How do I set a per month Watchlist amount? (edited)

LaurieS

Some of my watchlist categories like Grocery or Dining have the same set Target amount for every month. But some Target amounts will change month to month depending on birthdays - for example this month my gift budget might be $100, but next month it might only need to be $50. Is there any way to arrow forward and back on months like there is with the spending plan and then pre-set the target for that month?

DannyB

Hi @LaurieS

I'm going to try responding to this as if you are asking about Planned Spending in the Spending Plan rather than using a Watchlist which is a separate section and has a different function in Q-Simplifi.

Watchlists serve more of a tracking and reporting function with the ability to track spending in various ways, category, payee, tag.

Planned Spending focuses on your actual monthly plan for your regular expenses that are not fixed recurring.

Using your gift budget, you can certainly initially set your monthly target amount and then on the top bar of the Spending Plan you will notice the month with forward and backward arrows to either side. You can easily scroll through next 12 months (rolling) and set a unique target amount for each month. You can change the target amount for each month by clicking on the 3 dot ellipsis in the Gift card select "Edit this month's expense" and make the change in the Amount field.

Q-Simplifi is currently rolling out a new rollover feature for Planned Spending that when it goes live for you will allow you to set up your Gift bucket as a roll over bucket. In this case, you can divide your annual planned gift spending by 12 and make that your monthly limit. In months you don't spend the full amount what is left will rollover to the following months and if you overspend in one month the deficit will roll forward until covered by future month underspending.

DannyB

I use Savings Goals for my non-monthly recurring expenses. I have one SG for recurring annual fixed expenses,one for annual (or non-monthly) flexible expenses. As you describe, the balance for each SG increases monthly being held in reserve for the time the expense comes due (fixed recurring) or funds are spent to cover an expense (flexible expenses) like buying a birthday gift or getting an oil change. Since you have already accounted for these expenses in your monthly contributions, these expenses need to be excluded from your Spending Plan and.the funds withdrawn from the SG. This withdraw will not be added to your current Spending Plan-this is all behind the scenes so to speak.

Since the rollover feature was added to my account this week, today I set up an Annual Flexible Expenses Planned Spending bucket that replaces my Flexible expense savings goal.

ajbopp

@LaurieS "What is the best way currently? Should this be a Savings Goal?"

Yes, a Savings Goal would be the best way to handle these sorts of expenses.

"...I exclude the oil change from April's Spending Plan but leave it in Reports so that it shows up when I review all my auto expenses?"

That is exactly how I manage that sort of irregular expense.

LaurieS

Thanks Danny. That helps and leads into my next question maybe you can answer…

I set aside money every month for annual expenses so that it's an even amount every month instead of a huge expense some months. Say a recurring $300 taken out of spending and put into a bucket - first month $300, next month it would total $600, the following month it totals $900 but then there's a $400 expense, so the balance is $500, etc etc.

It sounds like that Rollover feature you mentioned would be the right thing when it comes out. What is the best way currently? Should this be a Savings Goal?

LaurieS

Thanks Danny. I'm glad you mentioned when it's excluded or not. I ultimately want the future expense to end up in the right category for reporting purposes. But I want the money set aside this month so I don't spend it. Is this correct….

When I use money from Savings Goal I check the Exclude from Spending Plan but allow it under Reports.

Let's take oil changes. This month, March, I put $300 in the SG and it's in my Spending Plan/taken out of my available balance. April is $300 more = $600. Then in April I get an oil change for $60 and it goes in the category of Auto Service. I take $60 out of the SG so the balance is now $540 but I exclude the oil change from April's Spending Plan but leave it in Reports so that it shows up when I review all my auto expenses?

DannyB

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/32221#Comment_32221

Exactly.

I’m still waiting to see how it goes, but if you have Early Access turned on, the new Planned Spending rollover feature is or soon will be available for you. I have created a new Planned Spending rollover bucket to handle all my non-monthly planned expenses that I hope will replace using a Savings goal.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/8500/working-with-planned-spending-rollover-an-experiment