🌊 How your money moves
This is the most important page in the whole help center. If you understand this, you understand Sobres. Let's follow your money from the moment it comes in until it's spent.
On this page
The master diagram
Your money always follows the same path. Read it top to bottom: it comes in, waits for a job, you assign it to an envelope and it gets spent from there.
Money never appears out of nowhere inside an envelope. It always comes from "Unassigned" (or you move it from another envelope). That's why the app makes you assign before you spend: so you don't spend money that actually already had another purpose.
The story of the $10,000
Let's follow a full month, step by step, with real numbers.
You record $10,000 of income in your Checking account. It shows up in "Unassigned", waiting for a job.
You go to the Budget tab and split it:
Everything has a job! "Unassigned" = $0.
You go to the grocery store and pay $800 with your debit card. The Groceries envelope goes down:
You didn't spend all of Groceries. $2,200 is left. Next month that envelope starts at $2,200, not at zero. The money isn't lost: it accumulates.
You book a $1,500 flight with your credit card, from the Vacation envelope. Two things happen at once:
The money left Vacation and was set aside in your card's envelope. When the statement arrives, you already have the $1,500 set aside to pay it, no surprises.
Your credit card is no longer a source of surprise debt. Every purchase you make with it already comes with its money set aside to pay it. See the full guide on Credit cards.
The 3 rules that explain everything
Assign your money until "Unassigned" is $0. Money without a job is money you'll spend without noticing.
If an envelope has no funds, you can't spend from it without taking money from another one. When that happens, you move money from an envelope that has some to the one that came up short.
Each envelope's available amount accumulates month to month (this is called carryover). It's what makes it possible to save little by little for big things.
The terms, translated
There are only four words you need to master. Here they are, with their formula:
- Unassigned — money you already have but haven't split up yet. Goal: $0.
- Assigned — how much you put into an envelope this month.
- Activity — what came in or went out of the envelope through transactions this month (spending is negative, a refund is positive).
- Available — what's really left in the envelope right now:
Available = Assigned + Activity + what was left last month
Two ways to fill an envelope
This is where a lot of people get confused. There are two ways for money to get into an envelope:
You'll almost always use this one: income lands in "Unassigned" and you decide where it goes.
Sometimes you get a refund (you get $200 back from Groceries). You can record that income straight into the "Groceries" category: its available goes up without going through "Unassigned". Handy for refunds and returns.
What if…?
What if I spend more than what's in an envelope?
That envelope's available amount turns red (negative). Nothing serious happens: it just means you owe that envelope money. To fix it, move money from another envelope that has some, or assign more to it next month. See Budget.
What if I don't assign everything and leave money «Unassigned»?
Nothing breaks: that money simply stays available to assign whenever you want. But while it has no job, it's money you can spend without a plan. Our recommendation is to assign all of it.
What if my money is in an investment account?
Investment accounts can be marked as «off budget». Their money doesn't count as "Unassigned" and isn't split into envelopes, because it isn't money for everyday spending. See Accounts.
What if I want to save for something big?
Create an envelope for that goal and assign a little to it every month. Since the available amount accumulates, the envelope will keep growing. The app can even calculate how much to put in each month: see Savings goals.