User guide
The Budgeting App user guide
Welcome! New to the app? Start with Set up once: its five docs are the parts everything else is built on, from the book down to your budget. After that, each doc stands on its own, so go straight to the one you need. If what you're after isn't here, email us at hello@thebudgeting.app.
The guide describes version 7.2.2 of the app. To check which version you're on, tap your profile picture (top left of the Home tab), then Settings (top right). The version is at the bottom of the screen.
Set up once
- BooksThe top-level container everything lives in. The two types, Money Manager and Expense Tracker. How to create a book, change its schedule or currency, use more than one book, show amounts without decimals, and export to CSV.
- AccountsMoney you spend from day to day, such as an everyday account or a credit card. How to add an account, change its starting balance, and delete it, with the Accounts tab explained.
- TrackersSavings towards a goal and loans you're paying down, kept separate from the money you spend day to day. How to create a tracker, move money in and out, record interest and fees, and spend from savings.
- CategoriesHow your expenses and income are grouped, such as Groceries or Salary. How to add, edit or delete a category, create one on the spot while adding a transaction, and keep a category out of your overall budget. The fixed categories trackers use.
- Budgets and goalsA limit on what you spend each period, overall or per category, and a goal for what you earn. How to set a budget or goal, what counts against it, what the home screen shows, and changing it from one period to the next.
Day to day
- Adding a transactionMoney coming in or going out, as income or an expense: your salary, a coffee, a bill. How to log a transaction, set its date and status, and add tags, a reminder or a repeat. How to edit or delete a transaction.
- TransfersMoney moved between your own accounts and trackers, such as a deposit into savings. A transfer isn't income or an expense, so it leaves your budget alone. How to move money, make a transfer pending or repeating, and edit or delete one. Why a loan repayment is the exception that counts as an expense.
- Recurring transactions and transfersSalary, rent and subscriptions logged for you on a schedule you set once. Each one is in your budget before its date arrives, and a reminder can tell you when it's due. How to set up a repeat, choose when it ends, find one later, and edit or delete a single occurrence or the whole series.
- Pending and settledWhether the money has moved yet: a transaction is settled once it has, and pending before that. How to settle a transaction, or have it settle itself once its date arrives. Which of your numbers pending money counts in, and the pending list explained.
- TagsProA label you put on transactions to group them across accounts and categories, such as everything a holiday or a house move cost. How to create a tag, tag a transaction, edit or delete a tag, and total everything with one through search.
- SearchFind the transactions that match, across the whole book, and see what they add up to. How to search by type, amount, note, category, tag or date, read the settled and pending totals, and order the results.
- Calendar and timelineYour transactions day by day, as a list or laid over a month with each day's cash flow on it. How to switch between the timeline and the calendar, and read a day's money in, money out and cash flow. How to use the calendar to see where your balance will be on any day, including a day in the future.
- Savings and loan insightsProWhen you'll reach your savings goal or be debt-free, worked out from your recent deposits or payments. Pick a date instead, and the insight shows how much to put in each period to get there. How to turn the insight on, switch between the two questions, and change the amount, date, frequency or interest rate.
- AnalyticsWhere your money went and whether you ended each period up or down, shown as charts and tables over the last six periods. How to read this period's expenses and income by category, compare expenses with income period by period, see your budget and goal against what happened, and check the averages and totals. Every figure counts settled money only.
- Home screenThe key numbers for a budgeting period, in one place: how much you have left to spend, where your money went, what's still to settle, and what's coming up. How to read each card, split your budget into weekly or daily chunks, and customise what the screen shows.
- End of period summaryHow the period went against your budget once it ends, and which categories stayed under budget and which went over. How to read the summary, go back to a previous period's summary, and roll any underspend or overspend into the new period's budget.
Syncing with your bank
- Connecting a bankPro SyncLink your bank accounts to the app, so transactions and balances sync automatically. Covers where bank sync is available, how to sign in at your bank, how to set up each bank account, and how far back the first sync reaches.
- Reviewing transactionsPro SyncA quick check on each transaction from the bank before it lands in your budget: confirm its category, sort it as a need or a want, or mark it as a transfer.
- Managing bank connectionsPro SyncEvery bank you've linked, with the accounts it syncs, and your connection allowance. Covers the bank connection limit and when unlinking a bank frees its connection.
- Linked accountsPro SyncAn account or tracker that syncs its transactions and balance from a bank account. Covers what details are synced and what you can't add or change. How a transfer between a linked and a manual account is recorded, how pending transactions from the bank work, and how to delete a linked account.