Guide
Nested buckets, per-bucket instructions, limits, and more. Here's what you can do.
Every bucket has both a percentage field and an amount field. Type in whichever is easier and we'll work out the other.
Say your sample income is $5,000 and you type $500 for Investments. Investments gets exactly $500, and we save it as 10%. Enter a $3,000 payday later and Investments gets $300. Enter $6,000 and it gets $600. Your buckets scale with whatever lands, and that handles almost every situation:
If a bucket needs a set dollar amount each month, like rent at $1,500, put it at 100% with a $1,500 monthly limit, and add a leftover bucket next to it. Each payday fills rent first. Once it hits $1,500, everything else flows to the leftover bucket until next month. Here's more on why percentages work so well.
Tip: If you type a number over 100 in the percentage field, we'll ask if you meant dollars and fill in the amount for you.
Above each group of buckets, a small label tells you how that group adds up:
Nested buckets get their own label, so you can check each group on its own. Tap any label for a quick explanation.
Sometimes you don't want to set an amount to a specific bucket. A leftover bucket takes whatever's left after the other buckets at the same tier get their share.
Say Investments is 20% and Emergency fund is 10%, and you have a leftover bucket called "Fun money." If you enter $2,000 of income, Investments gets $400, Emergency fund gets $200, and Fun money gets the remaining $1,400. Bump Investments to 25% later and Fun money adjusts on its own. No math on your end.
You can have more than one leftover at a tier, and the leftover gets split evenly between them.
Tip: If your other buckets add up to more than your income, the leftover shows $0 and the running total shows how much you're over. That's your signal to rebalance.
How to add one: Open a bucket's menu, tap "New bucket," and pick "Leftover."
Set a cap on a bucket so it stops accepting money once it hits a target.
Useful for:
When you actually use the money (paid your rent, hit your goal), tap "Restart from $0" to clear the count and start fresh.
How to set one: Tap a bucket, then expand "More options" to find the Limit section.
Tip: When a bucket caps and there's a leftover sibling at the same tier, the extra flows there. If there's no leftover sibling, the extra is dropped, so adjust your percentages or add a leftover bucket so nothing's wasted.
The "Sample income" field at the top of the routine builder lets you preview what each bucket gets for a given income. Type in a number and watch the amounts update.
This won't add any income or create any transfers. It's just for planning. Try entering a recent income amount to make sure the split looks right.
Any bucket can have sub-buckets. For example, your 20% "Future" bucket could break down into:
The sub-buckets split their parent's share, not your total income. So if "Future" gets $400, Emergency fund gets $240, Investments gets $100, and Vacation gets $60.
How to add them: Open a bucket's menu (the three dots) and tap "New bucket."
Tip: A parent bucket usually doesn't need a transfer of its own, since the money goes to its sub-buckets' accounts. Turn off "Create transfers" on the parent. See transfer options.
Tip: Start simple. You can always add nesting later as your routine gets more specific.
Press and hold a bucket's name for half a second. A copy of the bucket lifts up under your finger (or cursor), and you can drag it wherever you want. Let go and it drops into that spot.
You can also drag a bucket into a different group. Drop it among another bucket's sub-buckets and it becomes one of them, bringing its own sub-buckets along.
Tap "Diagram" at the top of the routine builder for a visualization of your whole payday routine. Nested buckets fan out from the center, so you can see how the money actually flows at a glance. It gets more useful the more tiers you have.
You can type an income into the diagram and watch the amounts update. This is separate from your sample income, so feel free to try numbers without touching your saved setup.
Download: Tap the download button in the corner to save it as an image. Good for sharing with a partner, dropping into a doc, or keeping a snapshot before you rework your routine.
You can create more than one routine. This is useful if you have different income sources that need different splits, or if you want to experiment with a new setup without losing your current one.
How to use them: Open the menu (three dots next to the routine name) to create, load, or duplicate routines.
When you enter income, it uses your most recently loaded routine. To pick a different one, expand "More options" in the income dialog and choose it under "Routine for transfers."
Add notes to any bucket so you know exactly what to do on payday. They show up under that transfer on your payday checklist.
Good instructions are specific. Instead of "Put this in savings," try "Transfer to Marcus HYSA (ending 4521)."
How to add them: Open a bucket's menu and tap "Transfer instructions."
Tip: Include the account name so you don't have to look it up every time.
By default, every bucket creates a transfer when you enter income. But you can control this per bucket.
How to change them: Edit a bucket and expand "More options" to find these toggles.
Ready to try it out? ← Back to your buckets or get started.