Update budget of previous months
Hi, when I update a budget, it does not apply to all months, right now it applies to some months, the ones from before I started using the app, but not the one after, it’s a bit arbitrary.
For example I signed up in September and setup budgets, categories and groups. Now in October I create a new version for it, new groups, new categories, updated categories, etc. I see it gets applied to October but not rightfully on previous months:
On September (when I signed up), old groups that were deleted are still here, budget amounts are from the previous version, categories are placed in groups from the previous version, but new categories and groups show with the right budget.
Then on August and any month before, the new groups are there and correctly assigned categories and budgets, old groups are gone, but if there are no transaction from a category it shows as if the budget is not set with a “set budget button” that says it’s read only. And budget balances on those categories are not reflected on the “budget breakdown” pie chart.
On previous months if you show spendings also it doesn’t show spendings on categories with rollovers.
I don’t understand the logic, it seems inconsistent. I’m asking for an easier way to apply changes to all months, on categories, groups, and budgets.
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Comments4
team@waypointbudget
Oct 11
Hey @LatitudeBusily250,
Thanks for writing this up clearly.
Here’s how past months work. Each month keeps a copy of your budget as it was when that month ended, so editing your budget later doesn’t rewrite your history. Months from before you joined have no copy, so they use your current budget, but only for categories with spending that month. That’s why a category with no spending in August reads “Not budgeted” there.
September was the confusing one, and part of that was a bug on our side. It kept your setup from your first few days, but it was also adding your new categories on top wherever September had spending, so your old budgets and the new ones that replaced them were both counted. That’s fixed: September now shows the budget you had back then, and spending you moved into newer categories shows there without a budget, since those categories didn’t exist yet.
If you’d rather September match your current budget like the months before it, just reply here and I’ll switch it over for you.
You also found two more bugs, both fixed:
• Show spending now counts rollover categories in past months. Months from before you turned rollover on were showing $0 spent (Travel in August, for example).
• Past months no longer show a “Set a budget” button that could only tell you the month is read-only.
Going forward, budget changes apply from the current month on, and past months stay as they were. That’s on purpose so your history stays accurate.
LatitudeBusily250
Oct 11
Hi, thank you for the explanation and great to hear so many things are fixed! Thanks for keeping improving this app:)
“Months from before you joined have no copy, so they use your current budget, but only for categories with spending that month.”
Why not have it show all categories? I found it confusing going through previous months and seeing the budgeted value keep changing while it’s supposed to be mostly fixed.
On the September budget, the reason I wanted to apply current budget is because I’m still working on the categories and budgets, I signed up towards the end of September so by the time the month ended I wasn’t done (and I’m still tweaking it). So please yes apply changes to September, but also for my future changes I would like an option to apply on previous months. The same way editing a budget has an option to apply “current month only” or “current month and forward”, it could have to apply on “current, future and past months”. If categories or groups are deleted, that’s where the archive vs delete comes to play: Archive deletes from current month going forward but keeps from previous, Delete removes as if it never existed.
Maybe I see budgeting differently and other people might prefer having it “frozen it time” without way to update it 😅 What do you think?
team@waypointbudget
Oct 11
Hey @LatitudeBusily250,
September now follows your current budget, same as the months before it. Have a look and tell me if anything reads wrong :).
On months from before you joined: those months only budget the categories you spent in. Otherwise a budget you added in October would show as money left over in every earlier month, and Reports would call months you were never tracking “under budget.” That’s why the total moves a little from month to month. It’s only what the app can vouch for and keeps reports clean.
On applying changes backwards: budget edits stay current month and forward. A past month keeps what you planned at the time, so its over or under reading never changes after it ends, and rollover balances stay right. Deleting a category already works the way you describe archiving, since it leaves past months alone.
Hope this makes sense, for now I’ll leave past months edit free but maybe something we could revisit if I keep getting more asks for it if this issue comes up!
Cheers,
Jamal
LatitudeBusily250
Oct 11
I see thank you for the explanation! It makes sense why you remove categories without spend then. And yeah once my budget is ready I also agree adjusting it in the past is unlikely. Thank you now my September budget is good:)