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Starting a new money app can feel like a project you keep putting off. It does not have to be. The core of Where Is My Money comes together in about fifteen minutes, and this guide is the map. We will not re-explain every screen here. Instead, each step points you to a focused article that goes deep, so you can read only what you need and skip the rest.
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Here is the shape of your first fifteen minutes. Add an account, bring in some transactions, and set up a simple budget. That is the whole foundation. Everything else in WIMM, the debt tools, the bill tracker, the savings goals, sits on top of those three steps and is entirely optional.
Set up the basics
These three sub-steps are the part that matters on day one. Do them in order and you are done with setup.
Add your accounts
Accounts are the foundation, because your budgets and dashboard read from the transactions that flow through them. You can link a bank automatically or add an account by hand, and you can mix both freely. Our guide on setting up your accounts walks through the account types and why WIMM keeps them separate. If you want the automatic route, connecting with Plaid covers the linked sync, which is a Premium feature.
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Bring in your transactions
If you linked a bank with Plaid, your transactions land on their own and you can skip ahead. If you went manual, or your bank is one Plaid does not reach cleanly, you bring transactions in from a file. WIMM accepts CSV, Excel, and OFX exports from almost any bank. The walkthrough on importing without Plaid shows exactly how, including how WIMM maps the columns so you do not have to format anything by hand.
Build a simple budget
With a few weeks of transactions in place, a budget takes shape fast. Pick the handful of categories where you actually spend real money and set a target for each. Start with how budgets work for the two budgeting modes (standard targets and the envelope method), then read your first month for a day-by-day plan that keeps the first thirty days feeling like progress instead of homework.
New to budgeting? This short explainer covers the basics.
Explore next
Once the basics are in, you can stop. That is already enough to see where your money goes. Everything else in WIMM is built around those three basics and is entirely optional, so turn on only the tools that apply to you.
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If you carry debt, the Debt Reducer models a real payoff plan. See pay off credit cards faster for the full picture, and avalanche vs snowball for which strategy fits your situation.
For bills, WIMM detects recurring charges from your transactions and tracks their due dates so nothing slips. Read never miss a bill to set that up.
If you are saving toward something, set a target and a date and let WIMM track the pace. Savings goals you actually hit shows how.
Still deciding between snowball and avalanche? This short explainer lays out both.
Tip
Debts, bills, and goals are optional. WIMM does not assume you have any of them. Set up only what applies to you, and ignore the rest until it does. The basics above are all you need to get value on day one.
Then read your dashboard
Once your accounts and budgets are in, the dashboard is where it all comes together: spending pace, upcoming bills, net worth, and recent activity in one view. The dashboard tour explains what each card is telling you and how to act on it.
Ready to start
The fastest way to see all of this is to poke at a fully loaded version with sample data. Try the demo and click around without signing up for anything. When you want to set up your own accounts for real, sign in at app.wimm.money and run through the three basic steps above. Fifteen minutes from now, your dashboard will already be telling you something useful.
Try WIMM today
The demo loads with realistic data and no signup. See what this article describes in action.