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Pause, resume or delete a budget

Last updated October 13, 2026

On this page

You can switch a budget off for a while and back on later, change its amount, or remove it for good. Pausing keeps the budget and its settings. Deleting removes it.

How to do it

  1. Start with a budget you've set. If you don't have one yet, see set a monthly budget.
  2. Tell your AI which budget you mean. Pennyweight changes a budget by its id, which your AI can get by listing your budgets. Your AI lists and changes the budgets in your active ledger. For a budget in another ledger, name that ledger.
  3. Ask your AI to pause the budget. To turn it back on, ask your AI to resume it.
  4. To change the amount, name or category, ask your AI to update the budget. It keeps the same budget and changes only what you name.
  5. To remove the budget, ask your AI to delete it. Your AI has to give a reason for the deletion.
Try asking

Create a $300 monthly Restaurants budget for my Household ledger, then pause it right away and tell me how it stands this month. Go ahead with every step without checking with me.

Try asking

Create a $400 monthly Groceries budget, then delete it because I no longer need it, and list my budgets to confirm it's gone. Go ahead with every step without checking with me.

Try asking

Create a $300 monthly Restaurants budget for my Household ledger, pause it, then resume it and raise the amount to $350. Show me the budget afterward. Go ahead with every step without checking with me.

What you'll see

  • After a pause or resume, your AI confirms the budget's details and whether it's active.
  • When you check a paused budget, your AI reports it as paused and never as on pace. Spending still counts: when everything the budget matches is in the currency of the budget's ledger, your AI still shows what you spent and what's left this month.
  • When you list your budgets, paused budgets are still there, marked as not active.
  • After a delete, your AI confirms the budget is gone. It no longer appears when you list your budgets.

Pause or delete

  • Pause keeps the budget, its amount, category or tag, ledger and any rollover. Spending is still counted. Resume turns it back on exactly as it was.
  • Delete removes the budget for good. There's no undo. To get it back, ask your AI to create it again.

Good to know

  • A zero amount isn't a pause. The amount must be more than zero, on a new budget and on an update. To stop a budget, pause or delete it.
  • A budget stays in its ledger. An update can't move a budget to another ledger. To budget for that category in another ledger, create a new budget there.
  • Deleting is logged. A deletion goes into the audit log with your AI's reason. Pausing, resuming and updating a budget aren't logged. See how your AI's changes are logged.
  • No budget page on the web. You pause, resume, change and delete budgets through your AI.
  • Rollover and goals. A rollover added this month stays on a paused budget. For carrying unspent money forward, see roll unspent budget into this month. Savings goals pause, resume and delete the same way. See save toward a goal.
  • Set a monthly budgetAsk your AI to cap a category for the month, then check how much you've spent and how much is left. Here is how budgets count your spending.
  • Roll unspent budget into this monthAsk your AI to carry last month's unspent budget into this month, so this month's cap grows by what you didn't spend. Here is how the carry works.
  • Save toward a goalAsk your AI to set a savings goal with a target amount and date, tag the money you set aside, and check whether you're on track.
  • How your AI's changes are loggedMost changes your AI makes are logged, usually with the reason it gave. See what the audit log records, what it leaves out, and how to read it.