Getting started with Dongip: a simple expense tracker setup

If you are starting with an expense tracker for the first time, the hardest part is almost never the math. It is the setup. Most apps ask for too much, too early, and you bounce before you see a single insight about your own money. Dongip is built to avoid that. This guide walks you through the five-minute setup that gets you from zero to a live, categorized view of your spending—on your own, with a partner, or with a group.

What Dongip is (in one sentence)

Dongip is a personal and shared expense tracker that syncs with your bank, learns how you spend, and lets you share accounts with a partner, roommates, or trip crew so everyone sees the same numbers in one place.

Step 1 — Create your account

Head to the sign-up page and create an account with your email. There is no credit card required to start, and the free plan covers personal tracking, categories, subscriptions, and basic reports. You can upgrade later if you want advanced features.

Step 2 — Connect your bank (optional but recommended)

The single biggest upgrade over a spreadsheet is automatic transaction sync. Connect your bank once and Dongip pulls new transactions in the background, assigns a category, and keeps a running total for every account. You will never again forget the $6.25 coffee or the $17 streaming charge, because you never had to type them in.

If you prefer to add transactions by hand, you can skip this step and still use every other feature of the app.

Step 3 — Set up categories that match your life

Start with five to ten categories—enough to be useful, few enough to stay consistent. A good starting set:

• Housing (rent, utilities)
• Groceries and household
• Transport (fuel, transit, rideshare)
• Eating out and coffee
• Subscriptions
• Shopping
• Health and fitness
• Fun and hobbies
• Savings and transfers

Dongip will learn from how you classify the first few weeks of transactions and start auto-assigning new ones. For a deeper take on picking categories that stay useful over time, see expense categories that actually work.

Step 4 — Add your first transaction

If you skipped the bank connection, tap the add button, enter the amount, pick a category, and save. That is it. If your bank is connected, your first transactions will already be there—just confirm the categories look right and move on.

Step 5 — Invite someone (for shared finances)

If you share money with a partner, roommate, or travel group, create a shared account and invite the other people by email. Everyone sees the same ledger, the same balance, and the same “who owes whom” math. No more screenshots, no more spreadsheets. If you are specifically splitting a household, the guide on how to split bills with roommates covers the common patterns.

Step 6 — Check your first report

Give it 48 hours of real transactions, then open the reports tab. You will see a daily, weekly, and monthly breakdown by category, plus the overall trend. A lot of new users have a quiet “oh” moment here—the first time subscriptions or delivery fees show up as a specific dollar amount instead of a vague feeling.

Tips that make Dongip stick

• Log or review daily. Two minutes a day beats an hour at month-end.
• Set a budget on one category first. Start with whichever one surprised you in the first report.
• Use shared accounts intentionally. Only put truly joint expenses in the shared account; keep personal spending separate.
• Review subscriptions monthly. Dongip flags new recurring charges automatically.

Frequently asked questions

Is Dongip free?

Yes. You can use Dongip for personal tracking, categories, shared accounts, and basic reports on the free plan with no credit card required.

Is my bank data safe?

Bank connections use read-only, tokenized access through a trusted aggregator. Dongip never sees or stores your bank password, and data in our database is encrypted. You can disconnect a bank at any time from settings.

Can I use Dongip without connecting a bank?

Absolutely. Bank sync is optional. You can add transactions manually, import a CSV, or both.

Ready to start?

Create your free account and you will be tracking spending—on your own or with a partner—in about five minutes. From there, the next article to read is tips for better budget tracking, which covers the habits that keep the system running on autopilot.