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Setup takes ten minutes. Making it stick takes about a week of small actions. Work through this list as the days go by. None of it takes long.

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Day one

1

Confirm your accounts and balances

Open each account and check that its balance matches what your bank actually shows today. The budget is only as honest as these numbers.See Manual accounts or Connect a bank.
2

Assign every dollar

Drive Ready to Assign to $0. If you have not done this yet, start with Assign your first dollars.
3

Shape your categories

Rename, group, and delete categories until the list looks like your actual life. Add categories for irregular costs you forget — car maintenance, gifts, annual subscriptions. See Categories and groups.

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During the week

  • Record what you spend. Every purchase comes out of a category. If a bank is connected, transactions arrive on their own and land in your To Review queue to be categorized. If not, add them by hand: Add, edit, and delete.
  • Categorize the To Review queue. New and imported transactions wait there until you assign a category. Clear it every couple of days so the budget stays current.
  • Set up rules for repeat payees. Tell the app to always categorize “Shell” as Gas and it stops asking. See Create a rule.
  • Add your recurring bills as schedules. Rent, subscriptions, paychecks. They remind you and feed the Forecast report. See Create a schedule.

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When a category goes red

Overspending shows the category’s Available amount in red. It happens. Cover it by moving money from another category — that is the budget working, not failing. See Cover overspending.

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End of the week

1

Reconcile your main account

Match the app to your bank statement so the cleared balance is one you trust. Do this weekly and the budget never drifts. See Reconcile an account.
2

Adjust the plan

Your first guesses were guesses. Move money where it is actually needed. A budget you adjust is a budget you keep. See Assign and move money.
3

Set targets on the categories you keep missing

A target tells a category how much it needs and by when, so you stop guessing next month. See Set a target.

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Next

Rolling money forward

What happens to leftover and overspent categories when the month changes.

Install the mobile app

Record spending the moment it happens, from your phone.