Floating obligations
Some costs are real enough to plan for, but not precise enough to pin to one month.
That is what floating obligations are for. They are expected expenses with a flexible window: the amount is known, the exact month is not. OutBudget keeps them visible in your forecast and budget without pretending they are ordinary monthly categories.
When to use one
Use a floating obligation when the cost is coming, but the timing is flexible.
Good examples:
- A medical bill due sometime this quarter
- Annual insurance that can land in any month of the renewal window
- A trip you expect to book, but not on a fixed date yet
- A house, visa, tax, or relocation cost with a known range rather than a known month
Use a normal category assumption when the spending has a regular rhythm: rent every month, groceries every week, subscriptions on a known cycle, or a one-time cost in a specific month.
The practical difference is simple: a category says, "this happens here." A floating obligation says, "this will happen somewhere in this window."
How OutBudget plans for it
You give the obligation a name, amount, currency, and optional earliest/latest month. OutBudget then treats the money as committed across the forecast. It cannot quietly disappear just because you have not spent it yet.
For planning, OutBudget places the obligation in the most cautious month allowed by its window. That helps answer the question you actually care about: if this cost lands at an awkward time, does the plan still work?
You can also make an obligation repeat yearly or every window period. Use that for irregular-but-repeating costs, not for everyday monthly spending.
Spending against an obligation
When you log a transaction, eligible floating obligations appear alongside your categories. Pick the obligation instead of a normal category when the transaction is drawing down that planned cost.
This keeps the spending separate from your normal category budget. A €900 car repair should not make your everyday transport category look permanently broken if you already planned a floating obligation for it.
No rollover by accident
Floating obligations are deliberately not envelopes. They do not accumulate, regenerate silently, or roll unused money forward without your say-so.
If an obligation closes with money left over, that is a decision point. You can remove it, adjust it, create a new one, or update the forecast. OutBudget shows the commitment; you decide what the residual means.
Where they show up
In the forecast, floating obligations appear as their own rows and are included in the forecast totals.
In the budget, an open obligation is treated as money set aside. It affects your safety buffer, but favorable leftover is only counted as variance once the window closes. If you overspend the obligation, that breach counts immediately.
In analytics, floating obligations appear separately from normal categories so they do not quietly distort your regular spending patterns.
Common questions
Should I make every annual bill a floating obligation? Not always. If the month is fixed, use an every-X-months assumption. If the timing is uncertain, use a floating obligation.
What if I spend against it early? Log the transaction to the obligation. OutBudget reduces the remaining amount and keeps the rest set aside until the window closes or the obligation is fully used.
What if I no longer need it? Edit or delete it from the forecast. The point is not to preserve the old plan forever; it is to make expected commitments visible until you consciously change them.