Instruction Manual
Complete guide to
Ridgeline Budget.
This manual covers every screen and feature from first launch to closing your first month. Read it start-to-finish, or jump to the section you need using the table of contents.
Overview & Philosophy
Ridgeline Budget is built on one idea: budget for needs, fund wants from savings.
Every dollar you spend is either something you need (rent, utilities, insurance) or something you want (dining out, hobbies, travel). Your monthly budget covers needs. Wants must come from budget envelopes you've filled over time with surplus income.
At the end of every month, you either have a surplus, broke even, or ran a deficit. Surplus gets distributed to your budget envelopes. A deficit requires a budget withdrawal to reach zero. Then the next month begins fresh.
The main screens
| Screen | Purpose | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | At-a-glance snapshot of income, spending, and current surplus. Quick card-balance updates and a spending entry form built in. | Daily |
| Income | All income sources and deductions | When income changes |
| Expenses | Recurring planned expenses across all 12 months | Once a year, update as needed |
| Progress | Daily tracking - spending, wants, extra income, corrections | Daily |
| Budgets | Budget envelopes - balances, targets, and surplus distribution | Monthly review |
| Net Worth | Account balances (assets & liabilities), milestone targets, and projection tracking | Monthly update |
Initial Setup
When you first open Ridgeline Budget, a setup wizard guides you through adding your income, expenses, and budgets. You can skip any step and add information later.
Setup Wizard
- Spending SourcesAdd each credit card, debit card, or cash account you use for everyday purchases. These come first because the next steps let you attach expenses to them. They're also the sources you'll update daily on the Progress page.
- IncomeAdd each source of income. Enter the monthly amount and whether you depend on it every month. You can add irregular or variable income here too.
- ExpensesAdd every recurring bill in one list - subscriptions, insurance, utilities, loan payments. For each one, pick the spending source it's paid from, or choose "Automatic draft" for bills that leave an account you never spend from directly. Or download the CSV template, fill it in, and import it. You can also skip this and enter expenses in the Expenses Calendar later.
- Budget EnvelopesCreate your spending envelopes. Start with a few - you can always add more. See Chapter 5 for budget type guidance.
- EncryptionChoose whether to encrypt your data. Strongly recommended. See Chapter 9 for details.
Income
The Income screen is where you record every source of income your household depends on.
Income Sources
Add every source of income: salary, freelance, rental income, side projects. For each, enter:
- NameDescriptive label (e.g. "Day Job - Salary")
- AmountEnter the gross amount you expect to be paid.
- FrequencyWeekly, every 2 weeks, monthly, every 6 months, or yearly. The app converts any frequency to a monthly figure automatically.
- Depend on itToggle on for reliable income. Toggle off for variable income you can't guarantee. Only "depended on" income factors into your budget baseline.
- DeductionsAdd any number of deductions per source (taxes, 401k, insurance premiums). Each deduction has a label and amount. The app subtracts these from the gross to arrive at net income used in the surplus calculation.
Expenses
The Expenses screen holds every recurring bill for the year in one table. Each row is an expense and each of the 12 columns is a month. Enter the expected amount for each expense in each applicable month - leave a month empty and nothing is due.
Adding expenses
Click + Add to add a single expense. Choose which months it applies to and enter the amount. For expenses that vary by month (utilities, semi-annual insurance), enter different amounts per cell by clicking directly on the cell.
Importing from CSV
Click ⬆ CSV to import a batch of expenses from a spreadsheet. Download the template first - it shows the required format with example data. Fill in your expenses and import. The preview screen lets you review everything before committing.
The Source column
Every expense names a spending source - the account it is paid from. This single column decides how the expense is handled, and every recurring bill you have lives in the same table regardless of which it is.
- A real spending sourcePick a card or account you also spend from day to day. The expense is funded: money accumulates for it in the Expenses Calendar budget, it is seeded into Spending when the month closes, and it appears under upcoming bills with a Record Now button so you can enter what actually posted.
- Automatic draftLeave the source blank for bills that leave an account you never spend from directly - loan payments, insurance premiums, utility auto-pays. They still reduce what you have available to spend each month, but nothing is set aside for them and they never ask to be recorded. Enter them once and forget them.
The section header shows the split at a glance - a funded monthly figure and an automatic one - and the table foot carries matching FUNDED and AUTOMATIC totals under the overall TOTAL row, per month and for the year.
Credits and refunds
An amount can be negative. A refunded month, a credit from the provider, a reimbursed premium - enter it as a negative number and it nets against the rest of the row. This works in the grid cells, the add-expense form, the bulk amount tool, and CSV import. Only an amount of exactly 0 means "nothing due this month" and clears the cell.
(250) - are not read as a negative on CSV import. Use a leading minus sign instead.Advanced view
Switch to Advanced to group expenses by the account they sit on - a credit card, a checking account, a loan servicer - with a separate table per account. Grouping is for your own organisation only; what decides how an expense is budgeted is its spending source, not the account it is grouped under. Arrow keys move between cells within an account's table.
The Expenses Calendar budget
A special budget called Expenses Calendar is automatically created and maintained by the app. It accumulates a balance to cover the amounts you've entered. This budget cannot be deleted or edited - it's part of the core accounting system.
Only funded expenses are credited to it. An expense set to Automatic still reduces what you have available to spend, but no balance is set aside for it.
Budgets
Budgets are the envelopes that hold your savings and fund your wants. Three types are supported.
Budget types
| Type | Gets surplus? | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ Priority | Yes - gets its share first. Budgets with more headroom get more of this surplus. | Goals with a target: vacation, auto maintenance, emergency fund |
| Standard | Yes - shares the remainder. Filled either based on headroom or specified percentages. | Personal spending money, general savings |
| Skip Auto-Fill | No | Reimbursable expenses, budget-to-budget accounting |
Monthly Allowance
Each budget can have a Monthly Allowance - a fixed amount reserved from your spending money every month, separate from surplus distribution. The allowance is added to the budget's balance each month as part of the surplus calculation and is reflected in the budget's displayed balance.
Use allowances for budgets that need a steady monthly top-up regardless of whether you have a surplus - for example, a personal spending envelope or a recurring family contribution.
Surplus distribution
When you close a month with a surplus, it distributes in two stages:
- Priority fillA configured percentage (default 80%) of surplus goes to priority budgets, proportional to how far each is from its maximum.
- Standard fillThe remaining surplus (and any unused from step 1 if all priority budgets are full) goes to standard budgets.
The priority/standard split percentage is adjustable in Settings.
The Progress Page
This is your daily screen. It brings together everything to show one number: how much money is left over this month.
Spending Sources
Each source shows what you have spent on it this month. That figure is the sum of the entries charged to the account in the Spending list below, so the two can never fall out of step.
The field still works as a running total: type the new total and press Enter, and the difference is logged as a spending entry dated today. Click into any amount field to edit - the existing value is selected so you can type straight over it.
Because the total is built from entries, a correction means editing or deleting the entry that was wrong rather than retyping the total. It also means two people can record at the same moment without overwriting each other.
A spending source cannot be deleted while entries with a real amount are charged to it - those entries would otherwise vanish from every total while still counting against your surplus. Reattribute or delete them first. Bills sitting at $0 do not block deletion.
Spending
Every purchase goes in this list, and each one is charged to a spending source. What decides how it is treated is whether you attach a budget to it:
- Budget attachedThe amount is deducted from that envelope and left out of the net-spent calculation, so it doesn't count against your monthly target. A car repair from Auto, dinner out from Family.
- No budgetOrdinary day-to-day spending. It counts against your surplus like any other purchase.
The add form here completes the payee from what you have entered over the last six months, and filling one in brings its amount, budget, note and account with it - see Autocomplete in the Dashboard chapter.
Either way the amount lands on the account's total straight away, so your balances stay right. You can attach or remove a budget at any time by editing the entry - the amount simply moves between your surplus and that envelope, and the account total doesn't change.
Needs Review
Bought something and not sure which budget it belongs to? Enter the amount, pick the account, and tick Needs Review. The amount hits the account immediately so the balance is right, while the budget decision stays open - the entry is parked on the Dashboard until you settle it. This is the one case where the budget is optional. Pick a budget and untick the box to resolve it; the account total doesn't move when you do.
Bills and seeding
Funded expenses from the Expenses Calendar auto-populate here with a Record Now button for easy entry when the charge arrives. Expenses set to Automatic draft themselves, so there is nothing to record and they are left out.
Use the ⬇ Seed from Expenses button to populate this month's funded expense calendar items at once, each with a $0 placeholder. Seeding rebuilds only the entries attributed to the Expenses Calendar budget - anything you've logged against your own budgets is left alone.
The list runs oldest first, with anything not yet recorded at the top so the items still needing attention are the ones you see first. Use the filter pills above it to narrow by budget name or by payee; both filters work together, and the order stays the same either way.
Extra Income
Record any income that arrived outside your regular monthly income: bonuses, freelance payments, gifts, tax refunds. You can also use this to pull money from a budget to cover a deficit - select a "From Budget" to deduct from an envelope and add to the monthly calculation.
The Keep on Close option persists the entry into the next month. Use this for standing arrangements - like a regular transfer from one budget to another.
Manual Adjustments
Direct budget adjustments that don't affect the monthly surplus calculation. Examples:
- Reimbursement received - restore budget balance without creating income
- Budget-to-budget transfer - move money between envelopes
- Balance correction - fix a budget that drifted from the real number
Like Extra Income, entries can be flagged to persist into the next month.
Closing the Month
At the end of the month, after reviewing all sections:
- Confirm all spending sources are currentUpdate every card and spending source.
- Attribute your spendingReview the Spending list and attach a budget to anything that came from an envelope. Settle anything still flagged Needs Review.
- Handle any deficitIf the surplus is negative, create an Extra Income entry pulling from Expensive Months or another budget to zero the balance.
- Move variable income to the Amount fieldAny extra income entered in Notes as a placeholder should be moved to the Amount field now that the actual amount is known.
- Click Finish Month & Save to HistorySurplus distributes to budgets, the month advances, and funded expense entries from the Calendar populate Spending for the new month.
Bills you never recorded
If any funded expense is still sitting at $0 when you close, it's listed for a decision. Each one gets three choices:
- MoveShifts its scheduled amount onto next month. Use this for a bill that simply posted late.
- LeaveCloses the month as-is and lets the entry go.
- Make automaticClears that expense's spending source. It keeps costing what it costs, but stops being funded through the Expenses Calendar budget and stops appearing for recording - the right choice for a bill you've realised drafts itself. This takes effect from next month; the month you're closing is unaffected.
Dashboard Quick Actions
The Dashboard is your daily home screen. Beyond the at-a-glance summary of income, surplus, and favorite budgets, it has two built-in quick-entry panels designed for fast on-the-go use - especially on a phone.
Updating card balances
Each spending source (credit card or bank account) appears as a card with an editable balance field. Enter the amount you've spent since your last update - the app adds it to the running monthly total and recalculates the surplus automatically.
Adding spending items
A compact form at the bottom of the Dashboard lets you log a payee, amount, budget, spending source, and optional note. Tap the button to submit. This adds the item to the Spending section on the Progress page and applies the amount to the selected Spending Source. The most recently added items appear below the form so you can confirm what was just entered.
Payee, budget, and account are all required here - unless you tick Needs Review, which lets you log the amount and the account now and choose the budget later. Anything flagged that way is listed on the Dashboard until you settle it.
Autocomplete
Both spending forms - this one and the add form on the Progress page - complete the payee from what you have already entered. Start typing and a list appears of payees used in the last six months, ranked by how often you have used them and then by how recently. Choose one with the arrow keys and Enter, or by tapping it.
Choosing a suggestion fills the rest of the form from the last time you entered that payee:
- AmountWhat it came to last time. Overwrite it if this one differs.
- BudgetThe envelope it came out of - or the whole split, restored line for line, if it was split between several.
- Spending sourceThe account it was paid from, matched by name so it still resolves if you have deleted and re-added that account.
- NoteWhatever you wrote alongside it.
Picking a different suggestion replaces all of those together, so changing the payee changes the figures with it - you will never be left with one purchase's budget sitting under another purchase's name. A line under the field shows what the entry was filled from, with a Clear link to undo the fill in one click. Needs Review is never ticked for you: it records that this particular purchase still needs a decision, not something about the payee.
Nothing is active in the list until you arrow onto it or point at it, so pressing Enter still submits the form if you would rather type the payee out in full.
Simple Mode
If one person in the household manages the full workspace and the other just needs a quick daily check-in, enable Simple Mode in Settings → App → View Mode. Simple Mode hides the advanced screens (Income, Expenses, Progress) and makes the Dashboard the default home screen. Budgets, Reports, and Settings remain accessible from the menu.
Reports & History
The Reports screen shows historical data from closed months. Six chart types are available:
| Chart | Shows |
|---|---|
| Cash Flow | Net cash flow per month - total depended-on income minus automatic payments and total spending, plus extra income and manual adjustments. Positive means more came in than went out. |
| Monthly Surplus | Monthly surplus or deficit - the difference between planned available income and actual spending. Positive means under budget; negative means overspent. |
| Budget Balances | Running balance of selected budgets over time. Defaults to favorite budgets if any are set. Includes an optional total line. |
| Budget Flow | For a single budget: money in (surplus distributions, allowances, extra income, positive adjustments) vs. money out (spending, draws, negative adjustments) each month. |
| Budget Spending | Every entry attributed to a budget during the selected period. Filter by budget or by payee to explore spending trends and totals across closed months. |
| Net Worth | Month-over-month net worth from account history, with a dashed projection line extending forward from the last recorded month toward your milestone targets. |
The History page lists all closed months with their summary data. To undo the last month close, find the most recent entry and click Undo Close.
Net Worth
The Net Worth screen lets you track your complete financial picture - every asset and liability in one place. Net worth is calculated as total assets minus total liabilities.
Accounts
Add any account that contributes to your net worth: checking, savings, investments, retirement accounts, mortgages, car loans, student debt, and so on. Each account has a name, a current balance, a Liquid flag (for accounts you can access quickly), and a Track checkbox. Accounts with Track enabled contribute to the Projected line on the Net Worth chart in Reports.
Assets (positive balance) and Liabilities (negative balance) are grouped separately. Update balances regularly - monthly is a good habit - to keep the chart meaningful.
Milestone Projections
Set net worth targets for specific future dates. Each milestone row has a date, a projected goal amount, and an actual amount (fill this in once the date is reached). These milestones feed the Projected and Actual lines on the Net Worth chart in Reports, giving you a long-range view of where you're headed.
You can also set a label for the projection line - for example, a goal name like "Mortgage payoff" - which appears in the chart legend.
Settings
Workspaces & Collaboration
A workspace is an independent set of data - budgets, income, expenses, history. You can create multiple workspaces (e.g. household budget + personal tracking) and share a workspace with a partner.
Two ways to add a collaborator:
- Invite by emailSettings → Collaboration → enter their email. They receive an invitation and can accept to join the workspace.
- Create a partner accountSettings → Partner Account → set an email and temporary password. Your partner is automatically added to the workspace and prompted to set a permanent password on first login. This option is free. The encryption information will need to be added manually to the partner's device(s).
Passkeys
Passkeys let you sign in using your device's built-in authentication (Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello, PIN) instead of a password. They are more secure - each passkey is unique to this site and cannot be phished or reused.
To add a passkey: Settings → Passkeys → Add Passkey. Enter a device name (e.g. "My iPhone") and follow your device's prompt. You can register passkeys on multiple devices and delete any at any time.
Encryption
Three encryption options:
| Mode | Security | Key management |
|---|---|---|
| None | No encryption | No key required |
| Random Key | Strongest | Key generated automatically; must be transferred to new devices |
| Passphrase | Strong (depends on passphrase quality) | You remember the passphrase; enter it on each new device |
To share your encryption key with a new device or collaborator: Settings → Encryption → key transfer options. The key is shown as a QR code, a shareable link, or exportable text.
Backup & Restore
Export your data at any time from Settings → Data Backup. The export is a JSON file containing all workspace data. Store it somewhere secure - a password manager, encrypted cloud storage, or an external drive.
To restore, use Settings → Data Backup → Import and select the JSON file. All current data is replaced by the backup.
View Mode
Three modes are available in Settings → App → View Mode:
- StandardShows all screens: Dashboard, Income, Expenses, Progress, Budgets, Reports, History, and Settings.
- AdvancedGroups your expenses by the account that pays each one and enables bank account management. Use this if you track spending across multiple bank accounts and want them broken down separately.
- SimpleDesigned for the partner who only needs a daily check-in. Hides Income, Expenses, and Progress screens. The Dashboard is the home screen; Budgets, Reports, and Settings remain accessible.
Number Display
Choose how amounts are shown throughout the app - toggle in Settings → App → Number Display:
- DollarRounds all displayed amounts to the nearest dollar. Cleaner for quick daily scanning.
- PennyShows cents on all amounts. Useful when exact figures matter.
Spending Entry
This decides how the Dashboard asks you to record what you spend - toggle in Settings → App → Spending Entry. It changes the Dashboard entry forms only. No figure is calculated differently, and the Progress page is the same either way.
- Account totalsThe default, and how the app has always worked. The Dashboard shows the Card & Account Balances boxes and the two Quick Entry prompts, so you can keep an account's figure current without describing every purchase - and use the full Add Spending form only when something came out of a budget.
- Every purchaseHides the balance boxes and the Quick Entry prompts, leaving the full Add Spending form on screen as the only way in. The budget becomes optional there, so you can log a purchase and decide later which envelope it belongs to - or leave it as ordinary spending against your surplus.
Both modes write the same kind of entry, and an account's total is the sum of the entries charged to it either way. You can switch back and forth at any time; nothing already recorded changes.
Color Themes
Seven built-in themes are available under Settings → App → Color Theme:
| Theme | Notes |
|---|---|
| Standard | Default - green accents on a dark background |
| Clarity | Blue and orange - easier to distinguish for red-green colorblindness |
| High Contrast | Maximum contrast for accessibility |
| Warm Dark | Warm-toned dark theme |
| AMOLED | True black background, ideal for OLED screens |
| 8-Bit | Retro pixel-style color palette |
| Retro | Vintage terminal aesthetic |
You can download any built-in theme as a JSON file to use as a starting point for a custom theme. Custom themes (paid accounts) let you upload your own JSON color file - up to 20 custom themes per account.
Account Management
From Settings → Account you can change your password and permanently delete your account. Deleting your account requires typing DELETE to confirm - this removes all data from the server immediately and cannot be undone.
Plans & Pricing
The free tier requires a free account and works on a single device, with limits of 5 budgets, 2 income sources, and 30 expenses. A paid plan is required to remove those limits, sync across devices, or collaborate with a partner.
Syncing across multiple devices and real-time collaboration with a partner requires a paid plan. Two options:
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $3 / month | All current and future features |
| Lifetime | $35 | All current features and most future ones. Significant new features may require a separate purchase. |
The app has no ads and your financial data is never sold or shared.