Smartphone apps are the new, superior way to keep track of your expenses, replacing the old receipts-stuffed-in-envelopes system
EXPENSES. WE’VE all got ’em. Too much of them, mostly. If you ever need to reduce your outgoings or, heaven forfend, answer awkward questions about them in a tribunal, it’s vital to have a simple, systematic way of recording your spending.
The old-fashioned way is the envelope and notebook. Stuff your receipts for the day into an envelope that you keep in your pocket, or jot them down in a notebook. Throw the envelope in a shoebox at night. By making notes for every single cent you spend out of your pocket and totting it all up at month’s end, you will gain a bird’s-eye view of where your money goes when it leaves you. It’s basic and effective, but a bit cumbersome.
Whatever your source of income, you may wish to track how you spend it. Whether it’s your net wages or if, for example, by some chance, somebody in a bar hands you a folded-up newspaper with a couple of thousand in “walking-around money”, the streamlined way to keep track of that is with your smartphone.
Full-featured and totally free, the Android app Hello Expense has been downloaded and installed more than 100,000 times and scores top marks with users. It is simple and versatile, and dispenses with the need for a supporting website. You don’t even need an email to start using it, which is an attractive feature if you’re someone who is averse to owning accounts.
Add expense items under a category and also tag them for enhanced detail, such as a Utilities category, broken down with Electricity and Phone tags. You can also append little notes, such as the name of the horse you bet on or whose name the house is in. Hello Expense reports with an easily understood pie-chart – or you can export the data for further analysis into a free spreadsheet, such as you’ll find bundled in Open Office or the excellent Libre Office.
If your horse comes in, you can add the amount to your records as a minus (positive cash flow). The app also keeps track in several currencies, which is good for travelling or logging unexpected cash donations from relations living abroad.
The joy of using the smartphone is how quick and easy it is. The whole routine takes seconds, and if you make it a habit to tap them in as you walk away from the checkout, you’ll track expenses like a boss.
Staying with totally free solutions on a smartphone, for large and important items – such as receipts for farms or soft furnishings – use the phone’s camera to take a snapshot of the docket. You can quickly upload it to a free cloud storage facility such as Dropbox or Evernote. There are also free apps such as Cam Scanner to make a PDF out of your documents to email to your accountant or lawyer, should it be required.
Many smartphone expenses trackers will enable you to record mileage. This is important, as sometimes the subject comes up, as Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn well knows after his claim for €800 expenses for thousands of kilometres travelled during the quiet school month of August 2011 caused a stir.
In fact, the TDs of the 31st Dáil, while focused on the politics of austerity, racked up a staggering €6 million in legitimate expenses in the nine short months from March to the end of December 2011. The average of €36,000 for each of the 166 TDs is more than the average industrial wage.
For those with very large expense accounts, if they’re serious about reducing expenditure, a small investment in a little more sophistication is recommended to track the ebb and flow of money.
For a mix of mobility and analysis, there is a hugely popular app and web service called Toshl (who comes up with these names?). It is available on all known (and a few unknown) smartphones.
The free version is pretty basic, but for an annual subscription of €15 you get access to the full range of budgeting services. Toshl’s snazzy charts alone may be worth the price of admission, and if it is instrumental in bringing your spending down, then it’s an investment worth making.
Xpense Tracker, an all-in-one app for iPads and iPhones, does all of the above and more. Punch in your receipts, photograph and organise them, make PDFs and charts and keep it all together, ready to produce any time you’re asked by a judge or a forensic accountant. It is consistently ranked in top-10 lists of Best iPhone/iPad Apps, and is a snip at €4.99.
Of course, not everybody is equipped with a smartphone and nor should they be. Spendingdiary.comis one of the original free websites for tracking expenses. No configuration, no fuss, easy to use – the bare-bones approach is a really good way of holding a mirror up to your spending life.
Another aspect of personal finance is when you spot someone a 10, lend them a book or share a bill with them. Designed with room-mates and friends in mind, Tabsplit helps to keep track, sending email reminders to keep everybody well informed.
Spending less than you earn has never been more challenging. Keeping written notes of even your petty expenditure is the first step.
