Budgets #

This section introduces the basics of ‘Budgets’ in Econumo.

Budgets enable you to implement a “Cash Stuffing” method, also known as the envelope budgeting approach, which uses envelopes to manage spending.

The concept is straightforward: take a few envelopes, label each with an expense category — such as groceries, rent, or car loan — and place the amount of money you plan to spend in each envelope. This way, you set limits on your spending for each category.

Econumo allows you to create virtual envelopes and allocate your funds accordingly, so you can easily track how much money remains for each specific category:

In this section #

• Budget creation
• Update budget details
• Manage your budget
  • Budgeting
  • Organizing your budget
  • Work with the budget
• Budgets list
• Shared access

Budget creation #

Open Settings → Budgets and press Create budget. Give the budget a name, pick its base currency, and choose which accounts participate in budgeting — you can exclude, say, a long-term savings account.

Note All new accounts are included in your budgets by default, but you can exclude them later in the budget settings. Budgets start from the current month.

Update budget details #

Open your budget, press Configure, and choose Budget details. In the dialog you can rename the budget, change its currency, and include or exclude accounts:

Manage your budget #

In your budget, you will work with the following entities:

• Budget Folders — to organize your spending conveniently (in the screenshots: Essentials, Lifestyle, Vacations).
• Categories — your Econumo categories.
• Tags — your Econumo tags. These aggregate spending across categories (e.g. the whole Italy 2026 vacation).
• Envelopes — these group several categories into one limit (e.g. an envelope for Food could contain Groceries, Drinks, and Restaurants).

Budgeting #

The goal of budgeting is to maintain your monthly budget. Ideally, you should prepare your budget before the month starts and make minor adjustments during the month as needed. The months bar at the top switches between periods, and the budget shows how much money remains in your virtual envelopes.

Each row has three columns:

1. Budget — the amount you plan to spend or save.
2. Spent — the amount you have actually spent.
3. Available — what is left: the budgeted amount plus anything carried over from previous months.

Click a number in the Budget column to adjust it — changes apply instantly. Overspent elements are highlighted in red (like Groceries in the screenshots above).

Organizing your budget #

The default structure of your budget may not be optimal. To change it, press Configure and select Edit structure. In this mode you can create folders and envelopes, drag elements between folders, and change element currencies. Once you are finished, press Done editing.

Folders. Press Create folder to add one. The three-dots menu on a folder lets you rename it, move it up or down, or delete it (only empty folders can be deleted). Drag elements between folders using the dots handle — once the Default folder is empty, it disappears.

Envelopes. To create an envelope, press the + button on the folder header. Choose a name, currency, icon, and the categories you want to include:

Deleting an envelope releases its categories back into the budget.

Element currency. Each element can be budgeted in its own currency: open the element’s three-dots menu and choose Change currency. Amounts spent and available for that element are converted automatically.

Work with the budget #

Tag and envelope breakdown #

Tags and envelopes aggregate several categories. Expand one with the chevron next to its name to see where the money actually went:

Spending details #

To see the transactions behind any number, click the amount in the Spent column:

Multi-currency budgets #

If your accounts use several currencies, the budget header shows a per-currency switcher (in the screenshots: $ and €), and elements in foreign currencies are converted to the budget’s currency for folder totals. See Multi-Currency for the full picture.

Budgets list #

You can access your budgets list at Settings → Budgets or via Configure → Open budget list. Shared budgets show the avatars of everyone who uses them:

Shared access #

To budget together with your partner, you first need to connect with them. Then open the budgets list, click the three dots on the budget you wish to share, and select Access control. Pick the person and the access level:

Econumo supports the following access levels for budgets:

• View only — you share your budget only for viewing.
• Manage budget — you and your partner can collaboratively manage this budget and contribute to it together.
• Full control — like Manage budget, but your partner can also delete and rename the budget.

Once access is granted, your partner sees the budget in their own budget list, and you budget the same envelopes together — as John and Megan do with the “Family budget” in the screenshots throughout this page.