CuratedLedger helps you see what is safe to spend, plan for the months ahead, and keep your picture of your money up to date. Start with estimates, then refine them as you go.
Getting Started
On your first visit, the app asks about your available cash, regular costs, everyday spending, occasional costs, recent income, safety buffer, and optional savings target. Enter what you know and skip anything you are unsure about. You can change these figures later.
The five tabs are Overview, Projections, Money, Update, and More. Most of your planning figures live in Money; Update is for checking what actually happened.
Adding Income and Costs
- Open Money and tap Add (+).
- Choose what to add:
- Recurring expense for a cost you expect regularly, such as rent or a phone contract.
- Irregular allowance for a cost that comes up occasionally, such as repairs or gifts. Enter a yearly amount.
- Income received or expected for a dated payment.
- Recurring income for income you expect on an ongoing basis.
- Fill in the details and save. Tap an existing item in Money to review or edit it.
Use More → Categories to add or rename spending categories. A category that is already in use cannot be deleted until its items have been moved elsewhere.
Balances, Debts, and Reserves
Open More → Balances and reserves to add accounts, update their balances, record cards or loans, and set aside money for tax or a safety buffer. You can also reach your accounts from Update.
Safe to spend starts with your available cash and subtracts money already committed, debt counted against it, tax reserves, and the buffer you want to leave untouched. Tap the figure on Overview to see its breakdown. If it is negative, the app shows the size of the shortfall.
Reading Your Overview
Overview brings together your safe-to-spend amount, how long your cash may cover your costs, your usual spending, and the year ahead. Tap a headline figure to see what went into it.
The figures depend on the balances, income, costs, and assumptions you have entered. They are estimates, so update your records when something changes.
Exploring Projections
Open Projections to see how your balance may change over 8 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months. Tap a period below the chart to inspect its expected income, costs, and closing balance.
Use Assumptions to compare lifestyle modes and forecast scenarios. Confirmed only uses income you are sure of against costs you might face; Expected uses what you reasonably expect; Broader scenario includes speculative income. Changing these views does not rewrite your financial records.
To adjust what each lifestyle mode costs, open More → Lifestyle modes. Set different amounts for expenses that genuinely change between a leaner, normal, or more comfortable month. If every mode has the same amounts, switching modes will show the same result.
Doing a Check-in
Use Update regularly to bring your figures up to date. Choose Week or Month, then:
- Update today's account and debt balances.
- Record income that arrived. If none arrived, leave that period empty; quiet periods matter too.
- Enter rough spending totals for the categories you track. The grey figures are your estimates for that period.
- Add any unusual purchase you have already made.
- Add known upcoming costs or expected income so the projection can account for them.
Entries save as you type; there is no submit button. Use the arrows beside the period to review or fill in earlier weeks or months. When looking back, the app shows past income and spending; today's balances and upcoming items appear only in the current period.
Tap the information button on Update for a fuller explanation of each part of the check-in.
Importing a Bank or Card Statement
You can use a downloaded CSV statement instead of entering every spending total by hand.
- Open More → Import a statement or tap Import a statement in Update.
- Choose a CSV file from your bank or card provider. The app reads it on your device and shows the dates, transaction count, and money in and out before you import.
- Check that income and spending are the right way round. If the totals look swapped, change Spending is shown as a positive number.
- Open Transactions to place spending in categories or exclude lines that should not count. Open What repeats to review payments that may need to update your plan.
- If the app finds figures already recorded for the same period, choose whether this statement should replace them or be added alongside them. Check this choice to avoid counting spending twice.
- Tap Import. You can review previous passes under More → Statement imports.
Unplaced spending is not imported into category totals. If you choose to remember merchants, your category choices can help fill in future imports. More → Merchant rules lets you review those choices.
Profiles
Open More → Profiles to add another profile when you want to keep, for example, personal and business finances separate. Each profile has its own balances, income, costs, and forecast.
Once you have more than one profile, tap the profile name at the top of the app to switch. Combined shows an overview of all profiles; choose an individual profile to edit its records or view its projections and check-ins.
Savings, Reports, and Reminders
- Savings target: Open More → Savings target to enter an optional yearly goal and see the income your plan would need.
- Estimates vs actual: Open More → Estimates vs actual to compare your plan with recorded spending.
- Export: Open More → Export, choose a period, and share a PDF, spreadsheet CSV, or structured summary for an AI review. With multiple profiles, you can include every profile in the report; they remain separate.
- Weekly reminder: Turn on More → Remind me weekly if you want a check-in reminder on Sunday evenings. The app will ask for notification permission.
Sync and Privacy
Your ledger is stored on your device and syncs through your private iCloud account when iCloud is available. Sign in to the same Apple Account on each device to see the same ledger. Statement files are read on your device. Nothing is sent to another person or service through Export until you choose to share it.
Troubleshooting
My figures look wrong or out of date.
Check the selected profile, lifestyle mode, and forecast scenario. Then review your balances, regular income and costs, and recent check-ins. Tap a figure on Overview to see its calculation.
A statement import seems to have doubled my spending.
Check More → Statement imports and the affected period in Update. When importing a fuller statement for a period already recorded, review the Already recorded choice and use Replace if those earlier figures should be removed.
My ledger has not appeared on another device.
Check that both devices use the same Apple Account and that iCloud is enabled for CuratedLedger. Give syncing a little time, especially after a first install.
I am not receiving the weekly reminder.
Check Remind me weekly in More and allow notifications for CuratedLedger in your device's Settings → Notifications.
Why can I not add something in Combined view?
Combined is an overview of separate profiles. Choose a profile from the name at the top before adding or editing its records.
Need more help?
Read CuratedLedger Support, or email info@curateddesign.studio.