# How do I get started with Meses in my first month?

Your first month with Meses (meses.ai) comes down to four steps: connect your records, upload the bank statement for the same month, review the payments Meses leaves as suggested or needs review and, if you want, update your sheet with a plan you approve. Nothing is written before you approve it.

## In short

- Connect your sheet and choose a property and month.
- Upload the statement for the same month.
- Review the doubtful items; only then update the sheet.

## 1. What to prepare for your first reconciliation

- Have your records of residents, units and expected dues ready in Google Sheets, Excel or CSV.
- Download the original bank statement PDF for the month you want to reconcile.
- If you use Google Sheets, follow [how to connect Google Sheets](/en/help/connect-google-sheets).

## 2. Pick the property and month to start with

- Open “+ Reconcile a month” in the sidebar.
- Select the property and the month. Each reconciliation is saved for that combination.

## 3. Upload the two sources

- Add your records, then the bank statement PDF.
- Meses finds the records from the workbook’s structure; you do not need to rename sheets or change your layout.
- While it runs, you see real stages and counts, not invented percentages.

## 4. Review calmly

- Payments end up matched, suggested or needs review.
- Start with the pending ones: open each, look at the evidence, then confirm, reassign or classify.
- If something does not add up against the bank, the result says so instead of hiding it.

## 5. Update your sheet, if you want

- Open the change plan and choose the changes you want written.
- Meses writes to Google Sheets only the changes your team reviews and approves, and confirms each one was written correctly.
- If you are not happy with the outcome, you can undo the whole apply.

## 6. The following month

Repeat the process with the new statement. With your sheet up to date and last month's payments recorded, review is usually simpler. To understand the statuses, see [how Meses decides who a payment belongs to](/en/help/how-ai-matching-works).