User Guide

Getting started

BlackSquad Budget is local-first — no account or subscription is required. Your working copy lives in this browser. Optional encrypted sync can connect trusted devices without sending your passphrase or readable budget data to the server.

Best first 10 minutes

1. Add your main cash/bank account and starting balance.
2. Add any credit cards or loans you actively track.
3. Add your income for the current period, or set up a recurring income template.
4. Add recurring expenses/bills such as rent, internet, subscriptions, or school fees.
5. Make your first backup, then check the Overview to see available cash and safe-to-spend.

If you prefer to set things up manually instead of using the wizard:

1. Open the app and go to Settings → Period mode — choose Calendar month or Pay cycle.
2. Go to Accounts and add at least one bank or cash account.
3. Go to Income and record your income for this period.
4. Go to Expenses and add expenses as they happen.
5. Use Overview as your daily dashboard.

Setup wizard

The wizard runs automatically the first time you open the app. It covers the same setup you'd do manually, grouped into six focused steps. You can skip it and come back any time — Settings has an Open setup guide button.

• Step 1 — Welcome What the app does, a note that all data stays local, and a reminder to back up regularly.
• Step 2 — Basics Currency prefix (defaults to $, with examples like J$, US$, CA$, £, €), household mode (single or shared with a partner), and period mode (calendar month or pay cycle with payday date).
• Step 3 — Money starting point Optional: add your first bank account, a credit card you carry a balance on, and/or an installment debt. All three are optional — skip anything you're not ready to enter. The app also creates a Cash (Wallet) account at $0 if you do not already have a cash account, so withdrawals and cash transfers have somewhere to go.
• Step 4 — Budget rhythm Optional: set up a recurring income template (salary, regular pay) and a recurring expense/bill (rent, internet, subscription). Recurring expenses appear as upcoming obligations when due.
• Step 5 — Import (optional) Jump-start your transaction history by importing a bank or credit card statement CSV right now. Click Import a statement now to close the wizard and open the import modal, or click Skip to move on and import later from the Transactions tab.
• Step 6 — Finish You're set. A link takes you to the User Guide for a deeper walkthrough.

Backup & restore

Your data is stored in your browser's localStorage. It persists between sessions on the same device and browser — but it can be cleared if you clear browser data, use private/incognito mode, or reinstall your browser.

Saving a backup

Click Backup in the top bar (or Settings → Backup & restore). A regular .bsb BlackSquad Budget backup file is saved to your device. It is readable JSON underneath, but the custom extension makes it easier to recognize.

Choosing a backup folder

In Chrome or Edge, the backup modal can remember a folder you choose, such as OneDrive, Google Drive for desktop, Dropbox, a USB drive, or another safe location. Click Choose backup folder, pick the folder, then future backups can save there with one click.

If your browser does not support folder access, or if folder permission expires, the app falls back to the normal browser download behaviour. You can still move the downloaded file to cloud storage manually.

Encrypted backups

Backups can optionally be encrypted with a password before downloading. An encrypted backup file uses the .bsbe extension. The password is never stored — you must enter it again when restoring. If you forget the password, the backup cannot be restored.

Use encrypted backups when storing files in shared cloud storage, emailing a copy to yourself, or any time you want an extra layer of protection over your financial data.

Unencrypted .bsb backups remain available and are fine for personal use on a private device.

Backup reminder colours

• Blue means the app is giving you a normal reminder or noting that no backup has been made yet.
• Amber means your backup is getting old or you have meaningful changes that should be protected soon.
• Red means backup is urgent. Download a backup before closing the browser or continuing a long data-entry session.

Status indicator

The header says Auto-saved when your changes are saved inside this browser. The backup part of the status refers only to downloaded backup files. Auto-saved · No backup yet means the browser has your data, but you do not have a separate file copy yet.

Restoring from a backup

Click Restore in the top bar, pick your .bsb or .bsbe file, and the app loads your data. Encrypted backups ask for the password before restoring. Older .json backups are still accepted. Use this to move your data to a new device or recover from a browser wipe.

Using the same budget across devices

You have two options:

1. Encrypted sync: open Settings → Sync, start a sync group on one device, then choose I already use this app on the other device and enter the same sync key and passphrase. The established synced budget replaces budget data currently stored on the joining device. Sync is automatic while the passphrase is available, and you can also use Sync now.
2. Manual backup transfer: save a .bsb or encrypted .bsbe backup on one device, then restore it on the other.

For sync, use the same passphrase on every connected device. The passphrase cannot be recovered, so keep a backup and store the passphrase safely. For manual transfer, avoid entering data independently on both devices because restoring a backup replaces the receiving device's current state.

Encrypted multi-device sync

Sync is optional. The app encrypts your budget in the browser using your passphrase before upload. The server stores an opaque encrypted blob and cannot read your budget. Your passphrase is never sent to the server.

• Start or join a sync group from Settings → Sync.
• The sync key identifies the group; the passphrase decrypts it.
• Joining requires an existing synced budget. An unknown key will not create a new group from the joining device's defaults.
• Changes are merged by record and timestamp, with deletion markers preventing removed records from returning on another device.
• If you disable sync on one device, its local data stays available.
• Deleting the remote copy also disables sync on that device. Disable sync on other connected devices too, or one of them may create a new remote copy later.
• Backups remain the only recovery path if you forget the passphrase or lose access to every synced device.

Overview

Your daily dashboard. Check this first.

Budget Status Summary

The Overview shows category budget progress for the active period. Once you set category targets in Expenses, the summary counts categories that are on track, warning, or over budget, then lists compact progress bars worst-first so the categories needing attention rise to the top.

If no category targets are set yet, the summary shows a setup prompt instead of a row of zeroes.

Period review

When you view a closed period, the app offers a subtle Review period action near the period controls and on the Overview period card. The review is read-only: income, expenses, savings activity, obligations, category warnings, and estimated debt reduction in one calm summary.

Attention dots and comparisons

Small amber dots on tabs highlight areas that may need action, such as overdue obligations, a card statement due soon, a stale backup, or a goal behind pace. On mobile, a dot on More means one of the tabs inside the drawer needs attention.

When the previous period has recorded spending, the category breakdown can show a vs last amount beside each category. Red means spending increased; green means it decreased.

Insights

Automated observations about your finances for this period — savings rate, emergency fund coverage, timed savings-goal pace, high-rate debt warnings, category pace alerts, backup reminders, and obligation risk before period end. Insights update live as you add data.

Some insights are proactive: the app may warn that a category is trending over budget, that obligations are larger than available cash, or that debt interest is taking a meaningful slice of income. These are planning signals, not judgments.

To keep the dashboard readable, the Overview shows only the five highest-priority insights at a time. Serious warnings appear first, and duplicate messages about the same issue are suppressed.

Two proactive warnings are worth knowing about. If your spending rate suggests you will exceed income by period end, the app flags it once enough of the period has elapsed to make a reliable projection — it won't fire on day one from a single large purchase. If unpaid obligations are close to or above your available cash, it warns you before you spend money that is already committed elsewhere. Both warnings clear once the underlying condition resolves.

Upcoming obligations

Items due before this period ends, sorted by date. Pulled automatically from recurring expense templates, credit card due dates, debt payment schedules, and any one-time reminders you've added.

Each item shows three possible actions — pick the one that matches what actually happened:

• Record expense — the bill was paid and you haven't entered it yet. This creates an expense transaction and marks the obligation as done in one step. Use this most of the time.
• Mark paid only — you already entered the expense manually (or it was a credit card payment you recorded separately). This clears the obligation without creating a duplicate transaction. Use this when the expense is already in the ledger.
• Make payment — shown for credit card and debt obligations. Opens the payment or debt-payment form so you can record the transfer properly, keeping card and loan balances correct.

Credit card and debt payment forms pre-fill the amount from the obligation. Credit cards offer quick choices for Minimum, Statement balance, Current balance, or Other; debts offer Scheduled payment or Other. If you make a partial payment, the obligation stays visible with the remaining amount instead of disappearing too early.

Card alerts

Upcoming credit card payment due dates within 14 days, with the statement balance and minimum payment shown. Goes amber at 7 days, red at 3 days.

Transactions

A unified ledger of everything — income, expenses, transfers, card payments, savings activity. This is the full record.

Use the type filter to narrow by Income / Expense / Transfer / Card / Debt / Savings, and the date filter to view the active period, calendar month, last 90 days, or all time.

Use Search transactions to find ledger entries by description, category, note, account name, or amount. Search works alongside the type and date filters.

Rows marked Template were created from a recurring income or expense template. Deleting one row removes that occurrence only; the template can still create future entries.

Savings rows appear because they earmark money, but they are not income or expenses. If the row says the money was reserved in place, it changed your available-to-spend picture without physically moving cash between accounts.

Transfer entries have an Edit button to correct the date or note. Amount and accounts are intentionally locked on edits to prevent balance drift. If the amount or account is wrong, delete the row and re-enter it correctly.

Importing bank statements

Click Import statement in the Transactions card header to load transactions from a bank CSV export. All parsing happens locally in your browser — no data is sent anywhere.

You can also reach the import wizard from step 5 of the onboarding wizard — a convenient way to populate your transaction history right after setting up your accounts.

The import wizard walks you through four steps:

1. Setup — pick the account the statement belongs to, select your bank format, and upload the CSV file.
2. Column mapping — only shown when you choose Other — map columns manually. A preview of your file's first rows is displayed so you can identify which column is which.
3. Preview — review every transaction before anything is saved. Adjust categories, uncheck rows you don't want, and decide on balance handling.
4. Summary — see how many rows were imported, skipped, or excluded as duplicates.

Supported bank formats

• NCB Jamaica CSV — built-in preset. Export from NCB Online Banking: Accounts → select account → Transaction History → Export (CSV). The app automatically detects the transaction section, ignores metadata rows, and maps all columns.
• NCB Jamaica Credit Card CSV — built-in credit card preset. Purchases, fees, and interest can be imported as card-sourced expense history. Payments can be imported as transfers from a selected account. Cashback can reduce the card balance without counting as income. Refund/credit rows can be imported as balance-only credits or as categorised refunds that offset spending.
• FCB Trinidad Credit Card CSV — built-in credit card preset for the simple Date / Amount / Description export format.
• Other — map columns manually — generic option for any bank CSV. Enter the column number for date, description, and amounts. Works with Scotiabank, JMMB, or any bank that offers CSV export.

Duplicates

The app checks each imported row against existing transactions for the same account. Probable duplicates are marked in the preview table and unchecked by default. You can re-check any row if you believe it should be imported anyway. The summary tells you how many duplicates were excluded.

Duplicate detection is fingerprint-based and survives page reloads — importing the same file a week later will still flag the same rows as duplicates.

ATM withdrawals and loan payments

The import wizard recognises two special transaction types:

• ATM withdrawals (rows starting with "ABM" in NCB exports) are imported as account-to-cash transfers rather than expenses. A dropdown lets you choose which Cash account to transfer to. If you have no Cash account set up, the row is unchecked by default with a link to add one first.
• Loan recovery / auto-debit payments are flagged and can be linked to an existing debt. If you choose Update balances, the linked payment reduces the debt balance and records the full amount as principal. In History only mode, it is kept as a ledger record without changing account or debt balances. If no debts exist, the row falls back to a regular expense with a category dropdown.

Income rows

Rows classified as income (credit transactions) show an income-type selector — Reliable, Variable, or One-time — instead of an expense category dropdown.

Account balance

On the preview step, choose how the import affects your account balance:

• History only (default) — adds transactions to your ledger but does not touch account, cash, or debt balances. Best if your balances are already current.
• Update balances — adds transactions and adjusts balances to match. Best if you are building balances from this statement.

If the CSV includes a running statement balance, the preview can also offer: Statement closing balance is X — update this account to match? This is a reconciliation shortcut. It sets the selected account balance to the statement number after import instead of replaying the imported rows, which helps avoid double-counting when your app balance was already entered manually.

For credit card imports, imported purchases are treated as card-sourced expenses. They help your categories, spending history, and reports, but they do not reduce your bank cash. Card payment rows can be recorded as transfers from the account you choose. Cashback and balance-only credit rows reduce only the card balance and are not counted as income. Refund rows can also be imported with a category so they offset spending in the original category. If you choose statement balance reconciliation, credit/refund balance rows are skipped because the closing balance already includes them.

If the statement includes card details, the preview can also offer to update the card's statement balance, minimum payment, due date, statement day, and credit limit.

Category suggestions

The app uses keyword matching to suggest a category for each imported row. For example, rows mentioning SUBWAY or ISLAND GRILL are suggested as Food; rows with POS Tx Fee or GCT on POS Tx Fee are suggested as Bank fees. You can change any category in the preview table before importing.

If a suggested category doesn't exist in your category list, the row lands in Other.

Accounts

Where your money lives. Add chequing, savings, and cash accounts here. Credit cards go on the Credit Cards tab.

Transfers

Use the + New transfer/payment button to move money between accounts. Three types:

• Account transfer — moves money between two of your bank/cash accounts.
• Credit card payment — reduces your card balance and reduces your bank balance. Use this when paying your card. This is a transfer, not an expense.
• Loan/debt payment — pays down an installment debt. Splits into interest and principal automatically.

Credit Cards

Cards are tracked as debt, not spendable cash. Every purchase on a card raises the card balance. Every payment lowers it.

Fields to fill in for each card

• Current balance — what you owe right now (not just the statement).
• Statement balance — the amount you need to pay to clear the last statement and avoid interest. This is what the app uses for due-date alerts.
• Minimum payment — the minimum due if you can't pay the full statement.
• Credit limit — used to calculate utilisation percentage.
• APR % — annual interest rate. Used in insights and debt tracking.
• Statement closing day — the day of the month your statement generates.
• Payment due day — the day your payment must be received to avoid interest.

Billing cycle and grace period

A card cycle usually works like this: purchase, statement closes, grace period, payment due date, then interest if the statement is not paid in full. Purchases made after the statement closes usually fall into the next cycle, which is why your current balance can be higher than your statement balance.

When you pay a card from the Credit Cards tab or Upcoming Obligations, the payment form shows quick choices for Minimum, Statement balance, Current balance, and Other. Statement balance is the usual target if you want to avoid interest; Minimum is there for tight months, but it may leave the obligation partially due.

Utilisation

Shown as a percentage of your credit limit used. Colour-coded: green below 30%, amber 30–50%, red above 50%.

Cash advance

Record a cash advance when your card deposits money into your bank account. This raises the card balance and does not count as income — it's debt arriving as cash.

Income

Record income as it arrives. Classify each entry as Reliable (salary, fixed pay) or Variable (freelance, tips, side income). The Overview uses this to compare your expenses against your reliable income only — a useful signal if you're spending more than your stable pay.

Recurring income templates

Set up any income that repeats on a schedule. Income template entries are generated automatically for each active period — no re-entering the same paycheck every cycle. When a new period opens, the entry is already there.

Tip: Fill out the income form first, then click "Make it a template ↓" to pre-fill the template form if it repeats.

Partner income

Only visible when Household mode is set to Shared in Settings. Partner income is tracked for household context but excluded from your personal totals, available cash, and safe-to-spend calculations.

Expenses

Record any spending here. Every expense is assigned to an account — this determines whether your bank balance or card balance is affected.

Shared expenses

Mark an expense as Shared when you and a partner split the cost. Enter the full amount and set your share percentage (default 50%). Your share is used in your personal totals; the full amount appears in the transaction ledger.

Recurring expense templates

Set up bills that repeat — subscriptions, rent, internet, school fees. Unlike income templates, expense templates do not create transactions automatically. Instead, they appear as upcoming obligations on the Overview when due. You action them there: use Record expense to create the transaction, Mark paid only if you've already entered it, or Skip period when this occurrence is intentionally not due. Skipped rows remain visible with an Undo skip action if you change your mind. Tip: fill out the expense form first, then click "Does this repeat?" to copy details across.

Quick-save templates

For common one-off expenses that don't repeat — like a regular gas fill-up, weekly groceries run, or contractor invoice — save the expense as a quick template for instant re-entry.

To save: after filling out an expense (or editing an existing one), click ★ Save as quick in the form. You'll be prompted for a template name (e.g. "Gas $45" or "Costco run"). Duplicate names are blocked. To save from an existing transaction, click the transaction row and choose Save as quick template from the edit form.

Quick templates appear as chips above the expense form — just tap or click a chip to fill the form with that template's amount, category, account, and cost-split details. An × button on each chip lets you remove it.

Note: Quick templates are different from recurring expense templates. They don't repeat and won't appear as obligations — they're just shortcuts for fast data entry.

Category targets and pacing

Set a spending target per category for the active period. The table shows how much you've used versus how much of the period has passed. On mobile, the same information appears as stacked cards so the progress bars, status, and target fields are easier to read.

Monthly default is a reusable limit for a category. Set it once and new periods can auto-fill from it. This period is the target for the current active window only, useful when a category needs a one-off adjustment.

Progress bars show actual spending against the target. The thin marker shows how far through the period you are, making it easier to spot categories that are spending faster than time is passing.

Use Copy from last period to carry over your previous targets without re-entering them. This only fills in categories you haven't set a target for yet — it won't overwrite targets you've already set this period.

Savings & Goals

Track money you're intentionally setting aside.

Adding a goal

Each goal has a name, a target amount, the amount already saved, an optional monthly contribution, and an optional target date. The monthly contribution is how much you plan to add per calendar month — the app scales it proportionally for shorter pay cycles.

If you set a target date, the app shows whether the goal is ahead, on track, behind pace, due soon, or funded. It also estimates how much you need per active period and per month to hit the date.

The thin marker on a goal progress bar shows where you should be by today. If the filled bar is behind the marker, the goal needs attention.

Mark one goal as the Emergency fund to enable emergency fund coverage tracking on the Overview — it shows how many months of your average expenses the fund covers.

Allocate / Release

Record when you earmark money toward a goal (allocate) or return it to general use (release).

• Leave both accounts blank to earmark money without physically moving it — useful when you want to mentally reserve money already in your main account.
• Fill both accounts when cash is physically moving between accounts (e.g. from chequing to a dedicated savings account).

Reserved savings are subtracted from Available cash on the Overview — money earmarked for a goal is treated as off-limits to spend.

Goals breakdown by category

When allocating money to a goal, you can optionally tag which spending category the savings came from — this is useful in household budgets where multiple categories might be contributing to the same goal.

When you add a savings allocation, look for the Source category dropdown. Leave it blank if the savings came from general funds or if you don't want to track the source. If you pick a category, the Goals detail view will show a Sources: line listing each contributing category and how much it has added to the goal — for example, "Sources: Groceries $150 · Transport $50 · Utilities $25".

This makes it easy to see which parts of your budget are funding which goals, especially helpful for understanding how budget discipline in one area (e.g., spending less on groceries) translates into progress on a goal (e.g., emergency fund).

Debts

Track installment loans and personal debts — mortgages, car loans, personal loans. Credit cards are managed on the Credit Cards tab, not here.

Every loan payment is split into two parts: interest, which is what the lender charges, and principal, which actually reduces what you owe. Early in a loan, more of the payment often goes to interest, which is why the balance can feel like it barely moves.

Each debt shows:

• Monthly interest and principal at the current payment rate.
• Months to clear — projected payoff at the current payment.
• Interest only — shown when the payment doesn't cover interest (balance will grow).
• Loan progress bar if you've entered the original loan amount and start date.
• Ahead / behind schedule — compares your actual balance to where the amortisation schedule says you should be.

Payoff strategies

• Avalanche — pay off highest interest rate first. Saves the most money overall.
• Snowball — pay off lowest balance first. Gives the quickest psychological wins.

Pay minimums on all debts, then throw any extra cash at whichever debt is first on your chosen list. Extra payments go directly toward reducing the balance, which lowers future interest and can shorten the payoff timeline.

When a debt payment is due from Upcoming Obligations, the loan payment form can pre-fill the scheduled payment. You can still choose Other if you are making a smaller or larger payment.

Net Worth

A snapshot of what you own minus what you owe.

• Bank and cash account balances roll in automatically.
• Credit card balances and debts roll in automatically as liabilities.
• Add manual assets here — property, vehicles, investments.
• Add other liabilities here if needed.

A monthly net worth chart builds up as you use the app across periods. Watching this number grow is one of the clearest signs your budget is working.

Trends

Monthly bar and line charts showing income vs expenses, net worth over time, and category spending. Charts populate as you add data across multiple periods — they'll be sparse at first and more useful after 2–3 months of real data.

Settings

Period mode

• Calendar month — period runs from the 1st to the last day of the month.
• Pay cycle — enter your pay cycle start date and frequency. The period runs between paydays. Works with weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, and monthly custom frequencies.

Display preferences

• Compact UI — tighter row spacing for smaller screens or denser data.
• Currency prefix — prepended to all amounts. Defaults to $, but you can use examples like J$, US$, CA$, £, €. Changing this updates the entire app instantly.
• Household mode — enable to show Partner income fields on the Income tab.
• Start tab — which tab opens when you first load the app.

Tab order & visibility

Hide tabs you don't use and reorder the ones you do. Overview and Settings always stay visible. Changes save instantly.

Categories

Add, rename, or remove spending categories. Removing a category moves its transaction history to "Other" — nothing is lost. Renaming updates all past transactions automatically.

Import rules

Import rules are keyword-to-category matches used during CSV statement preview. Add rules like SUBWAY → Food or JPS → Utilities so future imports suggest better categories automatically. Default rules can be edited, deleted, or restored if needed.

Setup checklist

A quick overview of what's set up and what isn't. Complete items make the app's calculations more accurate. The Open setup guide button reopens the wizard at any time.

Form messages

If a form does not save, look beside the field that needs attention. The app shows validation messages inline so you can correct the exact account, amount, card, debt, or payment field that needs fixing.

Key concepts

What not to do

• Do not record credit card payments as expenses. Use Transfers & Debt Payments or the Credit Cards tab so the bank balance and card balance both update correctly.
• Do not record loan payments as regular expenses. Use a loan/debt payment so the app can estimate interest, principal, and the remaining debt balance.
• Do not use account balance edits as everyday bookkeeping. Editing a balance is for corrections only; normal activity should be entered as income, expenses, transfers, card payments, savings activity, or debt payments.
• Do not rely on browser memory alone. Download backups regularly, especially after setup, after big catch-up sessions, and before clearing browser data.
• Do not use private/incognito browsing for real data. Many browsers clear local storage when the private session closes.

Troubleshooting

The app opens blank or looks stuck

Refresh the page first. If it still looks wrong, try opening the guide and restoring your latest backup. If you recently uploaded a new version, clear only this site's cache if needed — but do not clear site data unless you already have a backup.

Restore says the file is invalid

Make sure you selected a BlackSquad Budget backup file, usually ending in .bsb or encrypted as .bsbe. Older .json backups should still work. If an encrypted backup will not restore, check that the password is correct. If the file was edited manually or downloaded incompletely, restore may fail.

The numbers look wrong

Start in Transactions and filter by the active period. Look for duplicate entries, wrong dates, or payments recorded as expenses. Most “wrong number” issues come from the right transaction being entered in the wrong place.

Mobile feels different from desktop

On mobile, tabs scroll horizontally and cards stack vertically. If something looks cramped, rotate the phone once or use the guide link to confirm where the action lives. Avoid private browsing for real data because storage may disappear when the session closes.

Tester feedback

If you're testing BlackSquad Budget, the most useful feedback is practical and specific. You do not need to be technical.

• Tell us where you felt unsure or had to stop and think.
• Send screenshots of any mobile layout that overlaps, clips, or feels hard to tap.
• Tell us if any number looks wrong and what you entered before it happened.
• Tell us if a label sounds confusing, judgmental, or too technical.
• Tell us what you expected to find but could not find.

Before testing with real numbers, make a backup after setup and another backup after any long data-entry session.

Frequently asked questions

My account balance looks wrong. How do I fix it?

First check the Transactions tab and filter to the relevant account — look for any duplicate entries or wrong amounts. If you find a mistake, delete the incorrect transaction (your balance will adjust back) and re-enter it correctly. If the balance is just slightly off from a rounding issue or a missing transaction, you can also edit the account directly in Accounts to set the correct balance — but note this overrides the calculated balance.

I recorded an expense on the wrong account. How do I fix it?

Delete the transaction from the Transactions tab (the account balance will reverse) and re-add it with the correct account.

My credit card balance is going up when I record expenses — is that right?

Yes. When you pay for something with your credit card, the card balance increases because you now owe that money to the card. Your bank balance doesn't change until you make a payment to the card.

Why is my "Safe to spend" negative even though I have money in the bank?

Safe to spend subtracts unpaid upcoming obligations due before this period ends — recurring expenses/bills, credit card statements, loan payments, and one-time reminders. If those obligations are larger than your available cash, Safe to spend goes negative. This is a warning, not a bug: you owe more than you have available right now.

I switched from Calendar month to Pay cycle and now my numbers are different. Why?

Pay cycle periods cover different date ranges than calendar months. When you switch, the active period changes, and the income and expenses shown are those that fall within your new period's date range. Your data isn't lost — navigate to previous periods and you'll see it all.

Can my partner and I use the same data on different devices?

Yes, by enabling encrypted sync in Settings and connecting both devices with the same sync key and passphrase. Changes are merged when sync runs. If both people edit the same record before either device receives the other's update, the newest edit wins, so avoid changing the exact same item simultaneously. Keep regular backups even when sync is enabled.

I cleared my browser and lost all my data. Can I recover it?

If encrypted sync was enabled and another connected device or remote sync copy still exists, reconnecting may restore the synced state. Otherwise, recovery requires a backup file downloaded before the browser was cleared. Browser storage itself cannot be recovered once cleared, so regular backups still matter.

An obligation still shows after I marked it paid. Why?

There are two ways to clear an obligation. Record expense creates a transaction and marks it done. Mark paid only clears it without creating a transaction. If neither was used — for example if you only added an expense manually through the Expenses tab — the obligation stays open because the app doesn't know those two actions are the same payment. Go to the obligation on the Overview and use Mark paid only to clear it without creating a duplicate transaction.

Should I use "Record expense" from the obligation, or just add an expense manually?

Either works, but don't do both. Record expense from the obligation card is the faster path — it creates the expense transaction and clears the obligation in one step. If you already added the expense manually through the Expenses tab, go back to the obligation and use Mark paid only to dismiss it without creating a second transaction.

Data & privacy

All data is stored locally in your browser's localStorage under the key my-budget-v4. No data is ever sent to any server. No account is required. No analytics are collected.

The only way your data leaves your device is when you download a backup file manually. That file goes wherever you choose to save it — it is your file entirely.

Regular .bsb backups are readable JSON inside the file, so treat them like sensitive financial documents. Encrypted .bsbe backups add password protection and are better when saving to shared cloud storage, emailing a copy to yourself, or keeping a backup somewhere other people might access.

Mobile browser note

The app works on phones, but it still depends on the same browser storage. Avoid private browsing for real data, and be careful with browser-cleaner apps or settings that automatically clear site data. If you add the app to your home screen, keep using the same browser profile and continue downloading backups.

Clearing your browser's site data will permanently erase your budget. Download backups regularly.