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Reserved categories

Some envelopes aren't meant to be spent this month. An emergency fund, a car-repair sinking fund, a holiday-gifts stash: money you deliberately set aside and let grow. Marking a category Reserved keeps that saved-up balance from inflating your Available to spend, so the total reflects money you can actually use right now.

What Reserved does​

A rollover category builds up a balance over time. Normally that balance, plus any leftover under-budget surplus, counts toward the budget's Available to spend. That's fine for a spending envelope, but for a savings envelope it makes set-aside money look spendable.

Reserved changes one thing: a reserved category's surplus stops counting toward your Available to spend total. The envelope's own row still shows exactly what's in it, so you can watch the fund grow, but that money no longer pads the headline number.

Overspending still counts. If a reserved category goes negative, it reduces your Available to spend by the full shortfall, the same as any other category. Reserved can hide savings from the total; it can't hide an overspend.

Turning it on​

Reserved is a per-budget setting on a category, so a category can be reserved in one budget and left normal in another.

  1. Open a category's settings from the budget screen.
  2. Turn on Rollover if it isn't already. Reserved only applies to rollover categories.
  3. Turn on Reserved, nested under Rollover.

Reserved is available for expense and transfer categories only. Income never rolls over, so it can't be reserved. If you turn Rollover back off, the category counts normally again.

What you'll see​

  • On the category row, a small lock icon sits next to the category's available value. The value itself is unchanged; the lock just marks the envelope as set aside.
  • In the Spend summary, a Reserved line appears in the running total as a deduction, so your Available to spend drops to the spendable figure and the math still balances.
  • On a parent category, the lock shows only when every child under it is reserved. A mix of reserved and normal children leaves the parent unlocked.
  • The Plan tab is unaffected. "Assign funds" is about allocating money, not spending it, so it still counts every envelope.

Toggling Reserved never moves or resets money. It's a display-and-math setting: turn it off and the surplus counts toward Available to spend again immediately.

When to reserve a category​

  • Emergency fund: a balance you want to grow and leave alone.
  • Sinking funds: saving toward a known future expense (car maintenance, annual insurance, holidays).
  • Long-term savings goals kept inside your budget rather than a separate account.

Keep everyday spending categories un-reserved, so that money shows up as available.

info

Reserved builds on rollover categories. If you're new to how balances carry between months, read Managing Envelopes first.