Toggle to include/exclude upcoming bills from Planned Spending by Category?
I have recently begun to use the recurring bill feature and really like it. Is there a way to toggle on or off upcoming bills (month-to-go) from my planned spending by category in the planned spending screen? I would like to know how much true budget I have left to spend in the month for each category after you account for my upcoming bills.
Best Answer
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Hello @Swanson17,
Thanks for reaching out! Quicken Simplifi is designed not to double-count transactions in the Spending Plan. This means that once a transaction is linked to a Recurring Reminder, it will be included in the Income or Bills section of the Spending Plan and will not be counted towards a Planned Spend expense that uses the same Category.
If you do still wish for Quicken Simplifi to have this type of functionality, we do have an idea post you may vote for requesting the ability to have recurring transactions show up in the Spending Plan, though I will warn that this idea may not gain much traction with our Product Team.
I hope this information helps!
-Coach Jon
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Answers
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I may be misunderstanding your question, but …
In Spending Plan, upcoming recurring bills do not show up in the Expense series that your create under Planned Spend. Instead, they are listed under the Bills section.
And when the bill is actually paid and a Transaction is linked to the recurring series, that Transaction will also be listed in the Bills section. It will not be listed under Planned Spend, because that would be double counting.
So, when you create an Expense series in Planned Spend, do not include in the amount of the series any amounts that will be paid on a recurring series bill — even if that bill is for the same category.
DryHeat
-Quicken Classic (1990-2020), CountAbout (2021-2024), Simplifi (2025-…)0 -
I understand. Thanks for taking the time to answer…I had been thinking of my Planned spend as the total allowable spending amount for the month per category, and some of those transactions that fall into that budget would in fact count against it (why I have chosen to have my recurring bills to not be excluded from my spending plan).
But to your point I could sum up my total recurring bills per month and reduce down my planned spend amount for each category by that much. I think it could still look weird without those amounts in there i.e. my mortgage payment is a monthly recurring bill that makes up about 80% of my "housekeeping/utilities" category…that category will look very small without it, but I think the net benefit will be better if I can just change my frame of mind.
Thanks!
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Thanks for the explanation, @Coach Jon !!
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my mortgage payment is a monthly recurring bill that makes up about 80% of my "housekeeping/utilities" category…that category will look very small without it, but I think the net benefit will be better if I can just change my frame of mind.
It will look a little weird at first. But for me it helps to look at a Planned Spending amount as my best guess at what I will/should spend in a particular area over and above the more-or-less fixed payments in Bills.
For me, Planned Spending serves a sort of behavior modification function. It keeps me aware through the month of how responsible (or not) I am being with my spending in areas that I have some control over.
Although changing my behavior can slightly modify some of the expenses that show up in Bills, I can't really exert much control there. But broad areas like Shopping or Dining Out … those I can do something about.
DryHeat
-Quicken Classic (1990-2020), CountAbout (2021-2024), Simplifi (2025-…)1
