Review your transactions in Classic Mode.
In Classic Mode nothing lands in your budget until you say where it goes. Reviewing is that moment, and once Spense knows your merchants, most cards are one tap.
Tap the fish on the Spending tab
New transactions from your bank wait for you instead of going straight into your budget. The fish at the top of the Spending tab counts them: “Tap me! 3 transactions to review”, or “Tap me! 8 transactions need attention!” once there are more than five. Tap the fish.
The Home tab has a way in too. The 3 to review chip in the card at the top lists what's waiting, and tapping a transaction there starts Review at that one.
Review opens full screen. You see one transaction at a time, with a count (“1 of 3”) and a progress bar at the top. The × in the corner closes it whenever you like. Anything you haven't handled is still there next time.
Check the category and approve
Each card shows the payee, date, account and amount. Under Category, Spense has usually picked one already. If you've filed this merchant before, the pick is marked Suggested and the fish asks, for example, “Target again. Household, like last time?” A merchant it hasn't seen gets “New one: Target. Where should it go?” and no pick.
Under the category name is what's available in it for the transaction's month, before and after this one: “$300.00 now · $217.90 after this”. That tells you whether approving overspends the category.
To file it somewhere else, tap one of the quick picks under the category (your three most recently used), or tap Search or add a category. If the category doesn't exist yet, type its name, tap Create “…”, choose the group it belongs in, and tap Create. Then tap Approve, or swipe the card to the right.
Money in? Send it to Ready to Assign
A paycheck or any other money coming in is marked Income on the card, and Spense points it at Ready to Assign unless it has learned a category for that payer. The fish asks “Money in from Acme Payroll! Ready to Assign, or a category?” Approve it there and the money joins Ready to assign at the top of your Budget tab, waiting for you to give it a job.
Some money in belongs to a category instead. A refund from a store usually goes back to the category you spent it from, so pick that category before approving. It works the other way round too: the 💰 Ready to Assign option only appears for money coming in, so spending can never be sent there by mistake.
Fix details or mark a transfer
If something on the card is wrong (a cryptic payee, the wrong date, an amount that's off), tap Edit details. You can change Expense or Income, Amount, Payee, Date, Account and Memo, then tap Done. Nothing is saved yet: the hint under the card says “Edits save when you approve”, and the button now reads Approve & save. The available line under the category follows your edits, so a changed amount or date shows its real effect before you commit.
Moving money between your own accounts, such as checking to savings, isn't spending. Tap It's a transfer. It's approved without touching any category. If the other side is also waiting (the opposite amount, on another of your accounts, within three days), Spense approves both together and links them, so you won't see the second card.
Skip or reject the rest
Not sure yet? Tap Skip, or swipe the card left. It stays in the queue and comes back the next time you review.
Reject is for a transaction you don't want in Spense at all, such as a duplicate. It leaves your transactions and your budget and goes to More → Data Management → Rejected Transactions, where you can restore it or delete it for good.
Approving tells your budget where money went. The other half of Classic Mode is giving money a job before you spend it, and The Spense Method explains why the two go together. Not in Classic Mode yet? See how to switch.