A large part of your expenses comes back the same way: rent, mortgage, periodic bills, streaming subscriptions, gym, car insurance, road tax. They're predictable and should be planned just once.
In FamSpend you set the recurrence once, and the expense reappears at the right date every month, every 2 months, every year — until you stop it.
How to set it
When adding (or editing) an expense, turn on the Recurring flag and pick the frequency:
- Monthly — rent, subscriptions
- Bimonthly — gas/water bills
- Quarterly — some services
- Yearly — car insurance, road tax, some subscriptions
- Custom — every N days, weeks, months (e.g. every 4 months)
The planned expense becomes a series: the first instance is the one you created; the next ones are auto-generated at the right date.
What shows up in the calendar
The calendar shows one dot per occurrence of the series. If you set rent to €850 monthly starting May 5, you'll see dots on May 5, June 5, July 5... up to the view's limit.
Each occurrence is an independent expense: you can move a specific one (e.g. the July payment while on vacation, paid on the 28th instead of the 5th) without moving the others.
Editing a recurring series
When you edit a recurring expense, FamSpend asks:
- This occurrence only — edits only the instance you're looking at (useful for a single offset)
- This and all following — edits from today onward (useful for permanent changes, e.g. rent goes from €850 to €890)
- The whole series including history — also overwrites past occurrences (rare; usually not what you want)
Deleting works the same way: this only, from here on, or the whole series.
Variable amounts: use "estimate" or "to be determined"
Bills vary. Winter gas might be €250, summer €40. Recurrence is about frequency, not nailing the amount.
Two strategies:
- Estimate — set €130 (the average) with estimate flag on. Each
occurrence shows up as
~€130until you update with the real bill value - To be determined — leave amount blank. Each occurrence shows up as "to be determined". When the bill arrives, open that occurrence and enter the final amount
The second is more honest in totals. See Amounts "to be determined" for detail.
When a recurrence ends
A recurring series has no pre-set end. When you stop having that cost (move out, cancel a subscription), open an occurrence and choose Remove recurrence: all future occurrences disappear from the calendar, past history is preserved.
Practical recurrence examples
| What | Frequency | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rent / mortgage | Monthly | Fixed amount, usually the same |
| Netflix / Spotify | Monthly | Same |
| Gas bill | Bimonthly | TBD or estimate |
| Electricity bill | Bimonthly | Same |
| Car insurance | Yearly | Fixed, may rise year over year |
| Road tax | Yearly | Fixed |
| Daycare | Monthly (10 months) | Skips July and August: set as monthly and end after June |
| Kids' sports | Quarterly or Yearly | Depends on enrollment |
Recurring vs to-be-determined
They're two independent dimensions:
- Recurring = the expense comes back at regular intervals (frequency)
- To be determined = the amount isn't known yet (amount)
An expense can be recurring with TBD amount (gas bill), recurring with fixed amount (rent), one-off with TBD amount (future medical visit), or one-off with exact amount (Saturday dinner).
AI Helper for fast creation
"Add €850 monthly rent on the 5th of each month to the Milan home Center"
Helper creates the series in one go. Shows a preview with the first and the next 3 occurrences, asks for confirmation, saves.