Recurring Transactions

What Are Recurring Transactions?

Recurring transactions automate the entry of regular, predictable transactions in your budget. Instead of manually entering the same transaction every week, month, or year, you set it up once and Purpose Budget creates the transactions automatically on schedule.

Two Ways to Handle Regular Transactions

Purpose Budget offers two complementary approaches for managing regular transactions:

Benefits of Recurring Transactions

• Save time: Enter transaction details once, not dozens of times
• Improve accuracy: Consistent transaction details every time
• Better forecasting: See upcoming transactions before they happen
• Stay on top of bills: Never forget a regular payment
• Reduce mental load: One less thing to remember each month

Recurring Transactions vs. Category Targets

These features work together but serve different purposes:

Creating Your First Recurring Transaction

Let's walk through setting up a recurring transaction for a monthly subscription.

Understanding Recurrence Patterns

Frequency Options

• Daily: Repeats every day (rarely used for most people)
• Weekly: Every 7 days - great for weekly expenses
• Bi-weekly (Every 2 weeks): Common for paychecks - results in 26 occurrences per year
• Monthly: Same date each month - most common for bills
• Yearly: Once per year - good for annual premiums and subscriptions

End Conditions

• Never: Continues indefinitely - use for ongoing subscriptions and regular income
• After X Occurrences: Stops after a specific number - useful for fixed-term subscriptions
• By Date: Stops after a specific date - good for temporary services

What to Make Recurring

Great Candidates ✅

• Regular paychecks (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)
• Rent or mortgage payments
• Subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, gym memberships, SaaS tools)
• Fixed bills (phone, internet, insurance premiums)
• Recurring donations or giving
• Regular transfers to savings

Poor Candidates ❌

• Variable amount transactions (restaurants, groceries that vary widely)
• Irregular or unpredictable expenses
• One-time or rare payments
• Transactions where the amount changes significantly each time

Scheduled Transactions

Scheduled transactions are future-dated entries that appear in your transaction list but don't affect your budget until their date arrives or you manually enter them. They give you visibility into upcoming expenses while keeping your current budget numbers accurate.

The Scheduled Section

Scheduled transactions appear in a blue collapsible section at the top of your transaction list, sorted by nearest date. This keeps them visible without cluttering your main transaction list. On the All Transactions page, a blue badge in the compact toolbar shows how many scheduled transactions are pending.

Entering Scheduled Transactions

When a scheduled transaction's date arrives, it's automatically materialized - meaning it becomes a regular transaction that affects your account balance and budget categories. You can also enter a scheduled transaction early by clicking the "Enter Now" button.

Repeating Transactions

Any transaction - scheduled or regular - can be set to repeat. When you set a repeat frequency (weekly, biweekly, monthly, yearly, or custom), the next occurrence is automatically generated after the current one is entered. Repeating transactions show a repeat icon on their row in the transaction list.

• Setting up repeats: Choose a repeat frequency when creating or editing a transaction
• Next occurrence: After entering a repeating transaction, the next one is auto-created at the appropriate future date
• Transfers: Repeating transfers generate both legs (from and to accounts) with cross-linked entries

For a deeper dive into scheduled transactions, including the blue collapsible section, compact toolbar badges, and transfer pair behavior, see the Scheduled Transactions guide.

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Setting Up Your Paycheck

Situation: You get paid $2,500 every other Friday via direct deposit

Scenario 2: Annual Insurance Premium

Situation: Car insurance is $1,440 per year, charged on January 15th

Managing Recurring Transactions

Editing Recurring Transactions

When you need to update a recurring transaction:

1. Go to Recurring Transactions list
2. Click the edit icon next to the transaction
3. Update any fields that need changing (amount, account, date, frequency)
4. Click "Update Recurring Transaction"
5. Verify the "Next Date" reflects your changes

Important: Editing the recurring template doesn't change past transactions, only future ones.

Pausing and Resuming

Temporarily stop a recurring transaction without deleting it:

• When to pause: Temporarily cancelled subscription, seasonal service, testing if you still need it
• How to pause: Find the transaction and click the Pause button/toggle
• While paused: No new transactions are created, but the template remains for easy resumption
• To resume: Click Resume, update the "Next Date" if needed, and it continues on schedule

Deleting Recurring Transactions

⚠️ Warning: Deleting is permanent and removes the recurring template.

• When to delete: Subscription cancelled permanently, service no longer used, duplicate created by mistake
• What happens: The recurring template is deleted, no more automatic transactions will be created
• What doesn't happen: Existing transactions in your accounts are NOT deleted - they remain in history

Pro Tip: Consider pausing instead of deleting if you're uncertain!

Best Practices

Setup Strategy

1. Start with income first: Set up your paycheck(s) - critical foundation for budgeting
2. Add big fixed bills: Rent/mortgage, insurance, loan payments - highest impact
3. Then add subscriptions: Streaming, gym, software - easy to forget small charges
4. Use consistent naming: Always "Netflix" not varying between "Netflix Inc." and "Netflix Subscription"
5. Add helpful notes: Include account numbers, policy numbers for reference

Maintenance

• Review monthly: Check that all recurring transactions created correctly
• Update amounts: When bills change, edit the recurring transaction
• Delete cancelled subscriptions: Keep your list clean and accurate
• Reconcile regularly: Compare auto-created transactions with actual bank charges