Minuteman Books — Personal finance

A good monthly routine

Start with accounts

Use Add account in the left sidebar.
Choose Checking, Savings, Credit card, or Loan, then enter the opening balance exactly as shown on your statement.
Select an account in the sidebar to switch registers.

Choose Add transaction. Enter the date, payee, category, optional memo, and either a payment or deposit — never both.
Use the status list to mark it uncleared, cleared, or reconciled. Click the circle at the left of a transaction to change its cleared status.
Use the pencil to edit or the trash can to remove a transaction. The running balance updates automatically.
Select Remember this category for this payee to use it again automatically.

Choose Categories above the register to create income or expense categories, choose a color, and optionally add a parent such as Housing: Utilities.
Use the pencil to rename or revise a category, or archive it when it is no longer needed. Previously used payees are suggested as you type.
Choose Plan & reconcile, then Split entry, to divide one payment or deposit among multiple categories. Each line must add up exactly to the original transaction.

Select Transfer beside Add transaction. Choose the destination account and enter a positive amount.
Minuteman Books creates one payment and one matching deposit, keeps them linked, and updates both if you edit, clear, or delete the transfer.
Select Recurring to create a weekly, monthly, or yearly schedule. Use the plus button beside an active item to enter it into the register and advance its next date.

Choose Plan & reconcile to open the money-planning tools.
For reconciliation, enter the statement ending date and balance, select the matching transactions, and complete only when the difference is $0.00.
For a budget, choose an expense category and a monthly amount. The progress bar compares recorded spending with that budget.
The 60-day forecast shows active recurring income and bills and the projected balance for the selected account.

Choose Import & reports above the register, then Bank import. Upload a CSV with Date, Payee or Description, and Amount — or separate Debit and Credit — columns.
Review the import list. Possible matches already in the selected account are flagged and skipped; only new rows are imported.
The Reports tab shows this month's income, expenses, net amount, spending by category, and net worth across active accounts.

In Import & reports, open Receipts & tax and choose a transaction.
Attach a JPG, PNG, WebP, or PDF receipt up to 10 MB. Receipts are kept in private storage.
Add a tax tag such as 2026 medical or 2026 charitable to keep deductible items easy to find later.

Choose Bills & plans above the register. In Bills, add each expected bill with its due date, frequency, amount, and reminder lead time. Active bills remain visible as in-app reminders.
In Rules, create a reusable matching rule for a payee or description, then give it a category and optional tax tags for consistent review of future imports.
In Saved reports, save a named spending, income-versus-expense, or net-worth report setup so its purpose is easy to recognize later.
For a credit card or loan, open Debt payoff, select the account, enter its APR, normal payment, and any extra payment. The estimate applies monthly interest in whole cents and assumes no new charges.

Choose More tools for the dashboard, goals, cash-flow, tax, investment, import-history, and printing areas.
Dashboard summarizes cash, debt, net worth, month-to-date spending, and upcoming bills. Goals track sinking funds against a dollar target and date.
Add an Investment account, then record holdings, shares, cost basis, current value, dividends, and allocation. Values are entered manually; this version does not fetch market prices.
Use Print / PDF and choose Save as PDF in the browser print dialog to keep a report outside the app.

Choose Export CSV to download the selected account's register, including running balances.
On a phone, open the account navigation with the menu button. Forms open as easy-to-reach bottom sheets.
Each signed-in person sees only their own accounts, transactions, imports, and receipts. Database security rules protect every financial record.
All monetary values are stored and calculated as whole cents, avoiding floating-point rounding errors.