Zero-based budgeting
Give every dollar a job. Categories, income, copy-from-last-month, and a live remaining amount as you spend.
1 min read
The Problem
A spending limit on groceries is not a budget if leftover income has no job. We wanted the YNAB-style method without paying $15/month for it.
What it is
Copia is zero-based. Expected income sits at the top of the sheet. You assign it to expense, savings, and debt categories until leftover hits zero (or you see that you over-assigned).
As transactions post, each subcategory shows budgeted, actual, remaining, and a progress bar. Hide a category you are not using this month without deleting it. Copy last month's amounts into a new sheet. The Copia Assistant can also draft a sheet from your history if you want a starting point.
Why it matters
This is the method we use in our own accounts. The rest of Copia (rules, receipts, goals, insights) exists to keep this sheet honest.