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Bills that change every month

2 min read

Electric in January is not electric in July, and the first time a bill app made you type a fixed amount for it you knew the number was a guess. The worry is not the bill, it is that what's left is built on a number you do not trust. Here is how Forseera keeps that number honest without turning it into a chore.

The Varies month to month switch

When you add or edit a bill, there is a switch under the amount: Varies month to month. Turn it on for utilities, credit card minimums, anything that is never the same twice. The amount you enter becomes a working amount, and what's left this paycheck is calculated from it, so put in a number you would rather be slightly over than under: last month's, or the highest from the last few.

When the real bill arrives, open the bill, change the amount, and mark it paid. What's left updates that second. Next month the working amount is still there as the starting point.

Forseera Home screen: a progress ring, income, bills and remaining tiles, and the bills due next.
Home: what's left is only as honest as the amounts behind it.

If you have linked a bank read-only through Plaid, Forseera watches what the company actually charges. When a charge comes through that differs from your working amount, it asks a one-tap question: accept what was charged, or keep the planned amount. Accept it and that charge becomes the working amount. You are never updated silently.

Bills that Forseera finds in your transactions on its own are marked as varying from the start when it can see that the charge moves.

A rule of thumb for the working amount

  • Utilities: the highest of the last three bills. Summer and winter peaks are what catch people.
  • Credit card: the minimum payment if that is what you pay, or the amount you intend to pay. The point is that what's left reflects a real plan.
  • Anything new: the first bill. Raise it if the second one is higher.

Rounding up costs you nothing but a pleasant surprise when the real bill is lower. Rounding down is how a safe number turns into an overdraft.

Questions people ask

Does Forseera estimate variable bills for me?

Without a bank link, no: you set the working amount. With a bank link, it offers the amount actually charged when that differs from your number, and you choose whether to accept it.

If I change the amount, does it change past months?

No. The change applies from now. Bills you already marked paid keep the amount they were paid at.

What about bills whose date moves?

Set the due day you see most often. The reminder fires the morning of it. If one month's bill lands early, mark it paid when you pay it; the next occurrence still waits on its usual day.

A number you can trust, even for the bills that move.

Seven days free. Mark the ones that vary and keep what's left honest.

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