Carry Over Negative Balances

The Carry over negative balances setting decides where cash and debit overspending lives: on the category, or in next month's Ready to Budget. Credit-card-funded overspending is already debt on the card, so it's handled separately.

What this setting does

When a category ends the month overspent from cash or debit spending, Zerosum has to put the deficit somewhere. By default it goes to next month's Ready to Budget; with this setting on, it stays on the category instead. To find it, click your budget name in the sidebar, choose Budget Settings, and look for the Carry over negative balances toggle. It's off by default.

ℹ️ Note: Credit-card-funded overspending is already debt on the card, so it doesn't use this setting. It resets from the category next month and never reduces Ready to Budget. See "Credit cards work differently" below.

Off (default)

Cash and debit overspending resets to $0 next month, and the deficit reduces next month's Ready to Budget. The drag flows to your unbudgeted money, not the category.

💡 Tip: Move money from another category to the overspent one within the same month and the drag never appears.

On

Cash and debit overspending stays red across months until you budget money to bring the category back to zero. Ready to Budget is not reduced by past overspending. It's the same total money, just a different home for the deficit.

Credit cards work differently

Overspending on a Credit Card account can have two parts, and the setting only applies to one of them.

Credit overspending never carries over. When you charge more than a category had budgeted, the unfunded part is new debt sitting on the card. It's not missing cash, so it never reduces Ready to Budget and it always resets from the category at the month boundary, whatever this setting says. The debt stays visible on the card balance until you budget money to the spending category or the card's Payment category and pay it.

Coverage can also move both ways during the month: budgeting the overspent category moves money into the card's Payment category, and new cash spending in the same category pulls earlier coverage back out, reclassifying that slice as credit overspending.

Cash overspending follows the setting. If the same category also overspent with cash or debit, that part reduces next month's Ready to Budget when the setting is off, or stays on the category when it's on.

ℹ️ Example: Groceries had $0 budgeted. You spend $50 from checking and $30 on a credit card, so the category shows −$80. Next month, with the setting off, the category resets to $0 and Ready to Budget drops by $50 (the cash part). With the setting on, the category starts at −$50. Either way, the $30 stays on the card as debt and never touches Ready to Budget. If Groceries had $20 budgeted instead, the $20 counts toward the cash spending first: the category ends at −$60, which is $30 of cash still missing plus the $30 of card debt.

Card Payment categories follow the standard rules: with the setting on, a negative Payment category carries forward; with it off, it resets and the deficit reduces next month's Ready to Budget. (More on the Credit Card account model.)

💡 Tip: Waiting on a reimbursement? A charge you'll be paid back for is still real debt on the card today, which is why it won't ride as a negative on the category. Budget to cover it this month so the bill gets paid, then categorize the reimbursement to the same category when it lands; the category swings positive and hands the money back to re-budget. If you'd rather the category simply stay negative until you're paid back, track that card as a Budget account instead, though you give up the dedicated payment envelope and the auto-move flow.

Which one to pick

• Off: overspending is a one-time event you'll fix soon, and you're fine with the deficit nicking next month's Ready to Budget.
• On: you want each category to stay accountable for its own deficit, kept visible until you deal with it. This covers cash and debit spending; credit-card charges always reset regardless.

Switching the setting

Flipping the setting recomputes the whole budget. Turn it on and past cash/debit overspending moves back to Ready to Budget while the affected categories go (or stay) red. Turn it off and those negative balances clamp to zero at the next month boundary, with the cumulative deficit deducted from Ready to Budget. Credit-card-funded overspending is unchanged because it already lives on the card. No data is moved or deleted; it's just a math switch.

Where to next

• Budgets & Categories: how carryover works month to month
• Credit Cards: how card-funded overspending is handled