21-day financial reset
Three weeks to go from “I have no idea where my money goes” to a clear picture and a plan that keeps itself running. The method is here in full and you run it with mPF, at your own pace and without paying anything to start.
Week 1 — See the reality, without judging it
Almost nobody knows where their money goes, and that is not a personal failing: the transactions are spread across several accounts and cards, and nobody has time to add them up. The first step of the reset is not to cut anything, it is to look. Connect your accounts in mPF with read-only access and let it categorise your spending over the last few months. By the end of the week you will have three figures you probably were not expecting: how much you actually spend, how much goes on repayments and how much is left.
- Connect your accounts and cards (read-only)
- Go through the categories for the last three months
- Write down your three figures: income, spending, repayments
Week 2 — Order by impact, not by urgency
With the picture in front of you it is time to decide what to move first, and the order matters more than the intensity. If you have expensive debt — revolving cards, quick loans — that is where the best-returning euro is: every repayment you clear frees up room every month. If you do not, the goal is the split: how much of your pay goes on what you need, what you choose and what you keep. The mPF calculators do this week's maths in a couple of minutes.
- Work out your debt-to-income ratio and attack expensive debt first
- Split your pay with the 50/30/20 rule
- Set a first buffer for surprises before any other goal
Week 3 — Automate it so it does not depend on your willpower
Resets fail in the fourth week, when the motivation runs out. The only defence is a system that needs no motivation: a scheduled transfer on payday, a goal with an amount and a date, and somewhere to see the progress without having to write anything down. That is what turns three weeks of effort into a habit that is still working in March.
- Automatic transfer on payday, not at the end of the month
- A goal with an amount and a date, not an intention
- Progress in plain sight, updated on its own from your transactions
What happens when the 21 days are up
Not much, and that is the idea: if you have done the three weeks, the system already works without you. The only thing worth keeping up is a short monthly review — ten minutes to check whether the split has drifted and whether the goal is still moving — which is exactly what mPF lets you do at a glance.
- A ten-minute monthly review is enough
- No spreadsheets to fill in by hand
- If something drifts, you see it before it becomes a problem
Frequently asked questions
Does the reset cost anything?
Starting costs nothing: the method is here in full on this page and you can create your mPF account, connect your accounts and see your situation free and without a card. The app has paid features, but the three weeks of the reset can be done on the free version.
Does it include personalised advice or sessions with someone?
No. mPF stopped providing one-to-one support to focus on the product: today there are no sessions, no consulting and no person-by-person follow-up. The reset is a method you run yourself with the app, which is why it is free and you can start today.
Why 21 days and not some other length?
Because it is long enough to complete the three phases — see, order and automate — without turning into an endless project. There is nothing magic about the number: if you need five weeks because your situation is more tangled, the method works just the same.
What if my situation is complicated (debts, garnishments, missed payments)?
The method is still useful for getting a clear picture, but a situation with missed payments, wage garnishment or a risk of insolvency needs specific professional help, and mPF does not provide it. In those cases it is worth going to a debt mediation service or a regulated professional.
Do I have to connect my bank accounts?
It is what makes the first week work without effort, but it is not compulsory: you can add products manually. The connection is made through an authorised provider with read-only access, we do not store your credentials and nobody can move your money from mPF.