Most budgeting apps are abandoned in week two, and it is almost never because the app was missing a feature. It is because the first session asked for an hour of setup before giving anything back.
So the order below is deliberately lopsided. Day one is five minutes. The rest arrives once the habit has something to stand on.
Day one: one account, one transaction
Add the account you actually spend from — the current account or the card, not all six. Then log the last thing you bought, from memory. That is the entire first day.
The point is not the data. It is proving to yourself that logging a purchase costs about ten seconds, because that belief is what decides whether you open the app on day three.
Days two to four: just capture
Log as you go. Standing at the till, on the walk out, on the bus. Do not categorise carefully, do not fix yesterday's mistakes, do not set up budgets yet.
You are building a reflex, and reflexes are damaged by anything that makes the action feel heavy.
Day five: add what repeats
Now add your recurring transactions — rent, salary, and the one subscription you always forget. Five is the free plan's limit and it is not an accident: those three cover most of the money that moves without a decision, with two slots to spare for whatever comes next.
Once they are in, the app starts telling you things you did not type.
Day seven: one budget, not six
Look at the week and pick the single category that surprised you. Set a budget for that one only.
Six budgets on day seven means six things to fail at. One budget that holds is a system; six that break is a reason to delete the app.
Ready to try it?