[Feature] Specify when months run from and to

[IAmParadox27]

Verified feature request does not already exist?

• I have searched and found no existing issue

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• Would you like to implement this feature?

Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve?

People get paid on different days of the month.

To help people better budget instead of forcing to budget strictly to the month, it would be better if people could budget for payday to payday.

Allow the user to specify when their months should run from and to.

Describe your ideal solution to this problem

I would recommend having a setting where the user can specify when they would like their month to start.

Options:

• Set day of the month (including 1st)
• Last working day of the month

A setting should exist to say what happens on weekends (bring forward)

The last day of the monthly cycle should either be the day before the next month is due to start and shouldn't have a setting to specify its rule OR a fixed duration of time after month start (eg for people that get paid weekly or every X weeks).

Teaching and learning

No response

[github-actions]

✨ Thanks for sharing your idea! ✨

This repository is now using lodash style issue management for enhancements. This means enhancement issues will now be closed instead of leaving them open. This doesn’t mean we don’t accept feature requests, though! We will consider implementing ones that receive many upvotes, and we welcome contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help you make a successful contribution).

The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+

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[jpdsc]

As someone who gets paid on the 24th, this feature is actually needed for me and probably others to start using this software.
I've tried and setting up the budget flow from 1st till last day of month but it will not match current finances and needs too much manual intervention to make it work.

+1 for this feature.

[gitchap]

I can see how this feature would make things LOOK tidier... but how does it actually change anything? How are you paying your bills before the 24th? I'm assuming you use funds from your last paycheck. (Unless all your bills are due between the 24th and the 1st of next month, in that case, just wait till the 24th to budget.)

I get that not everyone is in a position to budget this month's income as next month's budget.

I guess my point is that this is more of a "nice to have" feature, and not a "need." Most people don't get paid on the 1st of the month. Many people are paid weekly or bi-weekly. Most bills are monthly. In the end all that matters is do you have enough money to pay the bill when it is due.

I don't see how being able to pick the day of the month that the software splits the budget into changes anything other than aesthetics.

I'm curious what kind of "manual intervention" is needed to make the budget "work"? I'm not paid monthly, so maybe I don't get it.

[jpdsc]

I can see how this feature would make things LOOK tidier... but how does it actually change anything? How are you paying your bills before the 24th? I'm assuming you use funds from your last paycheck. (Unless all your bills are due between the 24th and the 1st of next month, in that case, just wait till the 24th to budget.)

I get that not everyone is in a position to budget this month's income as next month's budget.

I guess my point is that this is more of a "nice to have" feature, and not a "need." Most people don't get paid on the 1st of the month. Many people are paid weekly or bi-weekly. Most bills are monthly. In the end all that matters is do you have enough money to pay the bill when it is due.

I don't see how being able to pick the day of the month that the software splits the budget into changes anything other than aesthetics.

I'm curious what kind of "manual intervention" is needed to make the budget "work"? I'm not paid monthly, so maybe I don't get it.

I've been using Actual for a while now. After doing quite some research on "best way to budget" and you're right, you should budget for next month with the income of this month.
I re-arranged my finances, got some recurring transactions changed to be booked from the 1st onwards and kept anything between 24 and 1 as low as possible.

I feel, budgetting 1st till last day of the month is a lot easier than doing pay > pay (what is was doing previously). It's one time bridging the expenses from 24 till end of the month. But if you contact the recurring payment provider/company, often you can change the recurring date and set it to beginning of the month (if not enough funds to initiate this faster).