Hi @ MikeAndClaire
There’s a lot to unpack here, and I’m not entirely sure I follow what you’re trying to do, so I apologize if I’ve got it all wrong. Savings Budget is the budget tool I’ve used since I joined Tiller.
Are you trying to track funds to meet a savings goal in the traditional sense of saving in a savings or investment account, trying to re-allocate the $1250 you have left in your envelopes, or both? If it’s big-item savings (vacation, home improvement, etc), the Tiller Savings Goal Tracker is an add-on sheet that may be useful. Introducing the Tiller Savings Goal Tracker
The Savings Budget compares the monthly budget you’ve set for each category against your actual spending in those categories, and keeps a running tally of the unspent (“available”) funds in each category. If you’re starting April with an extra $1250 from your savings envelopes, you can add it as a lump sum to one of your expense categories, using Adjust ± Modifies, as you did in your last screenshot, or divide the total between multiple categories. At the end of each month, any unspent funds (savings) are “rolled over” into the same category for the following month. For example, you start April with a monthly budget of $200 for Restaurants. If, at the end of the month, your restaurant spending totaled $150, the “saved” $50 will roll over and be available as additional restaurant funds in May. If you have “Adjust ± Modifies” set to Savings, the $50 saved from your restaurant budget in April will be in the Savings column, Budget will remain $200, and Actual will be $250. I have a mad money/slush fund category named “Rainy Day” with a budget of zero that I use for any unplanned money I receive—money sent from Grandma for my birthday, for example. If I go over my budget for Clothes, I use Adjust ± Modifies to move part or all of my Rainy Day funds to my Clothes budget. Likewise, if you find a budget category ballooning with available funds, you can reallocate some of it to a different category.
If you haven’t seen it yet, this resource document was very helpful to me when I began using Savings Budget. Docs: Savings Budget sheet
There’s a bit of a learning curve for Savings Budget, but it’s an amazing tool once you get accustomed to using it.
Hang in there, and don’t be shy about asking questions. This community is very generous with sharing advice and experiences.
~Rebecca