Tracking only works if it takes seconds and the data stays yours. These guides cover receipt systems, exports, backups and privacy — how to keep an accurate record of your money without linking a bank account or handing data to anyone.
Start with the guide on logging speed: if recording a spend takes more than a few seconds, tracking stops within a fortnight, and every other habit here depends on it. Then set up the export and backup routine — a year of records is worth protecting, and an offline app means the backup is your responsibility rather than a server's.
The privacy guides are worth reading before you connect anything to a bank account, whichever app you end up using.
One habit matters more than any setting: export a backup the same day each month, before you need it. A tracker you cannot restore is a year of typing waiting to be lost, and an offline app will never do it for you.