Look for the small ⓘ icons next to headings, amounts and form fields. Hover over one (or tap it on a phone) to see a short explanation of that number or setting.
Confirmations and Undo
When something happens away from where you clicked (a dialog closes after saving, or a bill or transaction leaves the list), a short message pops up at the bottom of the screen to confirm it, with a small check that draws itself (it's simply shown if your device is set to reduce motion). For example: "Transaction recorded · Groceries · $45.00 · Sep 29". It fades after a few seconds, or you can close it with ×. In the phone app it comes with a light tap you can feel.
Some messages have an Undo button. It appears after pausing or archiving a bill, archiving an account, or hiding the setup checklist. Deletes ask you to confirm first, so they don't have an Undo.
The dashboard
The dashboard greets you by first name with good morning, afternoon or evening — worked out from your time zone setting — and a sunrise, sun or moon to match.
The dashboard answers four things, top to bottom: what needs you, whether you're okay right now, what Dimewell has noticed, and what belongs to each paycheck.
Needs attention appears at the very top whenever something needs you: an overdue bill, a shortage before payday, a manual payment due today. Each item is tagged Act now, Check or Note, with the most urgent first. It shows the three most important, each in a short line (for example Rent: draft not recorded.); View all reveals the rest. When there's nothing to act on, it disappears. On a wide screen it sits beside the balance, with the insights under it.
Balance and Remaining after bills
The top of the dashboard leads with one large number, your Balance: what's in your bills account right now, like your bank's available balance — posted money plus any pending transactions you've recorded (a pending paycheck adds, a pending payment subtracts). When pending items are included, the line under it says so ("Includes +$3,911.79 pending"). Under it, four smaller figures, two by two:
- Remaining after bills: what's left after every bill expected before your next paycheck and your cushion. It's the most you can move out right now without leaving a bill uncovered. The line under it says which cushion it keeps ("after your $200.00 cushion").
- Lowest: the lowest your balance gets before payday, and when.
- Still to pay: the bills still to pay before payday.
- Payday: your next payday.
Next to the balance is a one-line status, worked out by simple rules (never a score):
On track through {date}: nothing drops below your cushion through the end of the next paycheck period.
Cushion getting low: your balance is expected to dip under your cushion.
Short $X on {date} (before payday, with posted money) or Shortfall projected {date} (later, counting your expected paycheck): the balance is expected to go below $0.
Needs attention: something in Needs attention is urgent.
It uses money that's in your account: posted, plus pending transactions you've recorded. A paycheck you haven't recorded yet — even one due today — is listed under Not counted yet and never added.
Bills stay reserved until you record them as paid, including automatic drafts that haven't shown up yet.
Dimewell checks your balance day by day and uses the lowest point. If that goes below $0 you'll see a shortage and the date it happens, and Remaining after bills is $0.
The ⓘ next to Remaining after bills (How is this calculated?) opens the full working: where today's balance goes (bills, cushion, spending and savings), each line of the calculation, and Show the reserved items for each bill it holds back.
Bills due on payday aren't reserved from today's number by default: Dimewell plans by date, so that day's paycheck covers them (the calculation says how much that is). If the paycheck isn't enough for them, you'll see a shortage for that day instead.
Cash outlook
The line at the bottom of the pulse is your projected balance, day by day, from today through the end of the next paycheck period. It counts every bill still to pay and your expected paychecks, so it's a forecast, not money you have. Dots mark paydays and the lowest point, and a dashed line shows your cushion. Point at (or tap) any day to see what happens that day and the projected balance; with the keyboard, focus the chart and use the arrow keys. Without an opening balance or an upcoming paycheck there's no outlook, and Dimewell says what to add.
Dimewell insights
Up to three things Dimewell has noticed, from your own numbers — never guesses:
- Risk: a dip coming after your next payday that today's number can't see yet.
- Opportunity: money you can move. Move money opens the recommended split and the transfer form (below).
- Observation: for example, Next period is heavier — $3,039 scheduled vs $408 this period.
When there's nothing worth saying, the section doesn't appear.
Recommended split: spending and savings
In Move money, Dimewell recommends how much of what's remaining to spend and how much to save:
- Spending comes first, because groceries, gas and other everyday costs are needs. Dimewell works out what you usually spend per day from your transfers to spending over your last few paycheck periods, and covers the days until payday. Anything you've already moved to spending this period is taken off.
- Savings is whatever's left. If what's remaining doesn't cover your usual spending, you'll see how short it is, and nothing is recommended for savings.
- Until you have a full paycheck period of transfers to spending, Dimewell uses the weekly everyday spending estimate from Settings. Without either, it doesn't guess: it just shows what's remaining.
The text at the top of Move money explains exactly how the numbers were worked out.
Bills by category is on the Bills page.
Moving money to spending or savings
Open Move money from the opportunity in Dimewell insights (it's there whenever there's money remaining after bills).
- Choose To spending or To savings, then type an amount (or Use recommended) and press Preview.
- Check the result: your balance after the move and the lowest balance before payday. You'll be warned if it would leave bills uncovered, or if it's more than the recommended spending.
- Record move saves it in Dimewell. Then make the actual transfer in your bank. Dimewell doesn't move money.
Paycheck periods
The two cards show the current and next paycheck periods, from each payday to the day before the next (with the default 5th and 20th paydays: the 5th–19th and 20th–4th; paid every two weeks: the 14 days between paydays), Use Earlier / Later to browse other periods (Now brings you back).
- Each card shows where the period ends, then its income and bills in one line. The list of its paychecks and bills is folded away under N scheduled items (it also says how many need action); select it to open the list. At the bottom of the list, Full breakdown opens the full accounting (starting balance, other money in, debt payments, what's paid, the lowest point and more).
- The list runs newest first.
- Future periods include your expected paycheck, marked Expected. It isn't real money until you record it.
- A paycheck stays in the period it's for, even when it comes early: the 5th's paycheck that lands on the 2nd is still in the 5th's period (and its income), while your balance goes up on the 2nd. Recorded but still pending, it shows Pending; once it posts, Received.
- Each bill shows its date, name and amount first. Underneath, in small grey text, is how it's paid (Manual or Auto draft) and whether the amount is Estimated or adjusted this time.
- Badges appear only when something needs noticing: Overdue / Needs action (an automatic draft that hasn't been recorded), Partly paid, Pending, Paid, Skipped, Amount missing or Date change unconfirmed. A bill that's simply coming up has no badge.
- Each bill's ⋯ menu has Record payment (or Record draft for automatic drafts), which creates a payment already linked to that bill, and Adjust or skip this time, which changes just that occurrence. Once a bill is paid, only Adjust or skip is left. Paychecks that haven't arrived yet have a ⋯ too: Record paycheck (it's in your account, pending or posted — already filled in and linked), or Change or skip this time to move the expected date, change the amount, or mark that there's no paycheck this time.
Recording transactions
On the dashboard, the New button at the top has everything in one place: Paycheck, Bill payment, New bill, Transfer and Other transaction. Each opens its form right there, so you never leave the dashboard. The Transactions page has Record transaction too.
- Paychecks: record as soon as the money shows up in your account — even early, and even while it's still pending (tick It’s still pending; mark it posted once it clears). Pending money counts right away, like your bank's available balance. Dimewell suggests which expected paycheck it is; the quickest way is Record paycheck in that paycheck's ⋯ on the dashboard, which fills everything in.
- Bill / debt payments: always pick the bill under Bill, right under the type. It lists this pay period's unpaid bills, soonest first; choose Show later bills… to pay one that's due later. Picking a bill fills in what's left on it as the amount. A linked payment reduces what's left on that bill so it isn't reserved twice. You can link several partial payments to the same bill.
- Description is optional. Left blank, a bill payment is named after the bill and its due date (for example Rent · Oct 5).
- Transfers, other deposits, transfers in: just the amount and date. If you track the account the money went to (see Accounts below), pick it under To account.
- Adjustments: a correction, usually made when you reconcile.
The Balance column shows that account's balance right after each posted transaction: your opening balance (the bottom row) plus everything posted up to it, in date order. Same-day items follow the order you entered them. It stays correct when you filter the list, and the top row's balance is your posted balance (the account card also shows what's available with pending, when there is any). Pending items show no balance until they post.
Search finds transactions by description, by the bill they pay, or by amount: type 280 for anything from $280.00 to $280.99, or 280.75 for exactly that. Longer lists are split into pages (25, 50 or 100
per page).
Export CSV (in the ⋯ menu next to Record transaction) downloads a spreadsheet of your transactions for a range you pick (this month, last month, last 30 or 90 days, year to date, last year, all time, or custom dates), with each row's running balance. If you've searched or picked a type, you can export just those.
Reconciled history is protected. Once you've reconciled, transactions up to that date are marked Reconciled. Adding a transaction dated on or before it, or changing the date, amount or type of one of them, or deleting it, asks you to confirm first, because it would make that balance differ from your bank's. Anything dated today or later, pending items, and wording or notes are never affected.
You can edit any transaction. Deleting asks you to confirm, and a deleted payment puts its bill back to unpaid.
Accounts
Dimewell plans one account: your primary account — the one you pay bills from. Bills, paychecks and Remaining after bills all come from it. If you also want to keep an eye on the money you move out of it — savings, a spending account, cash — add those in Settings → Accounts, each with its own opening balance if you'd like Dimewell to track its balance.
- Make primary (the ★ button) switches which account Dimewell plans. Your first account is primary automatically.
- Once you have more than one account, forms ask which account a transaction happened in, and the Transactions page has a tab for each account. Each account's transactions are listed on their own, with their own running balance — they're never mixed together. Exports are per account too.
- Transfer to account moves money between two of your accounts. Record it once: it comes out of one balance and goes into the other.
- Anything in another account never changes your primary balance or Remaining after bills. A bill you pay from another account still counts as paid.
- Each account is reconciled on its own, from its tab on the Transactions page.
- An account with transactions can't be deleted — archive it instead: its history stays, it just stops appearing in forms. (To archive your primary account, make another one primary first.) An account with nothing recorded in it can be deleted, including the primary one. If you delete every account, Dimewell asks you to add one before anything else.
Debts
The Debts page tracks what you owe on credit cards, buy-now-pay-later plans and loans.
- Add debt with what you owe right now (from your statement or the lender's app) and the date. For a card, add its limit to see how much of it you're using. APR is shown for reference only.
- Payments from your bills account lower the balance automatically when the bill that pays the debt is linked to it: edit the bill, choose Debt payment, and pick the debt under Debt it pays down (or ＋ New debt… to add it there). You can also pick a debt when you record a payment. Pending payments are shown but don't lower the balance until they post.
- Log a new charge, interest, a fee, or a payment you made from somewhere else.
- Check balance now and then: enter what your statement says. Dimewell shows the difference (usually interest) and adds it as a dated balance check once you confirm. Nothing you've already logged is changed.
- The summary shows what you owe in total, what's scheduled each month on the bills that pay your debts, and your next payment. How much you've paid down appears once something has been — never a "0% paid down".
- Each debt shows its payment, when it's due and its rate in one line. When the bill that pays it has an end (a final payment date or a number of payments left), it also says how many payments are left. Dimewell never guesses a payoff date: interest and new charges aren't predicted.
- Each debt's page shows its balance over time and every change, with what you owed after it. Mark a debt paid off or closed from Edit; a debt with linked payments can't be deleted, so its history stays.
Reconciling
On the Transactions page, pick the account's tab and choose Reconcile (beside Last reconciled under the account's balance) and enter the bank's posted balance for a date. If it doesn't match Dimewell's calculated balance, look for a missing or mistyped transaction first. If you can't find one, you can create a dated adjustment for the difference (you confirm it first). Existing transactions are never changed. The same dialog lists past reconciliations, and the page shows when you last reconciled.
Notifications
The bell next to your avatar opens Notifications, with a small number when something's unread. For each message you can:
- Open it (it goes where the message points, and counts as read);
- Mark as read or Mark as unread;
- dismiss it with ×.
Mark all as read clears the count, and Unread shows only what you haven't read yet.
Messages about your account (like sign-in or changes to the terms) always come through. Product updates and tips are on until you turn them off: use Stop these on any message, or Notifications on your Profile (the Notification settings link at the top of the Notifications page takes you there). Each kind of message shows what's on in one line — for example On · In-app, Push; select it to choose In Dimewell, On your phone and By email. Account messages say Required · In-app · Push · Email: they can't be turned off, so there's nothing to switch. Dimewell doesn't send email yet. Your email choices are saved for when it does, and every email that isn't about your account will have an unsubscribe link.