Help · Guide 1 of 7

Getting started

Set up your account, add your accounts and build your first envelope budget, where every dollar gets a job before you spend it.

Welcome! This app helps you plan your money with the envelope method: before you spend a dollar, you decide what it’s for.

This guide covers the basic idea, creating your account, and setting up your first budget. It takes about five minutes.

The Basic Idea

Most people look at their money after it’s spent: “Where did it all go last month?” That’s useful, but it doesn’t help you decide what to do with the money you have right now.

Envelope budgeting works the other way. When money comes in (a paycheck, a refund, a gift), you decide what it’s for before you spend it. Here’s how it works:

  1. Money comes in. It shows up as Ready to assign: money that doesn’t have a job yet.
  2. You give every dollar a job. Rent gets $1,200, groceries get $400, savings gets $200, and so on. Each category is like an envelope.
  3. You spend from your envelopes. When you buy groceries, the money comes out of your Groceries category.
  4. When an envelope runs out, you decide what to do. You can stop spending in that category or move money over from another one.

The most important rule: you only budget money you have right now. Not money you expect to earn later. Just the real dollars in your accounts today.

Two Ways to Start

Start with today’s balances and plan from here.

  1. Add your accounts with their current balances
  2. Look at Ready to assign. That’s all the money you have to work with right now
  3. Make sure your categories cover what your money needs to do
  4. Put money into categories until Ready to assign reaches $0
  5. From then on, sort your spending into categories as it happens

Why start fresh? You’re making a plan for what comes next, not grading the past. Old transactions don’t help much when the question is “What should this money do next?”

Option B: Bring in your history

Bank sync brings in transactions from the day you connect. It doesn’t pull in older history. If you’d like to look at past spending, you can import older transactions from a CSV file (most banks let you download one) or enter them by hand.

Past transactions are most useful together with the Coach (see Coach & AI Assistants):

  • The Coach can suggest categories based on how you actually spend
  • You can see where your money has been going before you set category amounts
  • Repeating bills can be spotted and set up as scheduled transactions

Without the Coach, imported history is a long list of transactions you’d need to sort by hand.

To import history: Download a CSV from your bank’s website and import it on the Transactions screen. Then ask the Coach to help sort and review it.

Both options end in the same place: a budget where every dollar has a job. Pick the one that fits you.

Creating Your Account

  1. Click Continue with Google
  2. Sign in with your Google account
  3. You’ll land on Home, ready to set up your first budget

Your email is verified automatically when you sign up with Google.

Sign up with email

  1. Click Create account on the sign-in page
  2. Enter your name, email, and password
  3. Click Create account
  4. Open the verification email we send you and click the link
  5. Sign in and start budgeting

Password requirements: At least 8 characters, with an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number, and a special character.

Your First Budget

When you sign up, we create a budget called “My Budget” with a starter set of categories (groceries, rent, utilities, and so on). Here’s how to make it yours.

Step 1: Add your accounts

Click + Add Account in the sidebar. You can:

  • Connect your bank. We connect through Stripe Financial Connections. Your bank login stays with your bank, and new transactions come in automatically.
  • Add it yourself. Enter the account name, type, and current balance. This is handy for accounts your bank connection doesn’t support, or if you’d rather enter things yourself.

Start with your main checking account, then add savings, credit cards, and any loans.

Step 2: Check “Ready to assign”

After adding accounts, look at Ready to assign at the top of the Budget screen. It’s the money in your budget accounts that hasn’t been put into a category yet.

If you have $5,000 across checking and savings, Ready to assign starts at $5,000. That’s the money you’ll give jobs to.

Step 3: Adjust your categories

Your budget starts with common categories grouped together, like Essentials, Housing, Utilities, and Savings & Debt. Rename, delete, or add categories so they match your life. Click + Add Category Group to make a new group, then add categories inside it.

Some ideas if you’re not sure where to start:

Bills

  • Rent/Mortgage
  • Utilities
  • Insurance
  • Phone

Everyday spending

  • Groceries
  • Gas/Transportation
  • Household

Fun

  • Dining Out
  • Entertainment
  • Subscriptions

Savings goals

  • Emergency Fund
  • Vacation
  • Big Purchases

Debt payments

  • Credit Card Payment
  • Student Loans

You can add, rename, or move categories any time. Start simple and adjust as you learn your patterns.

Step 4: Give every dollar a job

This is the heart of envelope budgeting. Go through your categories and put money in each one:

  1. Click the Assigned amount next to a category
  2. Type the amount (or use quick math: +100 adds, -50 subtracts)
  3. Press Enter

A good order to fill categories:

  1. Bills due soon. Rent, utilities, minimum debt payments
  2. Bills that come less often. Insurance, yearly subscriptions (divide the yearly cost by 12)
  3. Everyday needs. Groceries, transportation
  4. Savings goals. Emergency fund, things you’re saving up for
  5. Fun money. Dining out, entertainment

Keep going until Ready to assign reaches $0.

If you run out of money before you run out of categories, that’s normal. It just means you have more needs than money right now. Fill the most important categories first, and fill the rest when your next paycheck arrives.

Step 5: Use it day to day

Over the next few days and weeks:

  • Categorize transactions as they come in (bank sync and the Coach can help)
  • Check a category before you spend. “Do I have money left for dining out?”
  • Move money between categories when plans change. That’s normal budgeting, not failure
  • When new money comes in, give it jobs from Ready to assign

Your budget is a plan you can change, not a contract. Adjust it as life happens.

Finding Your Way Around

Home

Your starting point. See all your budgets, create a new one, or switch between them.

Budget

Where you set up categories and put money into them. You’ll see Ready to assign at the top, then your category groups with these columns:

  • Assigned: how much you put in this category this month
  • Activity: spending (negative) or money in (positive) this month
  • Available: what’s left to spend (Assigned + Activity + anything left over from earlier months)

Transactions

Click any account in the sidebar to see its transactions: dates, payees, categories, amounts, and statuses. This is where you:

  • Review and categorize transactions
  • Add transactions yourself
  • Set up repeating (scheduled) transactions
  • Import from a CSV file
  • Mark transactions as cleared

The sidebar

Lists your accounts by type (Cash, Credit, Loans, Tracking). Click an account to see its transactions, or click All Accounts to see everything together.

Installing on Your Phone

You can install the app on your phone’s home screen:

  1. Open the app in your phone’s browser
  2. Tap Install when asked (on iPhone, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen)
  3. Open it from your home screen like any other app

Installing it also lets you turn on notifications for new transactions, low balances, and more.

Next Steps

Now that you know the basics, these guides go deeper: