Kitty

The Kitty Guide

Kitty is a household money app. You tell it what comes in, what goes out, and which account each thing belongs to — it tells you what to move on payday, what's due, and what's left. It can't touch your money; it tells you what to do in your bank.

Live at kitty.bxlconsulting.co.uk. Works on phone (add to home screen for the app feel) and desktop.

Three ideas everything builds on

Envelopes. Every bank account or pot is an envelope. Bills and income each belong to one. An envelope whose own income doesn't cover its bills gets funded on payday from the one with the most spare.

Your month, not the calendar's. The month runs payday-to-payday (set the start day in Admin — e.g. 27th) and is named for the month it funds: pay landing 27 Aug pays September's bills, so 27 Aug – 26 Sep is "September". Every screen uses this month.

Plan vs actuals. The plan is what should happen. Actuals come from Monzo CSV imports, matched to bills by payee patterns — so Kitty can say "paid on the 29th", "not seen", or "this bill has quietly gone up".

The screens

  • Now — the month at a glance: what's left after every envelope is filled (including money carried over), alerts when a bill's real price has drifted from plan, each envelope's coverage bar, the payday movements to tick off, and the next bills due (tick to mark paid).
  • Bills — view-only register in three views: All items (the grid: name, description, provider, amount, day, frequency), This month (every bill with its Paid / Due / Not seen status — tap a pill to mark paid by hand), Calendar (a real month grid, bills on their dates).
  • Months — Plan: headroom per month for the next twelve and the running total, plus what actually happened each month vs plan. Spending: where the non-bill money goes, by category and merchant (only as fresh as your last import).
  • Movements — the transfers to make in your bank this month, computed from the plan and what's already sitting in each envelope. Tick each one off; the list resets itself when a new month starts. Add manual movements too.
  • Setup — the only place things are added or changed: Accounts (envelopes + bank), Income, Outgoings (edit rows in place; amount changes apply from this month forward, history is kept), Balances (see the rhythm below).
  • Admin (household admins) — CSV import, the month start day, internal counterparty names, and people: add members, set or reset passwords, promote/demote admins.

Setting up a household from scratch

  1. Sign in with the email and password your admin gave you. A brand-new household lands straight in Setup.
  2. Accounts — add each bank account or pot as an envelope; pick its bank (Monzo ones can import statements; others are plan-only).
  3. Income — each salary or benefit, the envelope it lands in, and its pay day.
  4. Outgoings — every bill: amount, envelope it's paid from, day of the month, provider. Add payee match patterns (e.g. "ovo") so imports can confirm payments automatically.
  5. Admin → Settings — set the month start day (your payday) and the internal counterparty names (so transfers between your own accounts don't count as income or spending).
  6. Admin → Import — upload a Monzo CSV (Monzo → Account → Statements & exports → CSV). Re-uploading overlapping exports is safe.
  7. Setup → Balances — enter what's in each account right now as last month's close, so the first month starts from reality.

The monthly rhythm

Month end (last day): open each banking app and enter the closing balances in Setup → Balances under "This month's close". They carry into the new month automatically.

Payday morning: open Now. The Movements list already knows the transfers to make — net of what's carried over. Make them in your bank, tick them off.

Through the month: tick bills paid as they go out (plan-only envelopes never confirm themselves); upload a fresh CSV every week or two so statuses and Spending stay honest; act on "plan looks stale" alerts by editing the amount in Setup — it applies from this month forward, earlier months keep their history.

People and passwords

Everyone changes their own password via the Password link (current password required, 12+ characters). Admins can set or reset anyone's in their household from Admin — a reset also clears a lockout (5 wrong attempts = 15 minutes). There is no signup page: admins invite members; households are completely isolated from each other.

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