Envelopes (Project Budgeting)

Envelopes

An envelope is a project or goal tracked as a category with a total target amount. Examples: a kitchen renovation with a $5,000 target, a vacation fund, a new car down payment.

Envelopes live under a parent category — they represent a kind of spend (Home & Garden → Kitchen Reno). The parent category handles the regular taxonomy; the envelope handles the project accounting.

Creating an envelope

1. Go to Settings → Categories
2. Click New Envelope
3. Choose a parent category
4. Give it a name and optionally a target amount and date range
5. Save

Charging spend to an envelope

Spend is attributed to an envelope in two ways:

1. Categorize a transaction directly to the envelope — the full transaction amount charges the envelope
2. Categorize receipt line items to the envelope — individual items from a matched receipt charge the envelope. This is the precise way: a single trip to a hardware store can split between "Kitchen Reno" for the tiles and "General Tools" for the drill.

Reading envelope progress

On the dashboard, each active envelope shows:

• This period — what's charged to the envelope this month
• Lifetime total — cumulative spend since the envelope was created
• Target — the goal
• Progress bar — lifetime total as a percentage of target

The bar turns red when lifetime spending exceeds the target.

Envelope statuses

Status	Meaning
Active	Shows on the dashboard; being tracked
On hold	Paused — hidden from the dashboard
Completed	Target reached; archived
Archived	Finished or abandoned; historical only

Envelopes vs budgets

	Budget	Envelope
Scope	Per period (monthly)	Lifetime total
Purpose	Limit recurring spend	Track progress toward a goal
Can have both	✓	Set a monthly budget on an envelope to pace it