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Safe to Spend

What the number answers

Section titled “What the number answers”

Safe to Spend answers one question: how much can I spend right now without breaking something I have already committed to?

It is not your bank balance, and it is not what is left in your budget. It is what remains after Tovari has set aside the commitments falling between today and the end of your planning window.

Tovari works the number out and hands it to your screen. The apps display it; they never calculate it. That is why the dashboard, the breakdown and the mobile app always agree — there is one definition of the number, in one place.

What goes into it

Section titled “What goes into it”

Safe to Spend is built from four things:

  • The balances of the accounts you have included — your everyday spending accounts, as described in the next section.
  • The commitments still to come between today and the end of the window: scheduled bills and one-off items on those accounts that have not been recorded yet.
  • Income expected inside the window, so a paycheck landing on Friday counts toward what you can spend before it.
  • Your budget, which shapes the guidance shown alongside the figure.

Tovari does not double-count. A bill you have already entered — or one your bank has already taken and reported — is money that has already moved, so it is not set aside a second time.

Do not try to foot the number by hand. The pieces above are described so you can understand what moves it, not so you can reproduce it: which commitments fall inside your window, and which ones are already covered, is exactly the work Tovari is doing for you.

Which accounts count

Section titled “Which accounts count”
Account type Counts toward Safe to Spend?
Checking Yes, by default — you can turn it off
Savings No, by default — you can turn it on
Investment Never
Credit card Never
Loan Never

Only checking and savings accounts can ever be part of the pool. Investment accounts, credit cards and loans can never be included — that is by design, not a setting anyone can find. A credit line is money you would owe rather than money you have, and an investment balance is not money you can spend this afternoon. Counting either would make the number a comfortable lie.

New accounts follow the defaults above: create a checking account and it joins the pool immediately; create a savings account and it stays out until you say otherwise.

Closing an account takes it out of the pool. Archiving an old checking account changes the number without you having to remember to switch anything off first.

The two things you can change

Section titled “The two things you can change”

Neither of these invents money. One moves the horizon; the other moves the warning line.

  • Planning window — how far ahead the number looks, expressed as 1, 2 or 3 upcoming paychecks. Two is the default. A longer window sets aside more of what is coming, so the figure is smaller and steadier; a shorter one is more immediate and moves around more.
  • Cushion — the point at which Tovari starts warning you that things are getting tight. Automatic derives it from your own typical spending; Fixed amount lets you name a figure. The cushion changes the warning only, never the number.

If you have no scheduled income yet, there are no paychecks to count, so Tovari falls back to the end of the current month and tells you it has done so. Scheduling your pay as a recurring income item is what turns the window on.

Why the number moved

Section titled “Why the number moved”

Safe to Spend is a live figure, so it changes as your money does. The usual reasons:

  • a bill’s due date passed into or out of your window;
  • a paycheck arrived, or its next date moved;
  • you entered, edited or deleted a transaction on an included account;
  • your bank imported activity on an included account;
  • you included or excluded an account, or closed one;
  • you changed the planning window.

The breakdown is the place to look: it shows the figure account by account, so you can see which account is carrying the commitments.

Where you see it

Section titled “Where you see it”

The number leads the dashboard, under the heading Safe to Spend, with the end of your planning window shown beside it. Reports also carries a Safe to Spend tab.

The breakdown

Section titled “The breakdown”

Opening the breakdown shows, for each included account, its Balance, the Bills Due against it in the window, and what is Clear to Spend there — plus your typical spending, your budget envelopes, and the total. It is the fastest way to see why the headline is what it is.

Including or excluding an account

Section titled “Including or excluding an account”

The switch is Include in Safe to Spend, in the account editor. It appears only on checking and savings accounts — there is nothing to switch on the other three types, so no switch is drawn.

Changing the window and the cushion

Section titled “Changing the window and the cushion”
  1. Open Settings.
  2. Choose Safe to Spend.
  3. Pick 1, 2 or 3 paychecks for the planning window, and choose Automatic or Fixed amount for the cushion.

The section previews what your choice does before you commit it, and tells you if someone else in your household changed the same settings while you had the page open.

On a phone browser

Section titled “On a phone browser”

The number leads the dashboard here too, and tapping it opens the breakdown as a full-height sheet with the same per-account detail.

The Include in Safe to Spend switch is in the full-screen account editor, on checking and savings accounts, exactly as on the computer layout. The settings live on one stacked Settings screen rather than behind a side rail: scroll to the Safe to Spend card and the same window and cushion controls are there.
Section titled “Related pages”