Set up your first budget in Money Manager

Money Manager budgets are deliberately simple: one limit per category that applies every month, a warning at 80 percent, and a running total of what is left. This guide sets one up from nothing in about five minutes. It works the same on the web, iPhone and Android.

If you have not added any transactions yet, you can still follow along, but step one will be easier after a week of tracking. The seven-day audit is a good way to get that week.

Find your leaky categories

Open Reports on the web, or the Insights tab on the phone. Set the period to last month. The category breakdown shows each category's share of spending.

Ignore the large fixed ones: Rent and Mortgage, Bills and Utilities, insurance. A budget on rent does nothing because rent does not change. Look for categories that are both large and discretionary, where a decision on a Tuesday changes the number. For most people that means some of Food, Shopping, Entertainment and Transportation.

Pick two or three. Write down last month's total for each.

Open Budget Settings

On the web, choose Budgets in the sidebar. On iPhone, the Budget tab is in the bottom bar. On Android, open the menu, choose Settings, then Budget Settings.

You will see a monthly budget tile at the top, which is the sum of your category limits, and a list of categories below it. Categories with a limit sort to the top, largest first. Right now the list is empty of limits, so everything is in its default order.

Set a limit on one category

Tap the first category you chose. A keypad opens.

Enter a number that is about ten percent below last month's total. If Food was $740, enter 660. The point is a limit you can beat slightly, not one that proves you were right to feel bad. You will tighten it next month if it held.

Choose Monthly or Daily:

• Monthly sets one ceiling for the whole month. Best for Shopping and Entertainment, where spending comes in a few larger amounts.
• Daily divides the monthly amount across the days of the month and tracks each day. Best for Food and coffee, where spending is frequent and small, because it tells you today whether you are on pace rather than at the end of the month.

Save. The category moves to the top of the list with its new limit.

Repeat for the other one or two

Do the same for your second and, if you have one, third category. Then stop.

Every other category is still tracked. You will still see totals, charts and the share of spending for all of them. They are just not capped, which means fewer progress bars to watch and a budget you will still be looking at on the twenty-fifth.

Add your recurring bills

Budgets break on the lumpy stuff: the car insurance that bills twice a year, the annual software renewal. Put every recurring charge in the Bills tab now, including the annual ones.

Tap Add Bill, pick from the presets or type a name, enter the amount, the frequency and the next due date, and choose the account it is charged to. Leave the reminder on; you will get a notification two days before each renewal.

The Bills tab then shows what is committed this month and what is due this week, so those charges are part of the plan rather than surprises that blow a category.

Decide your 80 percent rule

When a category reaches 80 percent of its limit, Money Manager warns you and shows a projection of where the month will land at your current pace. The warning only helps if you already know what you are going to do when you see it.

For each budgeted category, decide one of these now and put it in the category note:

• Stop. The discretionary part of that category is done for the month.
• Slow. Anything over a set amount waits 48 hours before you buy it.
• Trade. Overage comes out of next month's limit, which you lower by the same amount.

That is the whole setup. Open the app on Sunday, glance at Budget Left and the bars, and apply the rule to anything in red. Adjust limits once a month by ten percent in whichever direction the month earned.

For the thinking behind the numbers, read how to make a monthly budget that holds.