> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.budgetbandit.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Your first week

> A short checklist to turn a fresh budget into a habit that holds through your first month.

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.

## Day one

<Steps>
  <Step title="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](/accounts/manual-accounts) or
    [Connect a bank](/accounts/connect-a-bank).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Assign every dollar">
    Drive Ready to Assign to \$0. If you have not done this yet, start with
    [Assign your first dollars](/getting-started/assign-your-first-dollars).
  </Step>

  <Step title="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](/concepts/categories-and-groups).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 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](/transactions/to-review) to be categorized. If not, add them
  by hand: [Add, edit, and delete](/transactions/add-edit-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](/rules/create-a-rule).
* **Add your recurring bills as schedules.** Rent, subscriptions, paychecks. They
  remind you and feed the [Forecast report](/reports/forecast-and-debt). See
  [Create a schedule](/scheduled/create-a-schedule).

## 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](/budgeting/cover-overspending).

## End of the week

<Steps>
  <Step title="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](/reconciling/reconcile-an-account).
  </Step>

  <Step title="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](/budgeting/assign-and-move-money).
  </Step>

  <Step title="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](/budgeting/set-a-target).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Rolling money forward" icon="forward" href="/concepts/rolling-money-forward">
    What happens to leftover and overspent categories when the month changes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Install the mobile app" icon="mobile-screen" href="/getting-started/install-the-mobile-app">
    Record spending the moment it happens, from your phone.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>