[wenc]

Yes. If my running balance doesn’t match actual cash in my bank account, I just enter a correction and an in-line comment describing the cause of the discrepancy. However often I find I’m usually in the right ball park (my recurring expense patterns are very regular) so I rarely use that field.

Also I’m rarely off budget by a lot, partly because of the visibility this tool provides. My feedback loops are tighter due to monitoring.

You can also do what-if scenarios pretty easily, e.g. can I afford a vacation in Spain in a particular month without dipping under, how much of a raise do I need to ask for to hit a target, etc. You can play around with timing and amount.

A spreadsheet provides you with all the metaphors you need to do planning and budgeting efficiently. It’s a solved problem. It’s really hard to beat.