Create a budget
Budgeting in Quicken Classic for Mac helps you decide where your money should go. It also lets you track your spending and make changes as your financial situation evolves. Your budget serves as a month-by-month roadmap that reflects your goals, tracks your habits, and helps you make smarter decisions.
Why create a budget?
Use budgeting to:
Set monthly spending goals for each category
Identify overspending early
Plan for irregular or seasonal expenses
Track progress toward savings or debt-reduction goals
Compare actual activity to what you planned
You don’t need to create a budget to use Quicken, but doing so gives you a clearer picture of your financial priorities and habits.
Get started
If this is your first budget:
Click the Budgets tab in the feature bar.
You’ll see a Getting Started screen that introduces budgeting features.
Use the arrows to scroll through the preview. When ready, click Start Budgeting.
How your budget is built
Quicken scans your transactions from the past 12 months to automatically create a starting budget. If a category hasn’t been used in the past year, it won’t be included by default, but you can add it manually later:
Categories used in the last year are included by default.
Your past income and expense totals become the default monthly values.
Older transactions are ignored.
Examples
If you spent $75 every month on Phone Bill, Quicken sets $75/month as the budgeted amount.
If Shopping varied month-to-month, your budget reflects the actual amount spent in each month last year.
Note: Budget creation may take longer if your file has many accounts or a long history.
Review and refine your budget
You can adjust any budgeted amount directly from the Budgets view. Click the amount you want to change, enter a new value, and press Return.
Refine your starting budget
Your default budget is only a starting point. Spend time editing it to match your goals and situation.
Tips for refining your budget
Remove categories that no longer apply.
Raise or lower amounts based on future expectations.
Simplify by budgeting only top-level categories.
Add budget lines for upcoming events (wedding, vacation, moving).
Adjust seasonal items that don’t repeat exactly each year.
Set monthly goals that reduce over time (e.g., for cutting expenses).
Think of the auto-generated budget as a reflection of your past—and your edits as a map for your future.
Common budgeting strategies
If you're not sure how to structure your budget, consider using one of these methods:
50/30/20 rule – Spend 50% on needs, 30% on wants, and save or pay down debt with the remaining 20%.
Zero-based budgeting – Assign every dollar of income a job so your income minus expenses equals zero.
Envelope method – Budget specific amounts for each category and avoid overspending by sticking to those limits.
Pick the method that fits your financial goals and lifestyle. Quicken supports any of these by letting you adjust category amounts and track progress.
Maintain your budget
Budget visibility reminder
If a transaction is assigned to a category that isn’t part of your budget, it won’t appear in your budget totals—even though the money was spent. This can create confusion if you expected that transaction to affect your budget.
To avoid surprises, review uncategorized or unexpected spending and consider adding any missing categories to your budget.
Why regular review matters
We recommend reviewing your budget regularly to stay on top of your goals, adjust to changes in your spending habits, and avoid drifting too far off course.
A monthly review is helpful for seeing the big picture and making broad adjustments. A weekly check-in can be even more effective for catching small issues early, such as:
Transactions that didn’t categorize correctly
Spending that’s creeping up in a specific area
Bills or subscriptions you forgot to include
Suggested schedule
Weekly – Quick review of new spending and category accuracy
Monthly – Adjust goals, add upcoming events, and rebalance categories as needed
Ongoing updates
Quicken will automatically update your budget with actual activity as transactions are entered or downloaded. Continue making updates as your financial situation evolves.