Track expenses without it becoming a second job.

The minimum model

Six categories are enough for most people: Home (rent/mortgage + utilities), Food (groceries + restaurants), Transport (fuel, public transport, ride-hailing), Health (pharmacy, doctor, gym), Subscriptions (streaming, software, telephony), Bank (fees, cards, transfers). A seventh "Personal" bucket catches the rest (clothes, gifts, hobbies) and it's normal that it exists.

Every expense also has a cost kind: fixed, variable, subscription, bank fee, loan, other. This dimension is orthogonal to category: "fixed" is the dimension that tells you how much of your month is already spoken-for before you start, regardless of what you're paying for.

Why fixed vs variable is the right split

Your month's room for manoeuvre is in variable. Fixed is your minimum runway. If fixed costs are 60% of outgoings, you have little leverage month-to-month — leverage is in contracts, not "spend less at restaurants". If they're 35–40%, a week of austerity on variable can make the difference between a margin month and a no-margin one.

This isn't a judgement: some people prefer high fixed (mortgage that becomes equity, gym they actually use, software that produces income) and that's legitimate. But it's a choice to make with eyes open, not an ignored consequence.

Recommended workflow (15 min/week)

1. One fixed evening — e.g. Sunday. Open the app, check expenses not yet entered.
2. Statement + paper receipts — quick pass, batch 8–12 entries. The expense form is optimised for fast input (keyboard + tab between fields).
3. Confirm recurring — when the app suggests "this expense looks like a monthly subscription", confirm or skip. One tap.
4. Glance at dashboard — 30 seconds on the six KPIs. Nothing more.

Quick month estimate

Below is a minimal calculator: enter income and the main outgoings categories, see residual margin. When ready, click to continue in the app with values pre-filled.

Common tracking mistakes

• Categories too detailed. "Coffee", "sandwich", "supermarket" are all "Food". When you add a subcategory, think twice: information value grows little, effort grows a lot.
• Forgetting recurring. Subscriptions are entered once, not every month. In Balance Helper recurrent recognition suggests these items automatically.
• Entering every daily transaction. For 99% of people, daily expense lumping is enough. Fine-grained detail only makes sense if you're tracking a specific budget (e.g. "holidays").
• Trying to "fix" the previous month. If you don't remember an item from three weeks ago, let it go. An imperfect month beats an abandoned system.

Privacy

Data stays in local IndexedDB. No mandatory account, no tracking of amounts or descriptions. With Pro, sync between devices is end-to-end encrypted. See full explanation on the local-first privacy page.