$archiver NSKeyedArchiver $objects $null $class CF$UID 37 NS.objects CF$UID 2 $class CF$UID 33 NS.keys CF$UID 3 CF$UID 4 CF$UID 5 NS.objects CF$UID 6 CF$UID 7 CF$UID 35 Title Text Date Untitled Snapshot $class CF$UID 34 NSAttributes CF$UID 10 NSDelegate CF$UID 0 NSString CF$UID 8 $class CF$UID 9 NS.string Keeping a budget allows you to pay closer attention to your income and expenses, by reporting how far your actual financial activity is from your expectations. To start keeping a budget, put some period transactions at the top of your ledger file. A period transaction is almost identical to a regular transaction, except that it begins with a tilde and has a period expression in place of a payee. For example: @smallexample ~ Monthly Expenses:Rent $500.00 Expenses:Food $450.00 Expenses:Auto:Gas $120.00 Expenses:Insurance $150.00 Expenses:Phone $125.00 Expenses:Utilities $100.00 Expenses:Movies $50.00 Expenses $200.00 ; all other expenses Assets ~ Yearly Expenses:Auto:Repair $500.00 Assets @end smallexample These two period transactions give the usual monthly expenses, as well as one typical yearly expense. For help on finding out what your average monthly expense is for any category, use a command like: @example ledger -p "this year" -MAs bal ^expenses @end example The reported totals are the current year's average for each account. Once these period transactions are defined, creating a budget report is as easy as adding @option{--budget} to the command-line. For example, a typical monthly expense report would be: @example ledger -M reg ^exp @end example To see the same report balanced against your budget, use: @example ledger --budget -M reg ^exp @end example A budget report includes only those accounts that appear in the budget. To see all expenses balanced against the budget, use @option{--add-budget}. You can even see only the unbudgeted expenses using @option{--unbudgeted}: @example ledger --unbudgeted -M reg ^exp @end example You can also use these flags with the @command{balance} command. $classes NSMutableString NSString NSObject $classname NSMutableString $class CF$UID 33 NS.keys CF$UID 11 CF$UID 12 NS.objects CF$UID 13 CF$UID 30 NSParagraphStyle NSFont $class CF$UID 29 NSAlignment 4 NSLineHeightMultiple 1.1000000238418579 NSTabStops CF$UID 14 $class CF$UID 28 NS.objects CF$UID 15 CF$UID 17 CF$UID 18 CF$UID 19 CF$UID 20 CF$UID 21 CF$UID 22 CF$UID 23 CF$UID 24 CF$UID 25 CF$UID 26 CF$UID 27 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 28 $classes NSTextTab NSObject $classname NSTextTab $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 56 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 84 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 112 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 140 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 168 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 196 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 224 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 252 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 280 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 308 $class CF$UID 16 NSLocation 336 $classes NSArray NSObject $classname NSArray $classes NSParagraphStyle NSObject $classname NSParagraphStyle $class CF$UID 32 NSName CF$UID 31 NSSize 14 NSfFlags 16 Courier $classes NSFont NSObject $classname NSFont $classes NSDictionary NSObject $classname NSDictionary $classes KBWordCountingTextStorage NSTextStorage NSMutableAttributedString NSAttributedString NSObject $classname KBWordCountingTextStorage $class CF$UID 36 NS.time 267380389.255732 $classes NSDate NSObject $classname NSDate $classes NSMutableArray NSArray NSObject $classname NSMutableArray $top Snapshots CF$UID 1 $version 100000