How to reconcile your manual budget in Plumb

If the balance in Plumb differs from the money in your account, start with the recorded activity. Check missing purchases, the account and date on each entry, and transfers that may have been counted twice. Then use the account’s balance check if a difference remains.

This is a walkthrough for checking your records in Plumb. Plumb does not connect to your bank or import transactions automatically. The amounts below are fictional and use one currency throughout.

Start with one account and a clear comparison

Choose one tracked account, such as your cash wallet or everyday bank account. Compare the balance you recorded in Plumb with the actual balance for that same account. For cash, count what is in the wallet.

Use the same point in time for the comparison. A purchase recorded today and a balance checked before that purchase will not describe the same activity. If your bank shows both pending and completed transactions, check which ones are included in the balance you are comparing.

Keep other accounts separate for now. Matching a combined total can hide a purchase recorded against the wrong account.

Find missing or incorrect entries first

Review recent activity and compare it with your receipts or account activity. For each entry, check the amount, account and date. Look for a purchase or fee that you have not recorded, and for the same purchase entered twice.

For example, imagine Plumb shows 240 in a cash account, but you count 222 in your wallet. A receipt for an unrecorded purchase of 18 explains the difference:

Check	Amount
Recorded cash balance	240
Missing cash purchase	−18
Balance after recording the purchase	222

Record that purchase in the cash account with the appropriate category. The entry explains both the lower balance and what the money was used for. A balance adjustment alone would not tell that story.

If you are starting from scratch, the expense-tracking walkthrough explains how accounts, purchases and categories fit together.

Check transfers before counting more spending

A transfer between tracked accounts in the same currency moves money; it does not count as an expense in Plumb. Avoid also entering that transfer as income or a purchase.

Suppose you move 50 from a tracked bank account into a tracked cash account. The bank account goes down by 50 and the cash account goes up by 50. The combined amount across those two accounts stays the same. Recording an additional purchase for that same movement would count money leaving twice.

Check each side against the correct account. If there was a separate fee, distinguish it from the amount moved. This example covers transfers in one currency; it is not a currency-conversion walkthrough.

Use the balance check when a difference remains

After checking the entries, open the account and use its balance check to compare with your actual balance. If you need a balance adjustment, Plumb keeps it in your history. Review the change before confirming it.

An adjustment can bring the recorded balance into line, but it does not identify an unknown purchase or recover missing detail. Continue to record known transactions so your categories and history remain useful. The balance support steps provide a shorter checklist to return to later.

Review safe-to-spend separately

A matching account balance does not mean the whole amount is available for flexible spending. Bills, card debt, savings allocations and the amount remaining in your plan also affect Plumb’s estimate.

On Home, open Show the math to see what your wallet’s estimate includes. The safe-to-spend explanation and calculator includes a worked example and explains its limits. It cannot check your bank account or find transactions you have not entered.

Make the next check easier

Record purchases while the details are still clear, and return to the same account-by-account check when you review your wallet. Scheduled payments are recorded only when you confirm they happened, so review those too.

Your financial records stay on your device. Keep a saved, password-encrypted backup somewhere you can access if your phone is lost; Plumb cannot recover an unbacked-up wallet or a forgotten backup password. Follow the backup and restore instructions.

New to manual tracking? Read how budgeting without a bank connection works, including offline use and the responsibility of keeping entries current.