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Budgeting in Budget Bandit is two actions: assign dollars from Ready to Assign into categories, and move dollars between categories when plans change. Both happen on the Budget page, and both update instantly.

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Assign from Ready to Assign

Ready to Assign is the cash in your accounts that has not been given a job yet. You assign it by typing into a category’s Assigned cell.
1

Open the Budget page

The grid lists your category groups and categories with three columns: Assigned, Activity, and Available.
2

Click the Assigned cell for a category

Type the dollar amount you want this category to hold this month. Press Enter or click away to commit.
3

Watch Ready to Assign fall

Every dollar you assign comes out of Ready to Assign. Keep going until Ready to Assign reads $0 — that is a fully assigned month.
Assigning money never changes your account balances. You are deciding what the money you already have is for, not spending it.
If you would rather fill categories in bulk than type each one, see Auto-assign.

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Move money between categories

When one category runs short and another has extra, move the difference. You do not need to un-assign and re-assign — move money directly.
1

Click the Available amount on a category that has extra

A popover opens showing that category’s Available balance.
2

Pick the destination category

Choose where the money should go from the category list.
3

Enter the amount and choose Move Money

Both categories update at once: the source drops, the destination rises. Ready to Assign is untouched, because the money was already assigned.
Moving money is the everyday tool of a working budget. Overspent the grocery category by 30thismonth?Move30 this month? Move 30 in from a category that came in under. This is how you keep every category at zero or above without touching Ready to Assign.

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Why Ready to Assign matters

A zero-based budget is finished when Ready to Assign is $0 — not negative, not positive. A positive number means you have idle cash to put to work. A negative number means you assigned more than you have, and you need to pull some back out of a category. See Ready to Assign for the full concept.

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If something looks wrong

If a category shows a negative Available, it is overspent. See Cover overspending for the fix.

Cover overspending

What a red category means and how to bring it back to zero.

Auto-assign

Fill underfunded categories in one move.

Set a target

Tell a category how much it needs and by when.

Ready to Assign

The number that drives the whole budget.