Getting started
Welcome! This guide takes you from a fresh account to your first working budget.
1. Create your household
Section titled “1. Create your household”Sign in at nestbalm.com and follow the onboarding steps. If a family member already uses Nestbalm, ask them for a join code instead — you’ll share one household and one budget.
2. Bring in your bank data
Section titled “2. Bring in your bank data”Nestbalm reads standard OFX/QFX exports from your banking app. Export your recent transactions and upload the file — Nestbalm recognizes duplicates automatically, so importing the same period twice is safe.
3. Review and categorize
Section titled “3. Review and categorize”New transactions arrive as pending. Nestbalm suggests a category for each one; confirm or correct them, and it learns from your corrections — the same merchant is matched automatically next time.
4. Build your first budget
Section titled “4. Build your first budget”Open the Budget page and assign money to your categories. Every category shows three numbers:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Assigned | What you planned for this month |
| Activity | What actually happened |
| Available | What’s left — including anything carried over from last month |
That’s the core loop: import → categorize → assign → spend with confidence.
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Learn the budgeting concepts behind the numbers.
- Set up transfer matching so money moved between your own accounts never counts as spending.