They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Also, a bird in the hand is supposedly worth two in the bush. Now, we are not exactly sure how much a picture of a bush is worth to a bird, or what’s the current exchange rate for bushes to ounces of gold, but if you’re going to buy some, you might as well add a photo of the receipt next to your records of expenses in the Toshl app. It never hurts to have things recorded in detail, especially when it comes to personal finances.

Remember that adding extra information to either incomes or expenses is done by following the same steps. We will present an example for an expense, but you would edit an income in the same way.

The option to save photos with expenses and incomes becomes available with Toshl Pro or Toshl Medici subscriptions.

 

 

1. Selecting the Photos feature

Let’s say that we’re saving an expense during a road trip through Norway. Also known as “the land of reasonable price tags”, the country’s landscape is laced with fjords, and we took a ferry ride to cross one. The price was 120 Norwegian krone (sign: kr, code: NOK), saved under the category “Transport”, paid in cash.

To get to the Photos feature, we tap on the far right icon below the date tab to reveal additional options.

 

2. Attaching a photo to your expense

Tapping on the “Photos” icon reveals two options:

• Take photo
• Choose from Library.

You can either take a new photo of the receipt, invoice, payslip or some other document you wish to attach to your expense, or select an existing image from your photo library on the mobile device itself.

Tapping on the first option opens the Camera app on your device. Take a picture as you would normally do, and confirm the selection with the “Use photo” button on the bottom of the screen when satisfied with the result. For another attempt simply choose “Retake”.

The second option opens the photo library, where all you have to do is navigate to the desired image, select it, and it will get attached to your expense. You can add up to 4 photos for each entry.

The entry can then be saved and the photos will be stored next to your income or expense.

The file formats supported for uploading images are PNG, JPG and JPEG.

 

 

3. Reviewing saved photos

Images are available for review in the entries’ details. Select the expense from the overall list …

… and tap on it to bring up a detailed view.

You can edit the entry at any time by adding more photos or removing them altogether.

 

Besided the receipts you can, for example, also save photos of invoices and payslips next to your records of incomes. Attach pictures of documents such as warranties of products you bought, invoices for tax review purposes, and photos of actual products and services you had just documented.

 

It’s always better to store too much info about your financial flows than too little, and it will give you a chance to come back to your entries at a later date and easily remember what those expenses and entries were about.

 

Related articles:

• Add and Track Your Data
• Venues and Locations
• Repeating Entries
• Reminders

Toshl monster keeps his eye on your spending habits, taking pictures as proof. Say cheeeeese!

 

Considering all the responsibilities and information we have to juggle with every day, it’s no wonder that sometimes things slip our minds. Set reminders in your Toshl app to receive notifications about the expenses, incomes and transfers that will require your attention in the future, and keep those financial plans in check.

Setting up reminders with your incomes, expenses or transfers is done in the same way. We’ll review how to do it for an expense, but you would set up a reminder for other types of entries by following the same steps.

The option to set reminders becomes available with Toshl Pro or Toshl Medici subscriptions.

 

1. Selecting the Reminder feature

Let’s say that we have borrowed 50 € from a friend and we want to pay him back on April 6th. Because we have good manners, we will set ourselves a reminder, just to make sure that our debt gets paid on time.

After entering the amount, selecting a category and an account (we’ll pay cash) as well as the date, we continue downwards to the row of options under the Date tab. The option to set a reminder for our entry is marked with a tiny bell icon.

 

2. Setting up reminders

Tapping on the Reminder tab opens a list with the first reminder waiting to be set. The options are:

• One day before
• On the day it’s due
• Custom reminder
• Never

With first two selections the reminder is by default set for 11 a.m., and a custom option allows for a more specific time period. With it you can set exactly how many days, weeks, months or years before the expense is due you wish to receive a reminder.

The time setting allows you to set exactly when you’d like to be reminded of the expense.

It is possible to save 5 different reminders for each entry, with all the options turned on at once.

 

3. Reminder notifications

A notification about the expense will appear on your device at the specified time.

The number of notifications requiring your attention is also specified on the Toshl app’s menu icon as well as in the Monthly overview menu option.

Notifications can be turned on or off altogether in “Settings” – “Notifications”. In the menu you can enable for the notifications to also arrive by email, for those instances when an in-app notification catches you at a bad time and you have to quickly dismiss it. This way you will always stay on track with the upcoming bills and incomes.

The in-app notifications are simultaneously triggered in the Toshl app on your mobile device as well as in the Toshl web app online.

 

 

4. Paid / Unpaid function

When a reminder is active for an expense that’s due to be paid, a red dot appears in the entry details tab. The dot turns green when you mark the expense as paid.

The paid / unpaid status is shown only for your reference and it does not affect account balances and others sums. All entries up to the current date get registered in balances of financial accounts, regardless of the expense’s status and whether it has already been paid or not.

 

With incomes, the function is marked as “Received / Unreceived”, but otherwise works in the same way.

 

 

5. Reviewing entries with reminders

The entries that include reminders will be diplayed on the overall list with a  red dot, indicating that the expense hasn’t been paid yet.

The reminder information is also listed in the Expense details view. The setting itself can be edited at any time, in the same way as all the other specifications for your entries.

 

6. Reminders and repeats

Reminders are automatically set for most of the automatically repeating entries. The weekly, monthly and yearly repeats, as well as the custom repeats (except custom daily repeats) will automatically set two reminders to notify you of an upcoming expense:

• for one day before
• on the day the expense is due.

Such events are listed with the red dot, and also with the “R” icon that signifies repeats.

 

7. Daily reminder

A daily reminder to enter expenses is an option, available in the menu “Settings” – “Notifications”, right on top of the list. Here you can set an exact time when you’d like to be reminded to record your expenses for the day.

 

Whether it is regular expenses like utility bills and subscription services, unplanned short-term loans, or monthly transfers into your savings account, it is always better to be prepared than taken by surprise.

Make good use of bill reminders in Toshl iOS app for an even better control of your personal finances.

 

Related articles:

• Add and Track Your Data
• Venues and Locations
• Repeating Entries
• Photos

You can count on Toshl monsters to remind you to pay off your bills. How gently it’ll happen depends on your system settings … and their mood.