Everything you need to run your budget.

Envelope budgeting in plain words

Every dollar you have gets a job. What that means, why money left in an envelope carries into next month, and what Mintro never does.

6 min

Your first month

Set up your budget, bring in your transactions from the bank, let your agent sort them, give your first paycheque its jobs, and read the Accounts screen.

8 min

Coming from YNAB

Mintro uses the same method as YNAB, with your agent doing the sorting. What each YNAB term is called in Mintro, how to bring your budget across, and what Mintro does not have yet.

7 min

Connect your chat

Add Mintro to claude.ai or ChatGPT as a connector, or give any other chat a key from the app. Then give it its first jobs, and learn how to switch one off.

5 min

Connect your bank

Link your bank on Plaid's page, tell Mintro what each of its accounts is, and choose which transactions are added. Then reconnect or remove a bank without losing your history.

6 min

Cover it and carry on

When an envelope is overspent, cover it with money from another envelope or from Ready to assign, and carry on with the month. Nothing breaks and nothing resets.

6 min

Filing with your agent

Filing means putting each transaction in its envelope. Give your agent a bank export, ask it to file the week, and check what it did, what it split, and what it left for you.

7 min

Payees and payee rules

Turn the bank's codes into names you recognise. A payee rule names every matching transaction for you, and can file it into an envelope too if you ask.

5 min

Credit cards, without counting spending twice

How a card's purchases move money into its payment envelope, how paying the card works, and how to see the card against its limit on Cashflow.

6 min

Earning card rewards without carrying a balance

Put everything on a rewards card and pay it in full every month from an envelope that already holds the money, so the points are the only thing you keep.

5 min

Your regular bills, set up once

Tell Mintro about the mortgage, the phone, and the streaming services once. Upcoming then shows what is due, and a bank transaction that matches a bill is counted as that bill.

6 min

Cashflow: your balance in the weeks ahead

See how much is safe to spend before payday, the lowest your balance will get, and how much you would be short if it goes below $0. Then find where to spend less, move a bill to a better day, test a change with a plan, and keep a cushion of money you always keep.

15 min

Cashflow alerts: hear before an account runs short

Get told before an account drops below $0, your Warning or Alarm amount, or a figure you choose: in the app, through your agent, or by email. Also hear about a late paycheque, a bill that is bigger than usual, and a weekly summary, and learn exactly when Mintro sends an email.

8 min

Reconciling with your bank statement

Tick the transactions your statement shows, check that the totals match, and lock them. What cleared and reconciled mean, and what it means when a locked total changes later.

5 min

Reports, and the age of your money

Four report tabs: what stood out, where your money went, your plan against what you actually spent, and how much you kept. Also how long your money sits before it is spent, and optional streaks.

5 min

Targets, in depth

A target is how much an envelope needs: every month, every week on a chosen day, by a date, as a balance to keep, or to pay off a debt. How to read the progress bar, fill every target at once, and assign money to future months.

6 min

Goals: what the budget is for

Several goals, in the order you want them funded. The kinds of goal, how each one shows whether it is on track, the monthly amount that reaches it, and a cushion of bills you always keep in your account.

8 min

Saving for a trip, a new roof, or an emergency fund

Set a target by a date, watch an envelope fill toward it, and use money Mintro finds sitting unused to get there sooner.

6 min

Planning for retirement

Write down your assumptions, see your savings projected at three rates of return instead of a simulation, and read the milestones on the way. Why your house is not counted as money to retire on.

9 min

Scenarios: compare changes to your plan

A scenario is a named set of changes to your plan, like a one-time payment, a different monthly contribution, or selling something. Compare scenarios side by side; nothing changes until you apply one.

6 min

Getting out of debt

Make a debt goal for each card or loan, choose which to pay first, add an extra amount each month or a lump sum when you have one, and apply the plan to your budget when the order looks right.

8 min

Planning for a windfall

An inheritance, a bonus, or a tax refund is coming. Add it to a scenario as a one-time payment, split it across your goals, and see how many months sooner each goal is reached.

6 min

Paying off the house

The mortgage is a loan on the house. Each payment, including extra principal, is a bank transaction. See the month you will own the house outright, and use a scenario to see how to bring it sooner.

7 min

What you own and what you owe

Record what you own with its price, and what you owe with its terms. See your net worth month by month, and link a purchase or a loan payment to the bank transaction that paid it.

7 min

Sharing one budget as a household

Start a household from your own budget, give each person and each chat its own key, see who entered every transaction, and use Activity to catch up on what everyone did.

6 min

Starting next year's budget from this one

Copy your budget's structure and only the accounts you choose. Envelopes, targets, bills, goals, and assumptions come across, and every envelope starts at zero.

4 min

A budget for the business

A separate budget for income that comes in uneven amounts, with its own accounts, a set of starter envelopes for a small business, tax set aside first, and a bookkeeper who signs in as themselves.

6 min

Tidying up, or taking your data with you

Close an envelope and decide where its money goes, delete an account, close a budget, and export every budget in one file.

5 min