Some bills don't fit a monthly cadence. An Amex annual fee, vehicle registration, a CPL renewal every 5 years, a passport every 10 years — these are real expenses that can wreck a single month's budget if you forget about them. Annual Events make them visible without polluting every month's recurring lineup.
Where to find it
Annual Events lives in its own page under Tools → Annual Events (or the Annual Events entry in the mobile More drawer). It used to be a right-rail panel on the Calendar — same data, just promoted to its own surface so it's easier to find and manage.
The Calendar still shows annual events on their occurrence days, and tapping one on the calendar grid opens the same editor.
Add an event
Tap Add event at the top of the page. You'll set:
- Name — what to call it (e.g. Vehicle Registration, Amex Platinum Annual Fee, Passport Renewal).
- Amount (optional) — the dollar cost of the renewal.
- Month + day — the calendar date the renewal hits.
- Repeats — Yearly, Every 2 years, Every 3 years, Every 5 years, or Every 10 years. For multi-year intervals, also set Next renewal year so BudgetLabs knows which year to start the cycle on.
- Budget category — the expense bucket the renewal hits. Required for the Apply-to-budget chip to work on the Dashboard. Legacy events without one get a small "Set category" pill on each occurrence; tap to edit and set one.
- Notify me (optional) — 3, 7, 14, or 30 days before the renewal date.
The list sorts by the next actual renewal date and shows a year-aware countdown: in 7d, in 3mo, in 4y 1mo. A 5-year event won't clutter every May on the calendar grid — it shows up only in its real occurrence years.
Apply a renewal to your budget
When the renewal month arrives, open the Dashboard for that month. The linked category's row shows a small amber chip — "🔔 +$155 CPL Renewal". Tap it to bump that month's planned amount by the renewal amount.
The chip disappears and stays gone, even after a hard reload — so you won't double-count. If you ever want to undo, just edit the planned amount on the category row directly.
Where annual events show up
A single annual event surfaces in three places once you've configured it:
- The Annual Events page — the management list, sorted by next renewal.
- The Calendar — on its actual occurrence day, with a tap-to-edit shortcut.
- The Bills page — once the renewal month is close, the event joins the Pay-on-time queue in the Bills view alongside recurring categories, debt minimums, and one-off bills.
What it's good for
- One-time-feeling-but-recurring expenses — annual subscriptions, insurance premiums, professional license renewals.
- Multi-year renewals — passports (10 years), CPL / concealed-carry permits (often 5 years), driver's license renewals.
- Big once-a-year line items — holiday gifts, vehicle registration, an annual donation. Schedule it, link it to a category, and the Dashboard chip handles the rest in that month.
Related
- Calendar View — annual events also render on the calendar grid on their occurrence days.
- Bill Reminders — annual events feed into the Pay-on-time queue once they're close to due.
- The Dashboard — the Apply-to-budget chip surfaces here in the renewal month.
- Categories — every annual event must link to a category so the Apply chip knows which row to bump.