I was under the impression that any budgeting system required settled data because pending calculations change (e.g. restaurants that post tips only in settled data, gas stations that add ghost fees in pending transactions, hotels that post fees in pending transactions, or changing transactions ids in pending vs posted data).
For anyone out there who does successfully budget using pending data, how are you actually handling those mismatches and shifting numbers without your envelope balances becoming total fiction for a few days? Is anyone actually doing this reliably, or is settled data the only true ground truth?
I like pending just so I am aware of a charge so it’s really a non issue in the grand scheme of things. Final numbers haven’t changed with any of my transactions since so far none are fuel or tipped or of the nature you are asking about. But this is an interesting question and I look forward to others feedback.
I love pending transactions. Most Canadian Gas stations authorize to, say, $100 but they charge only what you pumped the authorization goes away instantly - so not at problem. The only issue is many companies will do a pending charge of an amount up to your charge, and then charge it again when they ship. The “test” authorization drops eventually. This does affect the Transactions sheet, but I usually just delete the auth that is going to disappear, or put it in a category I made just to store this type. Any issues are worth solving as finally I can have an almost realtime financial picture. Also, Canadian restaurants generally just charge your meal and tip in one single charge and don’t add the tip later.
Thank you for responding @jemmoa7 . From What you described it seems like a lot of work (manual intervention) to have real time data. Glad it works for you. If you go by the banking system you describe perhaps it’s worth it to have pending transactions. I wonder how many Canadians use Tiller and want to have their data be real time and do what you do as well to budget. Believe me I’m not suggesting that you are an edge case based on response from the original post >>> Pending transactions <<< on the matter, just was wondering how people reconcile what seems to be a shifting budget picture and you graciously answered that. Thanks. 
