Everyone loves that feeling of coming in under budget and having unspent money. But don’t leave those dollars hanging! The way to maximize your money is to tell it where to go. Even the cash you didn’t spend.
The smartest way to handle this is to adjust your budget and reallocate the leftover amounts to keep making progress on your money goals. Here's the step by step process.
Compare your actual spending to what you planned for each Budget Item. This helps you zero out your budget and clearly see what money is left over.
Check the "Left to Budget" number at the top. Once your planned amounts match your actual spending, the leftover money will be visible at the top of your budget on the website or app.
Give that leftover money a job. Maybe you pay extra on a debt. Perhaps you put it toward your emergency fund or some new car tires you'll need soon. Whatever the case it, give the money a purpose.
Carry Over Unspent Money to Next month
If next month has some higher costs or yearly expenses, you might choose to carry the money over. To do that, first add up the total unspent money as described above. Then when you're in the new month, create a new Income line and call it "Rollover" or something like that. The last step is to assign that money wherever you like.
EveryDollar also has a feature called Funds, designed for expenses that don’t occur every month, like quarterly insurance payments or annual memberships. With Funds, leftover balances automatically carry forward each month, making it easy to save up over time.
Pro Tip: It's not possible to carry over a negative Remaining amount for regular Budget Items. Funds, however, carry over whatever the Remaining balance is from the previous month.
Next Steps
Use the Paycheck Planner to make carrying money over a snap!