Instrument · Safe to spend
What's safe to spend today?
Four numbers in, one number out. The same arithmetic Tally runs every morning, with this week's bills set aside first.
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Safe to spend today
$56
That is $1,690 — what is left once your savings and this week's bills are set aside — spread over 30 days, counting today.
The arithmetic
What is left this month, minus what you set aside and the bills due in the next seven days, divided by the days left, counting today. Never below zero.
- The month$2,400.00 left − $300.00 set aside = $2,100.00
- Bills first$2,100.00 − $410.00 in bills due in the next 7 days = $1,690.00 to live on
- Today's number$1,690.00 ÷ 30 days left (today included) = $56.33 safe to spend today
Get this number every morning.
Tally does this arithmetic from your own accounts: your plan, your purchases as they come in, and the bills it has found repeating. The number is waiting on the first screen when you open the app, in a widget if you add one, and in a daily brief at the hour you choose if you turn it on.
Get this number every morningFree to download. Tally Pro starts with a 7-day free trial. For iPhone.
Said plainly
This page is a simplification.
- Only this week's bills come off the top. Tally sets aside the bills due in the next seven days that still fall in this month; a bill further out comes off when its week arrives. To hold back every bill left this month, enter them all here. The number can only go down.
- Savings come off first. In the app, what you save never enters your plan, so the plan is already what you mean to spend. Here you start from what you have, so the savings come off before anything else.
- It is worked out again with every purchase. Spend something and the number is divided again from what is left. Spend nothing and, unless a bill comes due, tomorrow's is a little higher: the same money over one day fewer.
- Nothing you type here leaves this page. There is no account, and nothing you enter is stored.
Questions
Why only the next seven days of bills?
Because that is how Tally's daily number works. The week's bills come off the top, and a bill further out is still inside the month's plan, so it is spread over the days until its week arrives. If you would rather reserve every bill left this month, enter them all: the number can only go down.
What counts as a bill?
Anything with a date and an amount that leaves whether you think about it or not: rent, a phone plan, a subscription that renews, a card payment you have committed to. In the app, these are the repeating charges Tally has found in your accounts or that you added yourself. Charges Tally does not count as spending, such as a loan payment, are not set aside.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic: what you have, minus what is committed, divided by the days it has to last. It cannot see a bill you leave out, and it knows nothing else about your situation.
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