Budget Alerts

Budget Alerts

Budget alerts notify you when your spending approaches or exceeds your limits. These timely notifications help you stay on track without constantly checking your budgets.

How Alerts Work

Curl Budget monitors your budget progress and sends push notifications at key thresholds:

Alert Triggers

You can receive alerts when:

• Approaching limit - You're getting close to your budget (e.g., 80%)
• At limit - You've reached 100% of your budget
• Over budget - You've exceeded your budget limit

Real-Time Monitoring

Alerts are triggered when:

1. New transactions sync from your accounts
2. You manually add a transaction
3. Transactions are recategorized into a budgeted category

Configuring Alerts

Enable/Disable Budget Alerts

1. Go to Settings → Notifications
2. Find "Budget Alerts"
3. Toggle on or off

When enabled, you'll receive alerts for all budgets that cross thresholds.

Threshold Settings

Configure when alerts trigger:

Threshold	Default	Description
Warning	80%	First heads-up that you're approaching the limit
Limit Reached	100%	You've hit your budget exactly
Over Budget	100%+	Any spending beyond the limit

Per-Budget Settings

Each budget can have individual alert settings:

1. Open the budget to edit
2. Find "Alert Settings"
3. Configure:
   • Enable/disable alerts for this budget
   • Custom warning threshold
   • Alert frequency preferences

Alert Types

Warning Alert

Trigger: Spending crosses the warning threshold (default 80%)

Message example:

"Dining Out budget is at 85% ($170 of $200)"

Purpose: Gives you time to adjust spending before hitting the limit.

Limit Reached Alert

Trigger: Spending reaches 100% of budget

Message example:

"You've reached your Groceries budget ($600 of $600)"

Purpose: Lets you know you've used your full allocation.

Over Budget Alert

Trigger: Spending exceeds 100% of budget

Message example:

"Entertainment is $25 over budget ($175 of $150)"

Purpose: Immediate notification of overspending.

Alert Behavior

One Alert Per Threshold

Each threshold triggers only one alert per budget period:

• Reaching 80%: One warning alert
• Reaching 100%: One limit reached alert
• Going over: One over budget alert

You won't receive repeated alerts for the same threshold in the same period.

Period Reset

When a new budget period starts:

• All alert thresholds reset
• You can receive alerts again for the new period
• Previous period alerts don't carry over

Multiple Budgets

If multiple budgets cross thresholds simultaneously (e.g., from a large transaction), you'll receive separate alerts for each budget.

Notification Delivery

Push Notifications

Budget alerts are delivered as push notifications to your device:

• Appear on your lock screen
• Show in notification center
• Tap to open Curl Budget and view the budget

See Push Notifications for more on notification delivery.

In-App Indicators

In addition to push notifications:

• Budget dashboard shows visual warnings (yellow/red colors)
• Individual budgets display their current status
• Budget progress bars reflect threshold states

Best Practices

Set Meaningful Warning Thresholds

The default 80% works well for most budgets, but consider:

Higher threshold (90%) for:

• Small budgets where 80% isn't much runway
• Categories with consistent spending patterns
• Budgets you're confident about

Lower threshold (70%) for:

• Large budgets where early warning helps
• Categories with variable spending
• Budgets you're actively trying to reduce

Don't Ignore Warnings

Warning alerts are opportunities to adjust:

• Review remaining budget
• Check what's coming (known expenses)
• Modify behavior if needed

Review After Over-Budget Alerts

When you go over budget:

1. Understand why (unexpected expense? underbudgeted?)
2. Decide if the budget needs adjusting
3. Consider if spending behavior should change
4. Plan for the rest of the period

Use Alongside Daily Allowance

Combine alerts with daily allowance tracking:

• Alerts for threshold moments
• Daily allowance for ongoing pacing
• Together they provide complete awareness

Common Questions

Why didn't I get an alert?

Check that:

• Budget alerts are enabled in Settings → Notifications
• Push notifications are enabled for Curl Budget on your device
• The specific budget has alerts enabled
• You haven't already received an alert for that threshold this period

Can I get alerts more frequently?

Currently, each threshold triggers one alert per period. For ongoing awareness:

• Use the daily allowance feature
• Check your budget dashboard regularly
• Set lower warning thresholds for earlier alerts

Do alerts work for all budget types?

Yes, alerts work for:

• Category budgets (monthly, quarterly, yearly)
• Tag budgets (all periods)
• All budget periods

What about shared workspaces?

In shared workspaces:

• Each member can configure their own alert preferences
• Alerts are sent to individuals based on their settings
• Workspace spending affects all members' budgets

Troubleshooting

Not Receiving Alerts

1. Check app settings: Settings → Notifications → Budget Alerts enabled?
2. Check device settings: iOS Settings → Curl Budget → Notifications enabled?
3. Check individual budget: Does the specific budget have alerts enabled?
4. Check threshold: Has the threshold been crossed this period?

Too Many Alerts

1. Adjust thresholds: Raise warning thresholds to reduce early alerts
2. Disable for specific budgets: Turn off alerts for budgets you don't need to monitor closely
3. Use digest mode: Switch to daily digest for less frequent notifications

Delayed Alerts

Alerts trigger when transactions sync. If transactions are delayed from your bank, alerts will also be delayed. This is normal—alerts arrive when Curl Budget learns about the spending.

Related Features

• Creating Budgets - Set up budgets to track
• Push Notifications - How notifications work
• Notification Settings - Configure all notifications
• Budget Periods - Understand when alerts reset