Transactions

A transaction is a record of money moving in or out of one of your accounts, or between two of them. Transactions keep your accounts accurate and your envelopes honest: every purchase, payment, and deposit you log shows up in your budget the moment it happens.

TL;DR

A transaction records money moving into, out of, or between your accounts. Each one carries details like a name, amount, account, envelope, date, and status. When you save one, the account balance updates and your budget's spending reflects it immediately. You can speed things up with templates, schedule recurring ones, or split one purchase across several envelopes.

What goes on a transaction

Every transaction you record can carry the following details:

Detail	What it means
Name	What the transaction is, e.g. "Grocery run" or "Paycheck".
Type	Whether it's income, an expense, a transfer, or a balance adjustment, see Transaction types.
Amount	How much money moved.
Account	Which account the money came from or went into (for transfers: From account → To account).
Envelope	Which envelope (or sub-envelope) the spending or income belongs to, so it feeds into your budget.
Date & time	When the transaction happened. The time is optional.
Status	Where the transaction is in its lifecycle, see Transaction statuses.
Tags	Labels that help you find transactions later, see Tags.
Notes	Any extra detail you want to keep with the transaction.
Location	Optional place attached to the transaction.
Fee	An optional extra expense linked to the transaction, for bank or service charges. See Transaction fees.
Receipt	Attach a receipt or screenshot so you always have the proof handy.

Where to find it: Transactions tab → + → Name, Type, Amount, Account, Envelope, Date. Every amount is stored as integer cents, no rounding.

Using the financial keypad

Every amount field in CentBase opens a calculator on top instead of the system keyboard. This is the financial keypad, and it works the same way everywhere you enter money.

How it works:

• Tap any amount field to open the calculator. It appears as a bottom sheet with a prominent display at the top and a keypad below.
• Type digits using the number keys. The display shows your amount with grouping (for example, 1,200.50).
• Use the + - x / keys to do math. For example, type 45 + 23 then press the check mark to commit 68.00.
• Press = to evaluate the current expression without closing the calculator. This is useful when you want to see the result before deciding.
• Press Clear to start over from zero.
• Press the check mark (Done) to commit the amount and close the calculator.

Important behaviors:

• Only the check mark commits. Tapping outside the calculator, dragging the handle, or pressing back is a no-op. Anything you typed is discarded and the amount field stays unchanged.
• Division by zero cannot be committed. The calculator stays open until you fix the expression.
• Calculator chaining works. If an amount is already on the form and you reopen the calculator, pressing an operator (like +) seeds the existing amount as the first operand. You can continue the calculation from there.
• Multiplication and division use proper rounding. No floating-point surprises.
• Amount colors match the transaction type: green for income, neutral for expense, blue for transfer.

How to add a transaction

1. Open the Transactions tab and tap the + button, or use one of the shortcut buttons on an account's or envelope's page. The + FAB opens the blank form directly (no quick-actions sheet).
2. Give it a Name and pick the Type. CentBase pre-fills the rest based on where you started from (for example, adding from an envelope's page selects that envelope for you).
3. Enter the Amount with the financial keypad (you can calculate right on top), choose the Account and the Envelope it belongs to, and set the Date.
4. If the transaction has a bank or service charge, tap "Add fee" in the Transaction Fee section and enter the fee amount and envelope, see Transaction fees.
5. If you want, add tags, notes, a location, or a receipt photo.
6. Tap Save. The account balance updates, and if the transaction is attached to an envelope, your budget's spending reflects it right away.

Adding a fee to a transaction

Some purchases carry an extra charge, an ATM fee, a card fee, a processing charge. Instead of bundling it into the main amount, you can record it as a linked fee expense in its own envelope. Tap "Add fee" in the transaction form, pick the fee envelope and amount, and CentBase saves the fee as a separate expense linked to the original. The row shows the main amount with a small "Fee − $X" line underneath. The fee is always an expense and you can keep it, edit it, or tap "Remove fee" before saving. See Transaction fees for the full detail, including how fees work with templates and schedules.

Making one purchase cover several envelopes

A single trip or bill doesn't always fit into one envelope. When you want a transaction to draw from (or add to) several envelopes at once, use a split, see Split transactions.

Adding transactions the fast way

• App icon shortcut. Long-press the CentBase icon on your home screen and pick Add transaction. The app opens on Transactions with the form ready, so you skip the trip through the dashboard. iPhone does not offer this yet.
• Templates. Save a transaction you make over and over (like rent) as a reusable template, then fill the whole form in one tap. See Templates.
• Scheduled transactions. Make bills automatic, CentBase records recurring transactions for you on schedule. See Scheduled transactions.
• Future dates. Save a transaction for a date still ahead of you, and CentBase turns it into a scheduled transaction automatically. See Saving a transaction for a future date.

Managing transactions you've already saved

• View. Tap any transaction to see its full details.
• Edit. Change any field later; the account and budget math stays correct.
• Clone. Copy an existing transaction to make a new one, handy when you make the same purchase regularly but don't want a schedule.
• Reverse / Refund. Create a compensating transaction that undoes another one (same amount and envelope, opposite direction), for example when a purchase is refunded.
• Delete. Remove a transaction entirely. It disappears right away, and for a few seconds an Undo action appears at the bottom of the screen. If that was a mistake, tap it and the transaction is restored as if nothing happened.

Transactions stay linked to the envelope and account they belong to, so you'll also find them listed on those pages. This is the concept at the heart of CentBase: every cent of income gets assigned to an envelope, and every expense gets tracked against one, so what you planned and what you spent always match.

The little badges you see next to transaction names (status pills, note, attachment, scheduled, and recurring icons) are explained in Transaction badges.

Summary

Action	What it does
Add	Record money moving in, out, or between accounts
Edit	Change any detail later; the math stays correct
Split	One transaction, divided across several envelopes
Clone	Duplicate an existing transaction
Reverse / Refund	Undo a transaction with a compensating one
Fee	Attach a linked expense for a bank or service charge, see Transaction fees
Template	Save it and reuse the whole form in one tap
Scheduled	Have CentBase post it automatically on a schedule
Delete	Remove the transaction (with an Undo restore)

Sample use cases

• Payday. Log your paycheck as income against a "Paycheck" income envelope, and your Ready-To-Assign grows.
• One supermarket trip. Split the total between Groceries and Household so each envelope shows the honest amount.
• A refund. Your purchase gets returned, use Reverse to post a matching opposite transaction and your balances line up again.
• Same coffee every week. Save it as a template; next time just pick the template, set the date, and save.