Migrating from Envelope Budget to Savings Budget

@randy - I just watched a replay of the Savings Budget webinar and I’m excited to give it a spin. I’m a big fan of the Envelope Budget - particularly the ability to move rollover funds from one category to another. Haven’t really touched the Foundation Template at all.

At the beginning of the webinar, I had a little scare with your bullet point that said “No rollover to” functionality, but, after your demo, I realized that this meant you can’t set up an automated monthly rollover from the original category to a different category. Perfectly doable to conduct one-off rollover category changes, month to month. This is all I need.

One quick question (that a quick search didn’t solve). I thought I saw an exporter tool discussed somewhere (to export data from Envelope Budget to new Savings Budget)… can you link to that, please? Or am I making stuff up?

Thanks, and I look forward to the speed and simplicity of the new system.

@Adam_B It’s linked in this section of the install info: Migrating from the Envelope Budget

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Glad to hear you’re interested in the new Savings Budget, @Adam_B.

As you note, the “rollover-to” concept was introduced in the old Envelope Budget. The idea was that you could predesignate that rollovers would flow from one category to another. For example, if you were thrifty on “Entertainment” that could flow into “New Car”. This is no longer automatic, but can be replicated manually.

Looks like @aronos already shared the link to the migrator :point_up:

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Thanks, @aronos. Glad I’m not making things up! :wink:

So, in my Foundation Template (which is new to me, coming over as an exclusive Budget Template user), my Categories sheet and my Budget Journal sheet are now squared away.

I’m thinking once I enter complete my Category column in the Transactions sheet, I’ll be pretty much migrated (and the new Savings Budget sheet in my Foundation Template should align with the Monthly Budget sheet in my Envelope Template)…? Is there anything else you can think of that I should check out, tie-out, or copy over?

Appreciate your help and expertise!

EDIT: I’m on a roll (hopefully not a disaster) - I decided to copy over my transactions from Envelope to Foundation… taking care with the columns as, after M, they don’t match completely. First glance reveals my new Savings Budget ties out to my old (Envelope) Monthly Budget! Woot!

I’m thinking by “exclusive Budget Template user” you mean a Tiller add-on Envelope Budget user, right, @Adam_B?

It sounds like you were able to run the (manual) migration process? And the numbers are close to lining up?

Are you all set then?

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Yes - sorry!

Yep! I just copied over my Transactions (with care to column headers) and it all ties out.

Pretty much. Couple questions and one feature request.

  1. I’d love to see the Progress bar on the Savings Budget prototype! I find this a handy feature.
  2. Are there technical drawbacks or glitches that I might face if I largely ignore all the other budgets in the Foundation Template? Intend not to set up annual or monthly budgets and hide the sheets. I don’t think I’ll miss the functionality of those sheets, but I don’t want to hinder functionality of Savings Budget in the process.
  3. Do you recommend I switch over at this point and leave my Envelope Budget to gather dust? I’d rather not keep tabs on two sheets of transactions and manage two separate workbooks if possible. I’m fine with switching over now with the overarching thought it will emerge out of prototype status at some point… and that the Envelope Budget will slowly sunset.

Thanks @randy for your commitment to the product! Love it.

Some answers to your questions, @Adam_B

  1. For the progress bar, check out the Savings & Debt template we just released. The intent is to have it function as a companion sheet to the Savings Budget to track longer term goals. It is brand new and probably has a few bugs and gotchas but we will sort them out. I’d love to hear what you think.
  2. If you are not using them, you can delete the Monthly and Yearly budgets from your new sheet. They are not needed to run the Savings Budget. Should you change your mind, you can add them back in using the Tiller Money Labs add-on.
  3. Our intent is to continue to develop the Savings Budget and, very likely, sunset or stop development on the Envelope Budget. If you are satisfied with the functionality of the new Savings Budget, I see no reason to not commit to moving over definitively. I believe it is a better and simpler solution to a similar problem.

Hope this helps. Have a good weekend.

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@randy - Good stuff! Happy to delete superfluous (to me) sheets. I will do that and move over definitively. I hope you have a good weekend as well.

And, yes, I’ll check out Savings & Debt template as well.

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