How it works
Plan your money before you spend it.
Nomad Budget is built on zero-based budgeting: income minus everything you’ve planned equals zero. Here’s the whole method, one step at a time.
Start with what you have
Add your accounts.
Checking, savings, cash, credit cards. Enter what’s in each one today. That total is the money you get to plan with: real dollars you already have, not a paycheck you’re expecting.
Accounts
Example accounts
Give every dollar a job
Assign until Ready to assign hits $0.
Rent, groceries, the card payment, the trip you’re saving for. Put dollars into each category until there’s nothing left unassigned. Savings count: a dollar set aside for an emergency fund has a job too.
October budget
Income $4,200
Bills
Everyday
Goals
Example budget. Bars compare what each job gets.
Spend from the plan
Log spending and see today’s number.
Add an expense in a few seconds and it comes out of its category. Nomad Budget spreads what’s left for everyday spending over the rest of the month, so you always know what you can spend today.
Today you can spend
Day 19 of 31$31
Left this month
$389
Days left
13, with today
Spent today
$14
$14 of today’s $31 spent · $17 left today
When life happens
Overspent? Cover it from another category.
A dinner ran long or the car needed tires. Move money from a category that has room and the budget balances again. No guilt, no starting over: the plan changed, so you change the plan.
Eating out went over
Plan ahead
Give big and irregular costs a target.
Car insurance twice a year, holidays, a trip. Set a target, weekly, monthly, yearly or by a date, and Nomad Budget tells you what to set aside each month. Auto-Assign can fill those targets for you in one tap.
Italy trip
$5,000 by next October
$2,085 of $5,000
Month 5 of 12 · February
Next month
New income, new plan.
When money comes in, it lands in Ready to assign. Give it jobs again. What you didn’t spend stays in its category, and your goals keep growing month after month.
November
New monthAssign it again, job by job, until it reads $0.
Questions about the method
Do I have to budget money I haven’t earned yet?
No, and you shouldn’t. You only assign money that’s already in your accounts. When the next paycheck arrives, you assign that.
What if I can’t get Ready to assign to exactly $0?
You always can: any dollars left over go to a goal or a buffer category. If it’s below $0, you’ve assigned more than you have, so take some back from a category that can wait.
Does it pull in my bank transactions?
No. You log spending yourself (it takes a few seconds), or import a CSV from your bank. Logging by hand keeps you close to your money, which is half the point.
How long does it take to set up?
About ten minutes for your first month: add your accounts, pick categories, assign your money. After that, a minute a day.
30 days free, no credit card. Then $4/month or $36/year.
Ten minutes to your first zero-based budget.
Start your 30-day free trial. No credit card, nothing to cancel.