Budget Planner helps you answer one question every month: where is my money going, and how much do I have left? This guide walks you through the short setup, explains the dashboard, and shows you what to do first.
What you'll learn
- How to complete the three setup steps
- What each part of the dashboard means
- The best order to add your first data
Step 1 — Complete the setup
The first time you open Budget Planner, you see a short setup screen instead of the dashboard. It has three steps: Budget Period, First Account, and Categories. You can move back with Previous at any time before you finish.
Budget Period
- Currency — the currency all your amounts are shown in. Check this field carefully, because it may not be preselected to the currency you use.
- Start Year and Start Month — where your budget year begins. Most people pick the current month.
- Budget Strategy — how you want to plan:
- Zero-Based — every dollar of income gets a job. Your aim is to plan your income all the way down to zero.
- Carry Over — money you don't spend rolls over to next month. You don't have to plan every dollar.
Your timezone is detected automatically and shown below the strategy cards.
Not sure which strategy to pick? Start with Carry Over if you're new to budgeting. You can switch at any time from Budget Settings.
First Account
Add the account you use most, usually your main checking account. Enter an Account Name, pick the Account Type (Checking, Savings, or Credit Card), and type your current balance into Opening Balance.
Categories
Leave Use default categories turned on to get ready-made groups such as Housing, Transportation, Food, Health, Subscriptions, Entertainment, Personal, Debt Payments, and Savings & Investments. You can rename, add, or delete any of them later.
Press Complete. You'll see "Setup complete! Welcome to budget management." and land on your dashboard.
Step 2 — Get to know the dashboard
The dashboard always shows your month, the current month by default. At the top are three numbers:
- Income — money that came in this month
- Spent — money that went out
- Saved — money you moved into savings
Each number has a small arrow that opens the page with the details.
On the right, the This month card shows how much you have Left to spend, how many Days left there are in the month, and how much that leaves you Per day. The Month gone and Budget used bars help you see if you're on pace. Below it, This month vs. plan compares what you've received, spent, and saved with what you planned.
Further down you'll find:
- Needs your attention — overdue payments that still need to be marked as paid
- Payments — what's Overdue, Due today, and Upcoming
- Account balances — every account with its current balance
- Analysis — income and spending by month, plus Where your money goes
Use Refresh at the top of the page to reload the numbers, and Payment calendar to jump to all of this month's payments.
Step 3 — What to do first
Your dashboard comes alive after a few minutes of setup. We recommend this order:
- Add your other accounts — savings and credit cards too. See Set up your bank accounts.
- Add your regular bills and income — rent, salary, subscriptions. Budget Planner turns them into monthly payments for you. See Track recurring bills and payments.
- Record everyday spending — groceries, coffee, fuel. See Add and manage transactions.
- Set your monthly plan — see Plan your monthly budget.
Everything in the sidebar is grouped into Overview, Planning, Analysis, Goals & Growth, and Intelligence. You don't need all of it on day one. The four steps above cover what most people use every week.
FAQ
Yes. You can change your budget strategy in Budget Settings, your currency under Account Settings → Preferences, and you can edit accounts and categories on their own pages.
Payments created from your recurring bills and income count as overdue once their due date passes and they haven't been marked as paid. Open Payments and mark them as paid to clear the list.
No. Turn the option off during setup to start with no categories, or keep them and delete the ones you don't need later on the Categories page.