The short version
- Open Settings → Budget Features in the budget you want to customize. Optional does not always mean off by default.
- Automatic cash coverage and credit-card payment reserves start on. You can turn either off for more manual control.
- Group budgeting and nested envelopes start off. Enable the structure you need when your account has access.
- Some switches change calculations, not just the screen. Review Ready to Budget, envelope balances, and payment shortfalls after changing a rule.
Choose your level of help
- Open the budget you want to change, then go to Settings → Budget Features.
- Read the note beside the feature. It explains its effect and any access requirement.
- Turn the switch on or off. Change one rule at a time so you can see what changed.
- Return to Budget and review the current month and any later months you have funded.
Defaults below describe a budget without a saved preference. Your existing choices can be different. A feature switch does not purchase access or cancel a subscription; use Profile for billing.
Debt priority: automatically reserve credit card payments
Setting: Automatically reserve credit card payments. Default: on.
ReadyCents gives posted card spending a payment job: cash already backing the purchase is reserved for the card, and available Ready to Budget money can cover a shortage. This helps keep money for a card bill from looking like spare cash you can assign elsewhere.
On: eligible card purchases can use positive Ready to Budget to fill the payment reserve. It cannot create cash. If there is not enough, a payment shortfall still needs your attention.
Off: ReadyCents stops automatically topping up card purchases from Ready to Budget. Money already backing a funded purchase still follows that purchase to the payment reserve. Cover unfunded spending or payment shortages yourself.
This is not a promise to pay off all old debt, an automatic bank payment, or a choice of which loan to repay first. Debt Method and the payoff simulator are separate planning tools. The switch works with manually tracked and connected accounts.
Example: a $100 card purchase
Fictional example: you have $1,000 in checking, no other commitments, and have assigned $40 to Groceries. Ready to Budget is $960. You record a posted $100 grocery purchase on a card.
- Automatic reserves on: the $40 already assigned plus $60 from Ready to Budget reserve $100 for payment. Ready to Budget becomes $900.
- Automatic reserves off: the $40 already backing groceries is reserved. Ready to Budget remains $960, but $60 of card spending is uncovered.
Checking still has $1,000 in both cases until you actually pay the card. A higher Ready to Budget number in manual mode does not mean the card bill is fully covered. Read Credit Cards & Payments.
Automatically cover cash and debit spending
Default: on. When eligible cash or debit spending needs funding, ReadyCents uses available Ready to Budget money to cover it. Assigned rises, spending remains in Activity, and the same expense is counted once.
Off: you choose how to cover the shortage manually. This is independent of the card-reserve switch. Turning either rule off does not undo the purchase or put money back in your bank account.
For example, a $25 debit purchase from an empty envelope can use $25 of positive Ready to Budget when automatic coverage is on. If there is not enough money, inspect the remaining shortage instead of assuming it has disappeared.
Budget by envelope group
Default: off. Requires envelope-structure access. Enable Budget by envelope group in Budget Features, then use the Group budget switch on an eligible group in Budget. You choose which groups share funding; enabling the feature does not turn every group into one pool.
For example, assign $600 once to Everyday spending. Groceries, Dining out, and Household purchases use that shared pool while their transactions still identify the individual envelope. You do not also assign another $600 to each child.
Off: the Budget view returns to individual-envelope budgeting. Review group-held money and child balances when switching an existing funded group back. Do not assume one shared amount has been distributed into the child envelopes for you. Debt Payments is not a shared-funding group.
Nested envelopes, also called sub-envelopes
Setting: Nested envelopes. Default: off. Requires envelope-structure access. Turn this on for smaller budgetable parts inside a parent envelope.
For example, a Travel parent can contain Flights, Hotel, and Spending money. Each nested envelope has its own Assigned, Activity, Available, and goal amounts. The parent helps organize the parts; it is not extra money on top of them.
Off: nested budgeting controls are hidden. Turning the preference off is not a delete or a way to move child money into the parent. Review existing allocations before simplifying your structure. Losing access must not be treated as permission to discard your transaction history.
A sub-envelope organizes a job for money. A subaccount organizes part of an account balance. A container is a progress view over selected envelopes. They are different tools.
Month boundaries and transfers
- Carry overspending into next month (off by default): off resets the negative envelope at rollover, with cash overspending reducing next month's Ready to Budget. On keeps the negative envelope visible until you cover it. Neither choice erases an expense or debt.
- Count transfers to tracking accounts as spending (off by default): on lets an envelope-tagged outflow to a tracking account count as spending from that envelope. Off leaves it outside envelope spending. Transfers between your own accounts do not become new income.
- Start envelope budgeting (blank by default): choose the first month imported history should participate in envelope calculations. Earlier imported transactions remain in account history and reports, but do not create earlier envelope activity or rollover. Real account balances still matter. Use Use all imported history to clear the date.
Choose what gets filled in for you
- Envelope autofill (on by default): applies a payee's saved automatic envelope when you choose that payee. Off lets you choose the envelope manually.
- Automatic envelopes for imports (off by default): uses explicit saved payee rules for file and connected-bank imports. It needs Envelope autofill on; turning the master off pauses it without clearing the saved import preference. File suggestions stay editable in preview. This preference follows the budget across devices.
- Tag autofill (on by default): prefills a payee's configured tags without replacing tags you chose by hand. Off stops this prefill.
- Show envelope balances (off by default): shows affected Available balances after saving a transaction. Off hides the notification, not the transaction or its budget effect.
Autofill chooses labels, not how much money to assign. It does not learn new payee rules from your spending. See the import guide for preview and approval steps.
Keep only the tools you use
- Show calendar view (on by default): shows the Calendar tab. Off hides that view; it is not a command to cancel existing recurring transactions.
- Show tax features (on when access allows): shows tax controls, classification, and the Taxes tab. Off hides those tools. Manage Tax Toolkit access in Profile, not with this visibility switch.
- Receipt capture (off by default): enables receipt attachments when your plan allows it. Off stops showing capture controls; it is not a receipt-deletion command.
Some choices live elsewhere: More activity types is per account; protected savings and snoozed goals are per envelope; alerts and appearance and sign-in options have their own settings.
Newer loan tools are explained in Insights, Debt & Business Tools, including optional payment-envelope connections and the difference between a saved goal and an actual payment.
