Guides · Free, no account needed
Learn the
VONDO method.
Five moves, learned in order, each one shown inside the app. Read them here and run the method anywhere, on paper if you like. Nothing on this page is gated.
Start here
The Vondo Method, step by step
One walkthrough of all five moves, start to finish, before you go deeper on any of them.
Read the walkthroughThe five core guides
In this order
Each guide teaches one move, using only the parts of the app that move needs. The five of them carry a whole budget on their own.
- View See what you actually have You cannot steer money you cannot see. The first move is to put every account in one place, with its real balance, so you know the exact total you have to work with. Read
- Organize Give every dollar a purpose A total sitting in the bank is not a plan. Organize is where you give every dollar a purpose, deciding in advance what each one is for, until nothing is left unassigned. Read
- Notice Stay aware as the month moves A plan you never look at is only a wish. Notice is the daily loop: record what you spend, and let each category tell you where you stand before the money is gone. Read
- Direct Move money when life shifts Plans meet reality. Direct is where you stay in control when they do: you move money between categories on purpose, so a category in the red gets an answer instead of being ignored. Read
- Outlast Get a month ahead The goal is not a tight month, it is breathing room. Outlast is where you stop living on money that has not arrived yet and start spending money you already earned. Read
After the five
Once the loop is routine
Nothing here is required to budget well. Read one when you hit the thing it covers.
Going further
More of the method, and the money situations it has to handle.
Targets and Quick-fill You already know what each category needs. A target writes it down, so you stop deciding it from scratch every month, and Quick-fill applies your own plan in one pass instead of typing each amount. Credit cards A card purchase does not spend your money, it moves it. The dollar you set aside for groceries becomes the dollar waiting to pay the card bill. Recurring bills The same bill every month does not need retyping. Set it once, and Vondo reminds you when it is due and enters it in a tap, without ever moving your money on its own. Splitting a transaction One purchase, several categories. A supermarket run that is part groceries and part household goods does not have to land in one pile. Paying off debt A loan payment is not one expense. Part of it kills the balance, part of it is the price of borrowing. Vondo splits the two so you watch the debt actually shrink. Reports The budget tells you where money should go. Reports tell you where it actually went, across months, so you can plan from what is true instead of what you hoped. Budgeting together A budget shared by a couple or a family only works if everyone is looking at the same numbers. Vondo lets you budget together in one shared household, updated by everyone, in sync. Reconciliation Your budget is only as true as it matches your bank. Reconciliation is the check: line Vondo up against a statement so you can trust every number under it. Search and filters When you need to find something, how much you spent at one store, every transaction over a hundred, filters get you there in seconds, and the questions you ask often can be saved to a tap.
Running Vondo
Get your data in and out, keep it tidy, keep the account safe.
Import and export Bring a whole account’s history into Vondo from a CSV in a few steps. And whatever you put in, you can take back out whenever you want, your data is never locked in. Keep categories and payees tidy Category and payee lists drift over time. Tidying up is safe, deleting a category or payee never deletes its history, it just moves that history somewhere you choose. Secure your account Your budget is a map of your life. A strong password and two-factor authentication keep it yours, and take about two minutes to set up.
Read one guide, then do the move.
The guides are written to be followed with the app open beside them. Starting one costs nothing for the first 45 days, and no card.