Getting Started
Make the most of BudgetDaily
Start with one account and one budget. That is enough to begin. As the habit becomes useful, add recurring bills, one-off projects, analytics, savings goals, widgets, backups, and the deeper tools only when they help.
10-minute setup
The smallest useful setup
Add your main spending account
Create the account you use most often and make sure the starting balance matches your real account balance. BudgetDaily is designed to mirror real balances so missing or duplicated transactions show up as discrepancies you can catch and fix quickly.
Create one practical budget
Pick one category you want to control first, like Groceries, Eating Out, or Transport. A weekly budget is easiest to learn with.
Add recurring income or bills Optional
If you have regular salary, subscriptions, rent, or fixed bills, add them as recurring transactions so your daily limit accounts for committed money.
Log your first transaction
Add one real purchase or income item. Once transactions have categories, BudgetDaily can update matching budgets automatically.
Daily habit
A few seconds when money moves
Log your spending as it happens
Add a transaction each time you spend. BudgetDaily updates your balances and budgets in real time, so the more consistently you log, the more useful Today's balance becomes.
Check Today's balance before spending. It tells you whether each budget is ahead of pace, behind pace, or right on track.
Use quick entry. Long-press any category or account chip in the transaction form to save instantly after entering an amount.
Weekly review
Keep the system honest and useful
Compare balances. Check that BudgetDaily still matches your real account balances. If something is off, look for a missing or duplicated transaction.
Review budget pace. If a budget is always too tight or too loose, adjust the limit instead of forcing an unrealistic plan.
Look at recurring costs. Subscriptions and fixed bills shape what you can safely spend each day, so keep them current.
Check upcoming transactions. Future-dated transactions and date-pending items help explain why a projected account balance may differ from today's account balance.
Today's balance
The live budget number BudgetDaily is built around
What is Today's balance?
Today is the visible rolling balance: how much you can safely spend right now and stay on pace. It is calculated from budget earned so far, carry-forward from previous cadence windows, goal movements, recurring commitments, due scheduled one-offs, refunds, and spending.
Positive or negative: a positive Today balance means you are ahead of pace. A negative Today balance means you are behind; it keeps recovering by your Daily allowance even when that recovery crosses a cadence boundary.
Daily allowance: your budget pace after committed recurring expenses and any spread expenses for the day. A $70 weekly budget has a $10/day base pace; a $3/day subscription leaves a +$7 no-spend daily allowance.
Tomorrow: the no-spend forecast for what Today's balance becomes tomorrow if you spend nothing more in that budget.
Budgets
Track spending by category over a cadence
Each budget tracks one category, including an optional uncategorised catch-all, over a daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, yearly, every-weekday, or custom cadence.
Cadence windows are reporting and settlement buckets; they do not reset the live budget balance. Saved amounts and overspending carry forward into the rolling balance.
The spending ring in budget detail shows how much you've spent against the current total allocation, including carry-forward. Progress colour = within allocation. Warning colour = using carry-forward savings. Expense colour = exhausted.
Daily allowance shows the signed day-by-day guidance after recurring commitments and any spread expenses. Tap into the budget detail to see what makes up a particular day's amount.
Budget groups combine active child budgets and show a pooled Today's balance, Daily allowance, and Tomorrow forecast.
One-off budgets track a fixed total for a project or event. They show what remains across the dates you choose, but do not move money or guarantee it is available in your accounts.
Spread an expense when a large purchase should count across several budget days. The full payment still stays in Accounts on its real payment date.
Not budgeted highlights expenses with no active budget covering their category or date, so you can see what needs a budget instead of mistaking it for an account-balance change.
Accounts
Your financial picture in one place
The account balance shows the money currently in your account today. Future-dated transactions, pending one-off scheduled transactions, and recurring items that have not been recorded yet are excluded so the balance reflects what you actually have right now.
A ~ projected balance appears below your current balance when future-dated transactions or date-pending items are scheduled to settle. The tilde means it is a projection, not a confirmed amount.
BudgetDaily supports loan and investment accounts — net worth is calculated automatically across all types.
Adding transactions
Log spending quickly
Long-press any category or account chip in the transaction form to instantly save — no extra taps. Fill in the amount first.
Use recurring transactions for subscriptions and fixed bills — they are reflected in your Daily allowance automatically.
Analytics
Review the patterns behind the day-to-day decisions
Analytics brings together net worth, income vs expenses, spending by category, spending trends, Recurring Margin, Cash Projection, Future Transactions, and savings.
Make each period yours. Week, Month, and Year can each have their own card order and hidden sections, so the view stays focused on what you want to review.
Look ahead, not just back. Cash Projection and Future Transactions make upcoming bills, pay runs, and scheduled activity visible before they affect today's account balance.
Grow into power
Optional tools for when the basics are working
Savings goals and fund movements
Set targets for things you are working toward. You can link a budget so unspent surplus flows toward a goal automatically, or move available budget room between active budgets and savings goals when plans change.
Loans and investments
Add these when you want net worth, debt, and investment value changes in the same private financial picture.
Shared budgets and widgets Pro
Share read-only budget progress with someone you choose, or put budget and account balances, scheduled activity, and recent transactions on your Home Screen for faster check-ins.
Backups, CSV, and reconciliation
Use local backup and restore, CSV import/export, activity history, and reconciliation when accuracy and recovery matter more than a simple daily setup.
Tips & tricks
A few things worth knowing early
Enable iCloud Sync (Pro) to keep data across devices. Your data goes to your private Apple account — never our servers.
Use account tags to group accounts (e.g. Personal / Business) and filter your dashboard.
Link a budget to a savings goal — surplus at cadence end flows automatically to the goal.
Use Move Funds to shift budget room between active budgets or savings goals. It changes budget and goal balances only; account balances stay unchanged.