What a budget in SpendWe does
Most budget apps show you what you spent. SpendWe starts from the other end: what is left to spend this month, and how much that leaves per day. Home shows that figure at the top, with a short status word so you can tell at a glance whether the month is going well.
You choose what to budget. Give a monthly amount to the main categories you want to watch, such as groceries or eating out, set one overall budget for the month, or both. SpendWe never invents a number for you: a new user starts with no budgets until they set one.
How to set a monthly budget
- Open the Monthly budget screen from Set a monthly budget on Home, or from Settings → Monthly budget.
- Set an overall budget if you want one limit for the whole month. Leave the field empty for no overall budget.
- Tap Add a category budget, search for a main category and enter its monthly amount. Spending in its subcategories counts toward it. You can also set a category's budget from Settings → Manage categories.
- Choose Carry over what is left on a category if you want its unused part to roll into the next month.
- Turn on Budget notifications in Settings to be alerted at 80% and at 100%.
A typed amount is saved when you finish it: on Done, when you leave the field, or when you close the screen.
Left to spend, status and alerts
With an overall budget, left to spend is the overall amount minus everything you spent this month. Spending in categories that have no budget is not silently folded in: Home shows it as its own caption: "… outside your budgets".
The status word follows simple rules. If you are over budget, it says so first. Otherwise it reads "Spending fast · N days left" when your pace, or the forecast for the month, goes past the budget, and "On track" when it does not. Insights uses the same budgets to estimate where the month could end.
Alerts arrive when a budget reaches 80% and again at 100%, for each category budget and for the overall budget. They are created on your phone, so they also work without an account. On Android, when you are signed in, an alert can also arrive as a push notification. On iPhone, budget alerts work as notifications created on the phone; notifications sent from SpendWe's server are not available on iPhone yet. The web app sends no notifications.
Carry-over, pay periods and couples
- Carry-over: with Carry over what is left on, the unused part of a category budget is added to the next month, counting back up to 12 months, and an overspend in earlier months is taken off. The budget line shows what was carried. Carry-over is free.
- Budget period: if you are paid every two weeks or twice a month, choose Every two weeks (with your payday) or Twice a month (1st and 16th) in Settings → Budget period. Budgets stay monthly amounts; Home's left to spend, per-day figure and progress follow the current pay period, prorated by its days. Insights and alerts stay monthly.
- Together: in a shared household, the overall budget is household data, so both of you see the same limit. Upcoming bills appear on the same Home screen.
What is free
Budgets and alerts are part of the free plan: category budgets, the overall budget, the 80% and 100% alerts, carry-over and the budget period. Charts for this month and last are free as well; a full chart history is planned for SpendWe Pro, which is not on sale yet (see pricing). Budgets work on the categories you already use, so rename or nest those first if you want budgets that match your life.
