Planned Spending - Reoccurring Expense

idzyn2 · December 2023

Is it possible to add functionality for a planned spending expense that occurs every other month (i.e., $200 every two months)? Sure, I can budget $100 every month but then it will throw the numbers off and I have to manually correct the expense when it hits my account. Can there be a way to automatically account for this expense on a non-monthly occurrence?

ajbopp · December 2023

The functionaliity is already there. When you set up a recurring transaction, you can set the frequency to any of some pre-defined frequencies.

I personally would like a few more options - I have a planned spending item for haircuts that occurs every 6 weeks, and that's not supported. But every 2 months is supported for your purposes.

Coach Natalie · December 2023

@idzyn2, thanks for posting!

It looks like @ajbopp has got you covered on how to create Recurring Transactions with a less-than-monthly frequency, however, if you're looking for this ability for Planned Spending specifically, I'd suggest taking a look at these existing topics:

Annual Planned Spending or other options besides Monthly [edited] (2 Merged Votes)

chanceryder25

Oct 23, 2020

Hey so I just want to say that I LOVE the new "planned spending" feature. That did it for me and finally made Simplify something I can see myself using long-term for budgeting purposes. This was a much-needed and much-appreciated feature, so thank you!

One suggestion I have for that new feature is to include other options besides just "monthly" and "one-time." Things like veterinary expenses, car maintenance, etc. are things we need to plan for but which don't happen every month. And it would be annoying to have to re-create those planned expenses every year. We know they're going to happen every year so this would allow us to plan for them.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1891/planned-spending-add-one-time-expense-that-crosses-multiple-months

In the meantime, you can always move forward in the Spending Plan to the month that has the expense and create a Planned Spending expense for just that month. If you're looking to break down less frequent expenses to a monthly amount in the Spending Plan, you can use Savings Goals to accomplish this:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/3446/tiptuesday-using-savings-goals-to-break-down-annual-bi-annual-expenses-in-the-spending-plan

We also have another request regarding this ability available here:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1199/break-down-annual-bi-annual-expenses-to-a-monthly-amount-in-spending-plan-edited-6-merged-votes

Hopefully this covers what you're looking for!

-Coach Natalie

DannyB · December 2023

@idzyn2

Right now, the only way I can think of to add and account for an every-2-months Planned Spending expense category will be to go ahead and create a monthly Planned Spending Category for this particular expense then simply zero it out in the months you don't use these funds. You can zero out a Planned Spending category at any time in the month so in the months you don't spend those funds you can zero it out from the first of the month putting those funds back into the available pool for other uses. I know this isn't what you are asking for, but since you currently cannot set up a planned spending category for any other time horizon than monthly, this is a possible work around until such time that more time horizons become available for Planned Spending categories. I know that doesn't exactly give you what I think you are looking for, but it's the closest I can think of to giving you what I think you are asking for.

The following has nothing to do specifically with your question and is offered only as another user/customer of Q-Simplifi. I am not speaking with any representation of being official - this is my opinion only. If you want to read on go for it. If not, I have given my best shot at trying to give you a "workaround" for you original question.

I think one of the reasons Q-Simplifi can feel like it has "lots" of "shortcomings" is due to Q-Simplifi's unapologetic focus on the current month. As far as I can tell, Q-Simplifi has been very much a month-to-month financial management app from the beginning. This focus on planning your income and outflow for the current month is its unique strength and the source of much frustration of those looking for a more comprehensive, complex accounting app. Some longer-term features have been added along the way as Q-Simplifi grows and develops and based on a recent post another highly requested longer-term feature is currently in the works.

Nevertheless, the month-to-month nature of Q-Simplifi as presented in the Spending Plan is the reason I have become a faithful user and advocate for this app. I'm not in any way claiming that Q-Simplifi is without faults and shortcomings, but these are not enough to overcome the very powerful focus that Q-Simplifi brings to my personal financial management.

idzyn2 · December 2023

Not exactly the answer I was looking for. Mint had this functionality. Your linked articles did not provide an answer. Only others requesting the same functionality and your request to vote for the new feature request. I am looking for this functionality in Planned Spending, not Bills and Payments (create series).

ajbopp · December 2023

Simplifi is not Mint.

I'm struggling to think of a real-world scenario where this functionality would be useful. If you know an expense is going to regularly occur, it belongs in recurring expenses, not planned spending.

What is your specific use case?

idzyn2 · December 2023

Microsoft is not Apple. Thanks for the clarification though. You are entitled to your own opinion but while you may not find it useful, others may find it helpful and it is their preference how to manage their budget.

RobWilk · December 2023

No one's trying to turn Apple into Microsoft (Apple is more of a hardware company, Microsoft is software or maybe today more of a cloud services company).

Former Mint users seem interested in turning Simplifi into Mint without always having a good reason. I always remember Mint failed for a reason.

Very soon Mint will be gone for good (and within a year, almost no one will remember it existed), then it'll be a matter of choosing between the remaining services, and when one gets to know how to use whichever (if any) service one chooses, they will have to adapt to how these services work which will almost always be "different" than Mint. "different" doesn't mean better or worse, just not what they were used to.

Planned Spending - Reoccurring Expense

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