> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.budgetbandit.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Ready to Assign

> The money waiting for a job. What raises it, what lowers it, and what to do when it is not zero.

Ready to Assign is the number at the top of your budget. It is the money that has
arrived in your accounts but does not yet have a job. The goal is to get it to \$0
by assigning every dollar to a category.

## What raises Ready to Assign

* **Adding an account balance.** Add a checking account with $2,400 and Ready to
  Assign goes up by $2,400.
* **Income.** Money you record or that syncs in as income raises Ready to Assign,
  because new income is new money that needs a job.
* **Taking money back out of a category.** Lower a category's assigned amount and
  that money returns to Ready to Assign, free to send somewhere else.

## What lowers Ready to Assign

* **Assigning money to a category.** This is the main one. Every dollar you assign
  leaves Ready to Assign and lands in a category.

## When Ready to Assign is zero

Zero is the target. It means every dollar you have is assigned to a job. Your
accounts are not empty — the money is sitting in categories, waiting to be spent on
the thing you chose.

## When Ready to Assign is positive

You still have money to assign. Keep going. Cover bills, fund spending categories,
then send the rest to savings, debt, or a sinking fund. Money left in Ready to
Assign is money without a plan.

## When Ready to Assign is negative

A negative Ready to Assign means you assigned more than you have. This usually
happens after you move money around or a transaction changes a balance.

Fix it by taking money back out of a category until Ready to Assign returns to zero
or above. Lower an assigned amount, or move money between categories. See
[Assign and move money](/budgeting/assign-and-move-money).

<Warning>
  A negative Ready to Assign is not the same as an overspent category. Ready to
  Assign negative means you over-assigned. A red category means you over-spent. See
  [Cover overspending](/budgeting/cover-overspending) for the second one.
</Warning>

## Ready to Assign versus a category's Available

Two different numbers, easy to confuse:

* **Ready to Assign** is money with no job yet, shown once at the top.
* **Available** is money already assigned to a specific category, shown on each
  category row. It is what you can spend on that category.

Moving money from Ready to Assign into a category raises that category's Available
and lowers Ready to Assign by the same amount. Nothing is created or destroyed —
you are routing it.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Assign and move money" icon="money-bill-transfer" href="/budgeting/assign-and-move-money">
    Hand money out, pull it back, and shift it between categories.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Irregular income" icon="wave-square" href="/budgeting/irregular-income">
    How to assign when your income is uneven month to month.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>