If you see a negative amount in the Remaining column for a budget item even though you haven’t spent more than you planned, the Safe to Spend feature may be the reason. This article explains why that happens and how your Paycheck Planning settings can affect the amount EveryDollar shows as safe to spend.
How Safe to Spend Affects Your Remaining Amount
Safe to Spend uses the dates in your Paycheck Planning tool to help show whether money is available to spend from a budget item yet.
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When Safe to Spend is toggled on, each budget item's remaining amount will show what is safe to spend based on your paycheck plan.
Example:
Let's say there is $500 Planned to spend on Groceries for November. In the Paycheck Planning tool, the date entered for Groceries is November 24. See the two images below.
If you spend $150.00 and track that to Groceries before November 24, here is what the Spent tab looks like:
With Safe to Spend turned on, here is what the Remaining tab looks like:
Why Does My Remaining Amount Show as Negative?
In this example, the Paycheck Planning tool says the money for Groceries is available on November 24.
If you spend from Groceries before that date, EveryDollar uses the negative Remaining amount to flag that it may not be safe to spend that money yet based on your Paycheck Plan.
How to Turn Off Safe to Spend
If you don’t want your Paycheck Planning tool to affect the amounts shown in the Remaining column, you can turn off Safe to Spend in the mobile app:
- Open the EveryDollar app.
- Tap Today.
- Tap the three lines in the upper-right corner.
- Tap Settings.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page.
- Find Safe to Spend and toggle it off.
On the web version of EveryDollar, just click on your email address in the bottom left corner of the screen, then click the Settings link, and you will see an option to adjust Safe to Spend on that screen.
Once Safe to Spend is turned off, your Paycheck Planning tool will no longer impact the Remaining amounts in your budget.
Next Step
Learn more about the differences between Planned, Spent, and Remaining and how each amount helps you understand your budget: Differences Between Planned, Spent, and Remaining