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A budget is the container for everything: your categories, your accounts, and the money you assign. Most people need exactly one. You can hold more than one — a personal budget and a business budget, for example — and switch between them.

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Create the budget

1

Start a new budget

Sign in and create a budget. If this is your first time, the app walks you through it during onboarding. Otherwise, open the budget switcher in the header and choose to add a budget.
2

Name it

Use a name you will recognize at a glance — “Household,” “Personal,” your own name. The name shows in the budget switcher, so make it distinct if you plan to keep more than one.
3

Review the starter categories

A new budget arrives with a small set of starter categories grouped into sections. Keep what fits, rename what doesn’t, and add your own. Nothing is assigned yet — that comes after you add an account.More on this: Categories and groups.

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Add your accounts

Your budget needs at least one account before you can assign money. An account is where your money actually lives: a checking account, savings, cash, a credit card. You have two ways to add accounts:

Connect a bank

Link the account and let transactions and balances sync in automatically.

Add it manually

Enter the account and its current balance yourself. You record transactions by hand.
When you add an account, enter its current balance. That balance becomes money you can budget — it lands in Ready to Assign, waiting for a job. For a credit card, the balance is what you owe; see Set up a card.
Pick the right account type when you add it. Checking and savings add to what you can spend; a credit card or loan is a debt the budget tracks differently.

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Moving from another app

If you already budget in YNAB, Monarch, or Actual — or have a CSV from your bank — you can import your history instead of starting blank.
Every import creates a brand-new budget. It never overwrites or merges into the budget you are in. After importing, you switch to the new budget the import created.
See Move from another app for the full list of importers.

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Next

Assign your first dollars

Assign every dollar until Ready to Assign reaches zero.

Your first week

The checklist that turns setup into a habit.
If something looks wrong while setting up, see Budgeting troubleshooting.