Using the Spending Plan on the Mobile App | Quicken Simplifi Help Center

Overview

The Spending Plan feature helps you organize your monthly income and expenses and track any additional spending throughout the month. If you'd like a clearer view of where your money is going, this article shows you how to use the Spending Plan to track your spending and stay on budget.

Things to note:

Deleting a recurring item from the Spending Plan will remove it entirely from Quicken Simplifi.
Your Spending Plan starts in the same month that you started your Quicken Simplifi subscription and is not retroactive.
- For more information on how Quicken Simplifi handles Planned Spend versus Recurring expenses, learn more here.
The Spending Plan uses actual transactions you’ve received or expect to receive for the current month, meaning it does not consider existing account balances.
The Spending Plan avoids double-counting. For example, if a transaction is linked to a Recurring Reminder, it’s counted under Bills and Income—not as a Planned Spend expense in the same category. Learn more here!

How to Access the Spending Plan

Tap the Menu (three-line icon).
Select Spending Plan.

Income

View all sources of income set as Recurring Income—such as paychecks—along with any additional deposits added throughout the month. This is calculated from your recurring income transaction series.

Note: Non-recurring income will be excluded from the Spending Plan by default. See the FAQ section at the bottom of the article for steps on including it.

To set a custom income amount, follow these steps:

Locate the Income section of your Spending Plan and tap it.
Tap Options at the top right of the screen.
Tap Set custom amount.
Adjust the amount.
Tap Update at the bottom.

For more information on how to manage your recurring transactions, click here!

Bills

View the total of all your recurring bills—such as your mortgage, rent, or utilities—and subscriptions, like memberships and streaming services, for the current month.

Note: Credit card payments and transfers will be excluded from the Spending Plan by default. See the FAQ section at the bottom of the article for steps on including them.

You can adjust the amount for your Bills section by:

Locate the Bills section of your Spending Plan and tap it.
Tap Options at the top right of the screen.
Tap Set custom amount.
Adjust the amount.
Tap Update at the bottom.

For more information on how to manage your recurring transactions, click here!

Planned Spend

With the Planned Spend section, you can budget for your fluctuating month-to-month expenses, such as gas and groceries, or for one-time expenses that you are planning for that month, such as birthdays.

Note: If you're already tracking the parent category in the Planned Spend, you can't track any of its subcategories separately. This helps prevent the same spending from being counted twice.

Planned Spend includes a rollover feature that lets you start each month with the previous month's balance. See Using Rollover in Planned Spend on the Mobile App to learn more.

To add a planned expense, follow these instructions:

Locate the Planned Spend section of your Spending Plan and tap it.
Tap the plus sign (+) at the upper-right corner.
Choose whether it's recurring or one-time only.
Enter the expense details:
- Expense name.
- Category (parent or subcategory).
- Target amount.
- Roll over funds (if applicable).
Tap Create at the bottom.

Other Spend

All other spend not tracked as Bills or Planned Spend will appear in Other Spend. See where the rest of your money goes each month.

When you tap this section, Quicken Simplifi will show a graphic display of what you've spent so far that month, shown as a group of colorful Category bubbles. You can tap the bubbles to view all transactions for that Category.

Note: The Other Spend bubbles show only your top spending areas for the month; you can find additional items under the "Other" bubble.

Savings Goals

This section displays any Savings Goals that you're including in your Spending Plan.

For more information on Savings Goals, click here!

To set a custom savings amount, follow these instructions:

Locate the Savings Goals section of your Spending Plan and tap it.
Tap the Options in the upper right.
Select Set custom amount.

Left this month

Shows how much you have left to spend after subtracting your planned spend, bills, and other expenses.

The pie chart provides a visual breakdown of your available funds for the month. The green portion represents the amount you still have available to spend, and the amount below the chart shows your average daily spending allowance based on the remaining funds and days left in the month.

Projecting into the Future

With Quicken Simplifi, you can plan your spending up to 12 months ahead. It displays your Recurring Income, Bills, Subscriptions, Transfers, Savings Goals, and Planned Spend, making it easy to add items as needed.

To set a custom amount for Projected to Spend, follow these steps:

Locate the month navigation section at the top.
Use the right arrow to move to future months.
Locate the Projected Spend section and tap it.
Tap on the Change button.
Select one of the following options:
- Use a custom amount.
- Use my average spending.
Tap Set amount to finish.

If you select the average, you can specify how many months back to include (up to 12) and set a buffer for added flexibility.

Note: New users should use Quicken Simplifi for a few months to generate accurate future projections.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to frequently asked questions on this topic!

Can I include Non-recurring income in the Spending Plan?

Non-recurring income will be excluded from the Spending Plan by default. To include it, follow these steps:

Navigate to the Income section of the Spending Plan.
Tap Options at the top.
Select Automatically include each month.

Can I include credit card payments and transfers in the Spending Plan?

Credit card payments and transfers will be excluded from the Spending Plan by default. Whether it is a one-time transaction or a recurring one, please follow the steps here.

Why am I not seeing a transaction in Planned Spend?

If you're missing a transaction in Planned Spend, check the Bills or Income sections. Since Quicken Simplifi is designed to not double-count transactions in the Spending Plan, once a transaction is linked to a Recurring Reminder, it will not be counted towards a Planned Spend expense of the same category.

How do I exclude transactions from the Spending Plan?

Excluding transactions from the Spending Plan is super easy! Quicken Simplifi also automatically excludes 'Transfers', so you have less work. Find out more here!

Why are some of my Recurring Transactions grayed out?

If you see Recurring Bill, Subscription, Transfer, or Income transactions that are grayed out in the Spending Plan, this means that they are being "excluded" from the Spending Plan.

How do I exclude an account from the Spending Plan?

You can exclude an entire account from the Spending Plan, which will exclude all of the transactions that reside in that account. More details are available here!

Why do I see excluded transactions in the Spending Plan?

While excluded transactions are not included in the calculations, they will still appear in the Transaction Activity of the Spending Plan. Quicken Simplifi will show which ones are excluded by graying them out and adding the Excluded icon (a grey eyeball with a line through it) to the left of the amount. That way, you can easily choose whether to include the specific transaction.

What does "Including ignored" mean?

When viewing your Bills and Subscriptions in Quicken Simplifi, you may see an "including ignored" total. This means that you have Recurring items that are being excluded from the Spending Plan, such as a Recurring Credit Card Bill. You'll still see these items in the Spending Plan, but they'll be grayed out, and you'll see an "including ignored" total that includes all the excluded items.

How are Credit Card Payments and Transfers handled in the Spending Plan?

Since Credit Card Payments and Transfers aren't considered an income or an expense and are instead a transfer of money from one account to another, Quicken Simplifi automatically excludes them from the Spending Plan. However, you can include your Credit Card Payments and Transfers in the Spending Plan by following the steps here!

How does the Spending Plan handle Savings Goal contributions and withdrawals?

When you elect to include a Savings Goal in the Spending Plan, the 'monthly contribution' amount will automatically be used. However, if you contribute more, the extra amount will also be included. When you withdraw from a Savings Goal to spend for the Goal, it won't affect the Spending Plan, since you've already saved this money for the Goal. Withdrawing for another purpose, however, will remove the funds that have been withdrawn up to the standard 'monthly contribution' amount. See more details here!

How do I handle 'past' scheduled payments in the Spending Plan?

When this occurs, it means that you have at least one Recurring Reminder that was not linked to a transaction during that month; we categorize these as "outstanding items". To resolve outstanding items, see the support article available here.

How do I release unused Planned Spend funds?

Releasing unused funds means you had leftover funds in at least one Planned Spend expense for that month. For a step-by-step guide on releasing funds, learn more here.

Can I edit recurring and non-recurring transactions in the Spending Plan?

Yes, you can do this by:

Locate the Income or Bills section (as applicable)
Tap on the reminder you want to edit.
Tap Edit Transaction.

If you're looking for steps specific to the web app, please see our article Understanding Your Spending Plan.

If you have any questions or need help using the Spending Plan in Quicken Simplifi, reach out to our support team. Or start a live chat by tapping on the blue messenger icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.