Create your account and set up

Budget Smugglers runs at my.budgetsmugglers.app. Getting going takes three parts: an account, a pool to keep your money in, and a short setup wizard.

Getting an invite#

Sign-up is invite only for now. There are two ways in:

• Join the waiting list on the Budget Smugglers home page. When a spot opens, you get an email with a sign-up link.
• Get invited to a pool. If someone already uses Budget Smugglers, they can invite you to their pool. Their invite link lets you create an account.

If you try Continue with Google without an invite, you’re added to the waiting list instead, and we’ll email you when there’s a spot.

Creating your account#

If you came from a pool invite, the email address is filled in for you and you land straight in that pool. Otherwise you go on to create your first pool.

A banner asks you to confirm your email address. Do it: you need a confirmed address to reset your password and get email alerts. Resend email sends a fresh link if the first one has expired.

Once you’re in, add two-step sign-in or a passkey under Settings › Security. See Signing in and two-step.

Your first pool#

A pool holds your accounts, budgets and bills. Your first one is named after you (say “Sam’s household”), with its settings guessed from your browser. Check them before you choose Create pool:

Setting	What it does
Pool name	What everyone in the pool sees.
For	A household for personal and family money, or A business. See Pools.
Timezone	Decides when “today” and each month begin.
Default currency	Each account can still use its own currency.
Number & date style, Date format	How amounts and dates look.
Week starts on	For weekly views.
Financial year starts on	Used for “This FY” reports. In Australia, that’s 1 July.
Capital gains rules	Which country’s rules tax reports for shares and crypto follow.

You can change any of these later in Settings › Pool.

The setup wizard#

After you create a pool, the setup wizard opens. Each step is a short screen with one job. You can:

• Choose Done, next when you’ve finished a step.
• Choose Skip for now to leave it for later.
• Choose Finish later (top right) to leave the wizard and go to the dashboard.

Some steps tick themselves off once the pool has what they need, like when your first transactions arrive. If you marked a step done by mistake, open it and choose Not done after all.

What do you want to track?#

The first step, Pack the beach bag, lists everything Budget Smugglers can keep track of. Hover over or tap an item to see a short demo of it. Turn each one on or off with its switch, or with Track this and Leave it out under the demo.

Group	Items
Everyday money	Spending & budgets, Bills & paydays, Goals
Saving & debt	Savings, Loans & mortgages, Super
Wealth & net worth	Shares, Crypto, Home & car, Milestones

What you pick only shapes the wizard. If you leave out Savings, for example, the savings step is dropped. Everything stays in the app either way, so you can start on it later. Business pools don’t offer Savings, Super or Milestones here.

The other steps#

Step	What it’s for
Who’s coming?	Add the people in your household. They don’t need a login. See People.
Bring a mate	Invite someone to log in and help out. See Pools.
Pack the esky	Add your accounts. Tap a tile for each kind: transaction, savings, credit card, mortgage, offset and so on. Importing a statement can add them for you too.
Hands-free statements	Install the Sync extension in Chrome or Edge on a computer. The step ticks itself off once the extension connects.
Dip your toes in	Bring in your transactions. See Your first import.
Slip, slop, save	Add interest rates and bonus conditions to your savings.
Paddle out of debt	Set up your loans to see interest and when they’re paid off.
Swim between the flags	Add super funds to see where retirement is heading.
Sort the junk drawer	Pick categories for the merchants you see most.

You only see the steps your role lets you do. Business pools skip the people, savings and super steps.

Sorting merchants#

Sort the junk drawer shows one merchant at a time, busiest first, with a suggested category. Picking a category files every transaction from that merchant and remembers it for next time. Keyboard shortcuts make it quick:

• Enter takes the suggestion.
• 1 to 5 pick one of the quick categories.
• S skips the merchant, Z undoes the last one.

Anything you don’t get to can wait for the Transactions page. Auto-categorising explains how the app learns from what you pick.

Finishing later#

At the end, the wizard shows what’s done, what’s skipped and where to start on the things you picked, like Set a budget or Add bills.

Until every step is done or skipped, Finish setting up appears at the top of the sidebar and as a card on the dashboard. Choose Keep going to pick up where you left off.

Joining someone else’s pool#

When you accept a pool invite, a welcome message tells you your role. If the pool already has people set up, it asks Which of these is you? so your pay and super are matched to you. Pick your name, or skip it, and choose Let’s go.