Repeating transactions: see your bills and paychecks before they land

Most of what happens to your money each month is predictable. The mortgage comes out on the 1st. The paycheck lands every other Friday. The card payment goes out on the 20th. You know these are coming, but until now EnvelopeBudget only found out when the bank did.

Repeating transactions fix that. Set one up once and EnvelopeBudget puts every future occurrence on your calendar, enters it in the register a few days before it is due, and hands it over to the real bank transaction when that arrives. No retyping, no duplicate rows, and no surprise when the balance drops on the 1st.

Setting one up #

Open Transactions, then choose Scheduled transactions from the three-dot menu, or click Scheduled at the top of the Calendar. Click New repeating transaction and fill it in like any other transaction: account, payee, amount, envelope, memo. A transfer between accounts works too, and so does a split across envelopes.

Then say how it repeats:

• Weekly on a weekday, or every 2, 3, or N weeks. Paychecks, cleaning services.
• Monthly on a day of the month. The 31st lands on the last day of shorter months.
• Twice a month on two fixed days, like the 1st and 15th.
• Yearly on a date. Insurance, memberships, property tax.

Give it a start date and, if it has one, an end: a date, or a number of payments for something like a 48-month car loan. The editor previews the next five dates as you type so you can see the rule is right before you save.

If the amount changes month to month, tick Amount varies. The projection uses the amount you enter, and the bank import is allowed to differ by up to 10% when it takes the row over.

Or start from a transaction you already have #

The fastest way is to find last month's payment in the register, open it, and click Make repeating… at the bottom of the editor. The schedule opens pre-filled from that transaction with a monthly rule on its day. Adjust anything you like, then click Create schedule. Nothing is saved until you do, and that transaction becomes the first occurrence, so the series continues from the next date without a duplicate.

What happens as the date approaches #

Each schedule has a lead time, three days by default. Here is the life of one occurrence:

1. On the calendar. Every future date shows on the transaction calendar in a dashed style with the repeat icon, and the month summary shows how much of the inflow and outflow is still scheduled.
2. Entered as pending. Three days before it is due, the occurrence becomes a real transaction in the register, marked pending and badged Scheduled. From this point it counts against the account and the envelope, so the envelope shows the money as spoken for. It sits under All rather than in the inbox, because there is nothing to review yet.
3. Uncleared on the due date. On the day, it flips from pending to uncleared, like a check you have written but the bank has not processed.
4. Cleared by the import. When SimpleFIN, Plaid, or an OFX file brings in the real transaction for that account, within a few days of the due date and at the expected amount, it takes over the scheduled row: same envelope, same memo, now cleared with the bank's details attached. On a manual account, mark it cleared yourself when it posts.

Set the lead time to 0 if you would rather nothing enters the register until the due date itself.

Skipping, changing, and entering early #

Life does not always follow the rule. From the calendar, click any upcoming occurrence to:

• Skip it. That month's payment is not created, and the schedule carries on.
• Enter now. Put it in the register today, ahead of the lead time. Handy when you pay a bill early.
• Edit the schedule itself.

Editing a schedule only affects future occurrences. To change just one, override its amount, date, or memo, and the rest of the series stays as it was. Pausing a schedule keeps everything but stops it generating; resuming picks up from the next date, without back-filling the ones you paused through.

Why this matters for an envelope budget #

Envelope budgeting works when every dollar has a job before it is spent. Repeating transactions extend that a few days into the future: the rent shows as spoken for in the Housing envelope before the 1st, the paycheck shows on the calendar before it lands, and the card payment is a known transfer rather than a mystery withdrawal. The transaction calendar becomes a cash-flow view of the month ahead, not just a record of what already happened.

Repeating transactions are included in every plan. Open Transactions, pick Scheduled transactions from the menu, and set up the bills you already know are coming.