Setting Up Budgets and Pay Periods
Create spending caps for categories and align your budgets with your actual payday cycle.
Budgets prevent overspending, while custom Pay Periods let you track your money from salary date to salary date instead of rigid calendar months.
What this feature helps you do
Spending Limits: Set monthly spending targets for categories like Groceries, Dining Out, Shopping, or Entertainment.
Pay Period vs. Calendar Month: If you get paid on the 25th, traditional 1st-to-31st month budgeting does not reflect your real cash flow. Pay Periods let your budget cycle run from payday to payday.
Visual Progress Bars: Track how much you have spent and how much remains before your next paycheck arrives.
How to set up Budgets and Pay Periods
Setting your Pay Period:
Go to Settings > Income Schedule / Pay Period.
Select your payday frequency (e.g., Monthly) and set your payday rule (e.g., Specific day: 25th).
On your Dashboard, toggle the top switch between Pay period and Month to view your active cycle.
Creating a Category Budget:
Click Budgets in the sidebar (or tap Add Category Budget on the Dashboard).
Tap Create Budget.
Choose the Category (e.g., Food & Dining).
Enter your budget limit (e.g., AED 2,000).
Choose whether to receive warning notifications when spending reaches 80% and 100%.
Tap Save Budget.
Practical Examples
Custom salary budgeting: Your salary arrives on the 25th of every month. Your budget period runs from August 25 to September 24. When your salary lands on the 25th, your budget bars reset automatically.
Grocery spending control: You set a monthly grocery budget of AED 2,500. By mid-cycle, the budget bar shows you have spent AED 1,750 (70%), indicating that you should pace your supermarket trips for the remaining two weeks.
Helpful Tips
Start with high-impact categories: You don't need to budget fixed costs like rent. Focus your budgets on variable spending like groceries, dining, entertainment, and shopping.
Adjust as needed: If a budget is consistently too tight, review your reports and adjust the limit to a realistic number.
Related Features
Tags & Categories — Organize the categories used by your budgets.
Reports — Analyze your budget adherence over previous pay periods.