How am I tracking this month

John Dressel

I'm a former Mint user and used the spending to date graph to quickly see how I'm tracking that month. I'm trying to transition to get this status from Spending Plan but I need to drill into each area to get a sense for how I'm doing.

• Some bills go up and down each month (utilities) and the spending plan doesn't track what you thought you'd spend vs what you actually spent; it assumes bills are bills and you have to pay them so you start with 'income after bills & savings'; should I include only fixed expenses under 'bills'? Maybe I've answered my own question.
• Planned spending - these are estimates and I would love to have a better indicator than the red exclamation point when I exceed plan in one category. This basic on/off switch doesn't give me a good indication of how I stand collectively. Maybe the total could show actual vs planned rather than just total planned. If I over spend in one category on day 2 of the month, then no matter how I do in other categories, I have the exclamation point for the entire month. Could the exclamation point be changed to something that shows red/yellow/green?
• The donut graph in the left pane showing planned, other, and available, doesn't do anything for me. Yes, available tells me I'm under budget but a different graph that shows planned vs actual in the aggregate would be more meaningful.

ajbopp

Point 1: I have a weekly visit with friends at a coffee shop, but my bill is always different. I have discovered that $12 a week is a pretty reasonable value, so that's what I have in the Spending Plan. Usually Q-Simplifi recognizes this transaction for what it is and makes the adjustment for that transaction accordingly.

Point 2: This use case is an excellent way to use Watchlists. You get a nice bar graph that shows actual vs target spending and how close you are getting to your limit.

Point 3: I'd suggest turning this into an Idea post.

UrsulaA

For item 3, there is an existing idea post. Vote for it below.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/2087/spending-plan-show-totals-for-paid-spent-vs-upcoming-left-with-a-progress-bar-edited