropdown reaches 12 months back and 12 months ahead, so you can budget future months in advance.
- Each month is separate. Unspent money does not roll over to the next month.
- Show Grouped swaps the flat list for one card per category group, with the group's spent and budget totals. Click a group to open its categories. A group with spending but no budget gets an Unbudgeted tag.
- Show Date Line (on by default) draws a dashed line across the rows at today's date, labelled with the day. A row whose fill reaches past the line is ahead of an even pace. See Budget pace.
Common questions
Does my budget carry over to next month?
Budgets are per month, so next month starts empty. The easy fix is a default template: FIYR applies it to any month that has no budget yet when you open it.
Does unspent budget roll over?
No. Each month stands alone. Unspent budget does count toward that month's Total savings on the Savings card.
Can I set a weekly or yearly budget?
No. Budgets are monthly, per category. To plan a whole year, use the annual table or a default template.
Why can't I find a category on the Budget page?
Categories with no spending and no budget this month are hidden. Turn on Show Unbudgeted (Show unbudgeted on a phone). Savings categories are on the Savings card instead.
Did my budget save?
Yes, as soon as you press Enter or click away. There is no confirmation message; the amount reformats as currency and the totals update.
Still stuck?
Email us. A real person who builds FIYR reads every message.