# Recurring costs

> Subscriptions and fixed bills with a day in the month.

The payments that come back every month: subscriptions, insurance, rent,
memberships.

## Frequency and first due date

A recurring cost has a **frequency** — weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly —
and a **first due date**. The app works out the following dates and shows the
next one on the dashboard timeline. An optional end date closes the item, for
example when a fixed-term contract runs out.

## Ticking off with the real amount

When marking a payment as made, you can give the amount actually charged if it
differs from the planned one. The difference is shown — because that is what
tells you a subscription got more expensive or the electricity bill went
through the roof.

Ticking it off records the expense in your budget, so there is no need to do
it twice.

## Why a separate module

You could keep these as ordinary transactions. A separate module gives you two
things transactions do not: **a reminder before the due date** and **the total
of your fixed outgoings**, meaning the amount that leaves your account
regardless of what else happens that month.

## The summary

At the top are two totals: **per month** and **per year**, across all active
items whatever their frequency. A yearly subscription of 240 adds 20 to the
monthly total. Every ticked payment shows whether it came out more or less
expensive than planned.

## Example

A phone plan at 59 a month with the first due date on 12 January. Every month
on the 12th it appears on the timeline, and once overdue in the "overdue"
count. Ticking it off with 64.90 marks the payment "more expensive than
planned", a cue to look at the bill. Undoing a tick removes the linked
expense from the budget, while deleting the whole item keeps expenses already
recorded.


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Source: https://ordiarion.com/en/help/recurring-costs