Installing Cashfulness and creating your first accounting space
In short
You download the app from the website or the store, sign up with an email and a nickname, verify your email and give your first accounting space a name, a language, a currency and number formats. It takes a few minutes. The survey of your accounts, a snapshot of what you own and what you owe, is the subject of lesson 2: if you don't have your balances to hand right now, you can stop before it and pick up later.
This page goes with lesson 1 of the free video course "Cashfulness step by step". The steps are in the same order as the video, and the button names are the ones you'll see in the app.
Watch the lesson
1. Download the app
Cashfulness runs on iPhone and iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux.
- On a computer, start from the "Download" page on cashfulness.com: download the package for your system and install it.
- On your phone, go through the store: the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Google Play for Android.
There's one account and it works everywhere: you don't need a licence for each device. Your data lives on the server, so you can start on your computer and carry on on your phone.
2. The welcome screens
The first time you open the app there are four screens that explain what it does. Swipe through them or press "Skip". At the end, choose "Create Free Account".
3. Create your account
The screen is called "Create your account".
- Email: this will be your username.
- Nickname: the name the app greets you with. No first name or surname, and that's deliberate: you don't need to know who someone is to keep good books. Cashfulness doesn't profile its users and doesn't sell anyone's data.
- Password and Confirm Password: at least 8 characters, with one uppercase letter, one number and one special character. A password manager is the right place to keep it.
- The three required boxes: the terms and the privacy policy, confirming that you're at least 18 (or the age of majority in your country), and the approval of the clauses under articles 1341 and 1342 of the Italian Civil Code. This is where you give your consent: at sign-up.
- Press "Sign up".
4. Verify your email
"Check your email" opens. You'll get a message with a link to open: it proves the address is yours. Sometimes it takes a few minutes, and sometimes it ends up in your spam folder; if you can't find it, you can ask for another one with "Resend email". Once you've opened it, go back to the app and press "I opened the link, continue".
5. Your first accounting space
An accounting space is a complete set of books, kept separate from everything else: your accounts, your transactions, your net worth. You can keep one for the family and one for a project, and the figures never mix. How many spaces you can have depends on your plan.
On the "Welcome to Cashfulness!" screen, press "Start survey". The guided setup "Let's create your accounting space" opens, with its five stages at the top: Name, Settings, Survey, Preview, Confirm.
Name. Type it in "Space name", leave the optional note empty if you like, and press "Let's start". In the video the space is called Anna's Family.
Settings. On the "Your preferences" screen you choose:
- "Interface language";
- "Main reporting currency": the currency the app shows your totals in. It doesn't force your accounts into that currency: an account in euros stays in euros, and the app converts it for the totals;
- "Decimal separator", "Date format" and "First day of the week". They're kept separate from the language on purpose: you can use the app in English and see numbers the European way.
Then "Next".
6. Stopping and picking up later
The next stage is the survey, which needs about ten minutes and the balances of your accounts. If you don't have them now, on the "Let's snapshot your net worth" screen press the X at the top: "Pause for now?" opens, with three choices.
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| "Continue" | Closes the question and you stay where you are. |
| "Pause" | Keeps the draft: when you come back, you pick up where you left off. |
| "Discard" | Deletes the space and everything you've entered. This can't be undone. |
Common mistakes
- Pressing "Discard" to stop for now. To come back later the right choice is "Pause". "Discard" deletes the draft.
- Waiting for an email that went to spam. Check your junk folder. If you typed the address wrong, there's "Edit the email"; to get another one there's "Resend email", which becomes available when the countdown ends.
- Choosing the main currency with a single account in mind. The main currency only decides which currency you read totals in. Every account keeps its own.
- Using your full name as a nickname. You can, but there's no need: any name for the app to greet you with will do.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a licence for each device?
No. There is one account and it works on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux. Your data lives on the server, so whatever you record on one device is there on the others.
Why doesn't Cashfulness ask for my name?
Because you don't need to know who someone is to keep good books. To sign up, an email and a nickname are enough: the nickname is what the app greets you with.
Does the main currency force every account into that currency?
No. It is the currency the app shows your totals in. An account in euros stays in euros, and the app converts it for the totals.
The next lesson
Lesson 2 · The survey: accounts and opening balances. We pick the draft up where we paused it and add cash, investments, home, car, cards and mortgage, starting from today's balances. At the end you have your first balance sheet.
In the manual
The First steps chapter of the user manual covers your account, accounting spaces and how to find your way around the app.
Vittorio Giusti is an economist and psychologist, and he built Cashfulness.