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What you'll do

A new Cashington ledger starts empty: no sample data and no accounts, only a handful of generic spending lines. Home shows a five-step checklist, Set up your ledger. In this guide you add your first account; the next three guides cover the steps after it.

Updated October 2026 · Cashington 0.2.3 · 5 steps · screenshots show an invented household

  1. Open Cashington

    On a new install, Home shows Set up your ledger with five steps: add an account, import a statement, add income lines, add recurring bills and close your first month.

    Cashington Home on a new ledger, with the Set up your ledger checklist at 0 of 5 done.
  2. Click Add an account

    It's the first step of the checklist. An account here is a record in your ledger, not a bank login: you type its name.

    The checklist's Add an account step: Checking, savings or a credit card. No bank login: you type its name.
  3. Choose the kind of account

    Accounts asks what kind it is. Click Money you spend from for checking, savings, a credit card or cash; its rows come from statements, a bank connection or what you type. Something you only track the value of is for an investment or retirement account, a loan or another asset or debt: it has no transactions, its balance counts on Net Worth, and a bank connection can update it.

    Accounts asking What kind of account?, with Money you spend from and Something you only track the value of, above the Everyday money and Net Worth only sections.
  4. Describe the account

    Type the account name, the bank and the account type (checking, savings, credit card or cash). The last four digits are optional, but they help Cashington match a statement file to the right account. Leave I import statements for this account ticked if you'll bring in its statements, then click Save account.

    The Add money you spend from form with Account name, Bank or institution, Account type, Last four digits (optional), I import statements for this account, Payment app, and Save account.
  5. Carry on down the list

    Back on Home, the first step is ticked: 1 of 5 done. Next is Add statements, then income lines and recurring bills, then your first month close.

    Home with the checklist at 1 of 5 done and Import a statement next, with an Add statements button.