Seraphim guide

The Get Started Guide

Not sure where to start? This is the whole setup, start to finish. It takes about ten minutes, and by the end your money will be on a calendar where you can actually see it.

What you need

Want to feel it before you set anything up? Tap Explore a demo first on the welcome screen. It loads six months of realistic data you can poke at, and you can start fresh whenever you're ready.

Chapter 1

Tell Seraphim how you get paid

Setup opens with income, because everything else hangs off it. Pick how you get paid:

Have more than one stream? Add them all. A salary job plus freelance on the side is normal here.

After-tax only. Enter your take-home amount, not your gross. Seraphim only cares about dollars that actually exist in your account, because those are the only ones you can save.

Chapter 2

Add your bills

Next come your recurring costs. One-tap presets cover the usual suspects (rent, phone, internet, car insurance, gym), and subscriptions get their own breakout so each service you pay for is its own line. The lump-sum "subscriptions" row is where forgotten charges hide, so Seraphim doesn't have one.

This step is where the app's core number is born. Seraphim takes your monthly take-home, subtracts your bills, and divides what's left across the days of the month. That's your daily drip: the amount you genuinely have to work with each day.

From the moment you finish this step, every day that passes quietly earns that number on your calendar. Income stops being an abstract monthly lump and becomes something you watch accumulate.

Bills change later? The Recurring tab in the side panel is their permanent home. Add, edit, or toggle any of them active and inactive to see what your life costs with and without.

Chapter 3

Set your starting point (optional)

Seraphim asks for one rough net worth figure: what you own minus what you owe. A guess is fine. Skip it entirely if you want.

This isn't a test, it's a starting point on a chart. Later, in the Net Worth view, you can add your actual assets and debts (accounts, investments, loans, the car), then press Check in every month or so to plot the line. Watching that line climb is the long game; the calendar is the daily one.

Chapter 4

Log your first expense

The setup walks you through your first entry, and it's the whole method in one motion: tap a day, type what happened, done. Coffee, $6.

The day's total updates instantly: your daily drip minus what you spent. Green day, you came out ahead. Red day, you didn't. No lecture either way.

Two honest rules the calendar lives by:

  1. Past days lock in. Money you've earned is real and stays on the board.
  2. Future days show nothing. Money you haven't earned yet isn't yours, so the calendar refuses to pretend it is.

That's it. There are no categories to assign, no envelopes to fill, no jobs to give your dollars. You log what happened, and the rhythm shows itself.

Chapter 5

Live in the rhythm

Seraphim works because of a small daily ritual. Here's the practice:

Log it when it happens

Typing "$47 dinner out" with your own hands is the feature. That tiny moment of friction is what makes the money real, and it takes five seconds from the calendar or the quick-add bar on your phone.

Glance at your month

The Overview panel keeps score: net flow, income so far, spending so far, and your savings rate. The savings rate is the number that matters most here. It's the percentage of your income you kept, and making it climb is the entire game.

Let the month close itself

When a month ends, it rolls into the Journal: income, spent, saved, and rate, month by month, with room for a note. Write one sentence about what happened. Future you reads these.

Estimate, then correct

Forgot to log for three days? Add one entry: estimated missed spending, $80. Expecting a car repair? Put it on the day you expect it. Offsets are ordinary entries used honestly, and they're how you keep the picture true without keeping receipts like an accountant. Never let perfect logging stop good logging.

Chapter 6

Good to know

Be not afraid.

Start your first month

Ten minutes of setup. A month of watching. A different relationship with your money.