Why you may want to create an exception for a repeating budget
The benefit of doing a one-off edit rather than a stand-alone one-off budget is that it will still be included in the repeating budget series and in all budget analyses, rollover, and safe-balance calculations.
Some examples of when you would use budget exceptions
Example 1:
You have a Gifts 🎁 category with a monthly budget of $100.
But, in December, you know you want an extra $500 for Gifts 🎁 because of the impending Christmas shopping!
You would edit just December's budget event to be $600 instead of $100, but keep all other budget events at $100.
Example 2:
You have a Power⚡️ category with a monthly budget of $200.
When you receive your bill, the amount is actually slightly different each time. You want to ensure the most accurate budgeting, so you head to the budget event each month and adjust just that one budget event to the exact amount of the bill.
Example 3:
You have an Electronics category with a monthly budget of $10.
But then you make a big purchase and buy a power bank for $100, so you want to change that month's budget to $100 to account for this larger purchase.
How to create an exception for a repeating budget
Change the amount for a budget event:
- Head to the Calendar
- Navigate to the date of your choosing
- Click on the budget event that you want to adjust
- Then change the amount, or other details as needed
- Click SAVE
- When given the confirmation options, you can select the most appropriate one. In this case, to change this one event, select "Only this budget event" and click CONFIRM CHANGES. This will change just that one budget event, but leave all other budget events in this series unchanged (see Options for applying changes to a repeating budget).
Tip
You can also adjust past budget events if required.
Just make sure you have "show actuals in history" unticked to see these past budget events on the Calendar.
Changing the date for a single budget event
You can quickly edit the date of a budget event on the Calendar with a simple drag and drop.
- Head to the Calendar
- Navigate to the budget event you'd like to move and drag and drop it to another date on the calendar.
- Select "Only this budget event" and click CONFIRM CHANGES. This will change just that one budget event, but leave all other budget events in this series unchanged (see Options for applying changes to a repeating budget).
Removing exceptions for repeating budgets
If you no longer wish to have an exception for a budget event and want to again include it in the regular repeating budget, you will need to:
- Delete the one-off budget, if one was created
- Remove the exception from the original budget.
- Head to the Budget page, hover over the category with the budget you wish to edit, and then click on the three-dot menu on the right.
- Choose 'View all category budgets'
- Initially, only current budgets will be shown. Select ‘Show all budgets’ to view any past or one-off budgets
- Click on the one-off budget event. This is the one that has ‘Once’ in the repeat column.
- Click DELETE in the budget edit window that opens
- Choose ‘Only this budget event’, then click CONFIRM DELETION
Next, you want to tell the repeating budget to include this budget event again. To do this:
- Hover over the category with the budget exception you wish to remove, and then click on the three-dot menu on the right.
- Choose 'View all category budgets'
- Click on the repeating budget series
- Click 'See exceptions’ (beside Does this budget repeat?)
- Click the X next to the date of the exception you wish to remove
