In Koody, a budget is a container that holds a group of categories and the spending limits you want for them over a specific period of time. It is not based on your income and it does not force you to do a full money plan. Instead, it answers a simpler question: "How much do I want to spend in these categories between these dates from these accounts?"
When you create a budget, you give it a name, pick a start and end date, choose which bank accounts it should watch, pick the categories you care about, and set a spending limit for each one. As you use Koody and transactions come in from those accounts, the budget shows you how your real spending compares to the limits you set.
You can create as many budgets as you need, although most people only need one main budget per period. Some people create extra budgets for special projects, such as holidays, weddings, or a particular savings challenge. Every budget you create is a snapshot of that period. Once it expires, you can no longer edit it, but you can always open it and see the original limits, the transactions, and all the charts and summaries as if it were still live.
This is what makes budgets more powerful than just editing limits on the Categories tab. Category limits can change over time as you tweak them. Budgets do not. Each budget locks in the limits and results for that period so you can always go back and see how you actually did.
Step 1: Decide What This Budget Should Cover
Before you click New, it helps to be clear about what this particular budget is for. Is it your main monthly budget, a one-off budget for a specific event, or a shared household budget that covers multiple people? Deciding this up front makes it easier to name and structure the budget in a way that will still make sense months from now.
Most people start with one budget that covers their normal life for a month. That might include everyday categories such as groceries, eating out, transport, and shopping. If you share money with a partner or family member, this first budget may be a shared budget that includes all the categories and accounts you both use together. You can still keep separate personal budgets later if you want to track side spending on your own.
Think about three things: the time frame, the accounts, and the categories. For the time frame, a calendar month is a natural choice because many bills and habits follow that cycle. For accounts, decide which ones you actually want this budget to watch. For categories, think about the parts of your spending where you want clear limits and feedback. You do not have to solve every detail right now, but having a rough idea will make the setup faster.
Step 2: Create A New Budget In Koody
Once you know what this budget should cover, you can create it inside Koody. Open the Budget tab and click the New button. This opens the New Budget screen where you set the basic details for the period you want to track.
Budget Name
Start by giving your budget a clear, descriptive name. For example, "Monthly Budget", "January Household Budget", "Q1 Travel Challenge", or "Groceries And Eating Out". Choose something you will recognize later when you are scanning a list of past budgets. If this is your main budget, keep the name simple and consistent so it looks clean in your history.
Start Date And End Date
Next, pick the start and end dates. These tell Koody which transactions to include. A common setup is a start date on the first day of the month and an end date on the last day of the month, but you can choose any range that fits how you like to plan. You might have a two-week budget that lines up with a paycheck cycle, or a multi-month budget for a big project.
If you leave the end date empty, you can use the Recurring Frequency field instead. That is useful if you want a repeating pattern, such as a weekly or monthly budget that continues until you decide to stop it. If you set an end date, Koody will automatically expire the budget after that date, so it becomes a finished piece of history.
Recurring Frequency (If You Do Not Set An End Date)
When there is no end date, the Recurring Frequency field tells Koody how to treat the budget over time. For example, you might set a monthly frequency so that each period follows the previous one. The exact options you see in the app may change as Koody evolves, but the idea is simple: use Frequency when you want a repeating rhythm and use End Date when you want a defined start and finish.
Step 3: Set Bank Accounts, Categories, And Limits
After the basic details are in place, you decide which accounts and categories belong to this budget, and how much you plan to spend in each category. This is where the budget moves from "empty shell" to something you can actually use.
Bank Accounts
The Bank Accounts field is a dropdown with checkboxes. You can select one or more accounts to include in the budget. Koody will then use transactions from those accounts, within the budget dates, to power the summaries, charts, and insights inside the budget.
You might choose only your main checking account if that is where most day-to-day spending happens. Or you might include a checking account and a credit card if you want the budget to see both. If you keep separate personal accounts and shared household accounts, you can create separate budgets that watch different combinations of accounts.
Categories And Spending Limits
The Categories section lets you pick which categories belong in this budget and set a spending limit for each one. Each category has a checkbox to include or exclude it. When a category is checked, it is part of the budget and contributes to your Total Budget. When it is unchecked, it is ignored for this budget, even if you still use that category elsewhere in Koody.
For each included category, type in the spending limit you want for that period. As you enter limits, you will see the Total Budget at the bottom of the screen update in real time. This total is simply the sum of all the category limits in this budget. It gives you a quick sense of how much you are planning to spend across all the categories you chose.
You can keep this simple with a handful of core categories, such as Groceries, Eating Out, Transport, and Shopping. Or you can be more detailed with categories for Kids, Pets, Subscriptions, or anything else that matters to you. The average person only needs one main budget per period, so it is usually better to start simple and add detail later rather than overwhelm yourself on day one.
Notes And Save
The Notes field is optional, but it can be useful when you look back later. You might jot down things like "Trying to cut eating out this month", "Christmas gifts included here", or "First month after moving, expect extra setup costs". Those comments will live with the budget forever and help you remember what was going on when you set these limits.
When you are happy with the name, dates, accounts, categories, and limits, click Save. At that moment, Koody creates the budget and ties it to the selected accounts, date range, and category limits. From then on, the budget will respond to any transactions that match those conditions.
Step 4: Use Your Budget And Look Back Over Time
After you save, you land in the budget view. This is the home for everything related to that period. The budget shows you summaries, insights, charts, and detailed transaction lists, all filtered to match the accounts, categories, and dates you chose.
You can see how much you have spent in each category compared to its limit, which categories are on track, and which ones are burning through money faster than you expected. You can switch between past, current, and upcoming transactions inside the budget and see how individual purchases roll up into the totals. If you get refunds or reversals, those are included in the analysis so you see a net picture of what truly left your accounts.
The budget view also shows balance analyses and charts, such as total expenses, inflows and outflows, and net income summary for the accounts linked to that budget. If you import transactions from CSV files or enter them manually, they join the same stream and appear in the budget as long as they match the accounts and dates for that period. If you change a transaction's category while the budget is still active, the budget updates to reflect that new assignment.
When the end date passes, the budget expires. That means you can no longer edit its limits or structure, but nothing is lost. You can always open that budget in the future and see everything as if it were live: the original category limits, the actual spending, the charts, the summaries, the notes, and the transactions that fell into that period.
This is where budgets really shine. The Categories tab reflects whatever limits you are using today. Budgets preserve what you were trying to do at a specific point in time. You can compare one month's budget to another, see how your habits changed, and use those insights to set better limits for future periods.
Over time, your list of budgets becomes its own kind of timeline. You might see "January Household Budget", "February Household Budget", "Holiday Budget", "Moving Budget", and so on. Each one is a finished story you can revisit any time you want.
FAQs: Budgets In Koody
Do I Have To Enter My Income To Create A Budget In Koody?
No. Income is not required to create a budget. In Koody, a budget is a collection of categories with spending limits over a date range for specific accounts. You can decide your limits based on whatever makes sense to you. Some people like to keep a separate note or mental picture of their income so they can sanity check their total budget, but the budget itself does not depend on income.
How Many Budgets Do I Need?
The average person only needs one main budget per period, such as one monthly household budget that covers all their regular categories. You can create extra budgets for special cases, such as a vacation, a renovation, or a challenge month where you are testing new limits. There is no hard limit on how many budgets you can make, but keeping things simple makes it easier to actually use them.
What Happens When A Budget Expires?
When a budget reaches its end date, it expires and becomes read-only. You can no longer change its name, dates, categories, or limits. However, you can always open it and view everything that happened inside that period, including the category limits you set at the time, all the transactions that fell into the budget, and the charts and summaries. This makes each budget a permanent record of that slice of your financial life.
Can I Change Accounts And Categories After I Create A Budget?
While a budget is active, you can adjust categories and limits and Koody will recalculate based on the new setup. You can also adjust individual transactions by changing their categories. After the budget expires, its structure is locked so that the history stays consistent. If you need different accounts or a different mix of categories for a new period, it is usually better to create a new budget with the updated design.
How Do Budgets Work With Shared Finances?
If you share money with someone else, you can create budgets that reflect that. You might include the shared accounts you both spend from and pick categories that represent your household priorities. Each person can see the same results, which makes it easier to have calm, fact-based conversations about money. You can still keep separate personal budgets for solo accounts if you want more privacy or flexibility.
What If I Just Want To Track Categories Without Budgets?
You can still use the Categories tab on its own and change limits there whenever you like. Budgets add a layer on top of that. They give you fixed snapshots for specific periods. If you want to be able to go back in time and answer questions like "What was I trying to spend on groceries last spring and how did it actually go?", budgets are the best place to do that.
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