Effectively managing your personal finances begins by keeping a good overview over your financial flows. That is why adding incomes and expenses into your Toshl app was made simple. We surely wouldn’t want you to be wasting your time, that’s something even money can’t buy.

This tutorial is for adding entries to financial accounts that you track manually. If you use connected financial accounts with Toshl Medici, the entries will fly in automatically as they show up on your bank / financial service.

 

For a basic expense all you need to do is: enter the amount, select a category and click Save. All done.

Toshl also enables you to add richer data, automate the entries or get reminded about them. There are quite a few useful tricks along the way. Let’s take a more detailed look on how to add incomes and expenses in the Toshl web app.

 

 

1. Add a new expense or income

Both options are located in the menu on the left side of the screen. Navigate to either one and click the large “+” button in the bottom right corner for a new entry; a red one for expenses and a green one for incomes.

Remember, after selecting either the income or expense, both follow the same steps and include the same options. Here, we will present an example for entering a new expense.

 

 

2. Adding an expense

2.1 The amount

Click the “+” button in the bottom right corner and a new window will pop up. You can then enter the amount of the expense.

Use a decimal separator when necessary. Decimal separator is either a point or a comma. You can use either. Which one is used primarily in the forms and with the display of sums in Toshl depends on your regional formatting setting. Check the Regional Settings guide for more details.

 

Make sure to use the correct currency. Clicking the currency symbol, for example the $ or € sign‚ will open a menu with all the currencies available in Toshl. Whichever currency you used when saving the last expense will remain the default currency until you change it back.

 

It is possible to quickly switch between adding an income, expense or a transfer between accounts by using the shortcut on the top edge of the window. Simply select the option you need.

 

2.2 Categories

Click in the Category field to display and select one of the categories. Assigning a category is required for every entry.

While preset categories cover most types of expenses and incomes, you can always add your own and edit them according to your needs. Simply type in the title of your new category and confirm it by pressing Enter.

This new category will be stored after saving this entry and can be used with your future entries. Begin typing its name into the category window and it will be brought up automatically. This works for tags as well.

For further information check the Edit Categories and Tags guide.

 

At this point, you can already save your expense since all the required information – the amount, category, account and date – has already been entered or pre-set. You can also add additional details to your entry.

 

2.3 Tags

You also have an option to assign multiple tags to your entry. Use a tag like “groceries”, “restaurant”, “parking” and others to add further details to your entry.

Just like with categories, you can always add your own tag by typing it into the window and confirming the input with the Enter key. Unlike the categories which are limited to one per entry, multiple tags can be assigned to each income or expense. 

Once a category is selected, the tags are sorted automatically based on your category selection. Tags that were sorted into the category you selected will be displayed first, followed by all the rest. You can still use any tag with any category, but this will make it easier to find the correct one.

The second sorting criteria is your frequency of use – most commonly used tags will eventually be brought up to the front of the list.

You can modify and manually assign tags to specific categories at any time. Consult the Edit Categories and Tags guide for more details.

 

2.4 Accounts

This option is displayed only if you use more than one financial account. In that case you will be given the option to specify an account for your expense.

When you sign up with Toshl, a Cash account is added automatically, but you can always add more. Check your accounts by clicking the “Accounts” button on the top right in the web app, or read more about adding financial accounts.

 

2.5 Date

The date of the expense is automatically set to the present day when viewing the current month. You can of course change it by clicking on the set date and selecting a different one from the calendar. Any entries set in the future will be grouped as “planned” and displayed on top of the expense list.

Clicking on a month label brings up a quicker month selection.

Clicking on the year label displays a quicker year selection.

The date format can be adjusted in Settings, under the General tab. Check the Regional Settings tutorial for more information.

It is not possible to set the date picker to display Sunday as the first day of the week, it will always start on Monday.

 

 

3. Advanced options

Clicking the “Show more” bar on the bottom of the entry window displays the options for additional information and automation:

• Location
• Description
• Repeats
• Reminders
• Photos

 

While the location and description entry is available to all Toshl users, adding repeats, reminders and photos becomes available with the upgrade to Toshl Pro or Toshl Medici.

 

 

4. Save the entry

To save, simply click the Save button to confirm and the expense will appear in the expense lists, graphs and other sums.

 

5. Edit, duplicate or delete an entry

After you have saved your expense, it will appear on the Expenses list inside the Toshl web app. Clicking on an entry will open the expense details tab on the right side of your screen. Here, you can review the details of your entry or edit, duplicate and delete it by choosing the appropriate option from the screen.

When you wish to store an expense that’s similar to a previous one, you can save yourself a few clicks by using a duplicate. Selecting this option will re-open the expense window with all the details. There you will be able to make all the modifications, for example change the amount, category or date, and save it as a new expense.

 

 

6. Transfers

Besides incomes and expenses you can also record a money transfer between two financial accounts. This option is accessible from a quick menu on the top upper edge of a new expense window (shown in section 2.1) or from the Accounts menu (described in section 2.4 a few paragraphs above).

After selecting the “Add transfer” option you are presented with a similar form as before, except that now you have to select two accounts. The first one is the source, and the second one the destination account.

Let’s say that you use your credit card at an ATM to withdraw cash. That withdrawal should be noted in Toshl as a transfer from the credit card account to cash.

Entry fields function the same as before, except that there are no categories or tags. Additional options under “Show more” include Description, Repeats and Reminders.

When ready, confirm your transfer by clicking “Save”. Your transfer is now shown under both incomes and expenses if all financial accounts are set to display and marked with a special transfer icon with two arrows. If you filter the accounts to a single one, the transfer is displayed either in the expense or income list, based on whether it’s an outgoing or incoming transfer, relative to that financial account.

Any transfer can be viewed, edited or duplicated just like incomes and expenses.

 

Related articles:

• Venues and Locations
• Repeating Entries
• Reminders
• Photos

Toshl monsters love nothing more than to help you keep track of your personal finances. And huge lollipops, yep, definitely love those.

 

The more information you keep on your earning and spending habits, the easier it is to take control of your personal finances. In the following paragraphs we will take a closer look on how to record where exactly your spending takes place.

Remember, adding extra information to either incomes or expenses is done in the same way. We’ll show you how to do this for an expense, but you would add location information to an income in an identical fashion.

 

1. Selecting the Location tab

After you have entered the amount for your expense and selected a category, click the “Show more” button on the bottom of the expense window.

Location option is the first optional feature in the extended view.

 

2. Entering the location details

Select the newly shown tab to receive a list of suggestions on your current location. This list depends on the location information that your web browser can obtain at the time. By default you will see the venues in your vicinity. If the location you’re searching for isn’t on the list, or if you are recording a past expense, enter it manually.

Let’s say that, for example, you bought a pair of running shoes. You can enter the store’s name and the app will provide a list of options. Another option is to enter the name of the venue, add a comma (,), and type in the town or city where the expense took place. Check this guide on the use of a comma with locations.

 

3. Reviewing locations

The Locations tab in the main menu displays a map with all the recorded expenses with stored locations. Clicking on a mark on the map brings up a bubble with the amount that was spent there.

From here you can review the expenses in detail just like in the main Expenses menu. Select an expense from the list to see additional information, as well as the exact location on a mini map.

If you wish to learn more about using locations with your incomes and expenses in the Toshl app, check our Location, Location, Location! guide.

 

 

Related articles:

• Add and Track Your Data
• Repeating Entries
• Reminders
• Photos

 

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.

 

There’s no horsing around when it comes to unicorn expenses.

 

 

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 click the “Show more” button on the bottom of the expense window to revel additional optional features.

 

2. Setting up reminders

Selecting the Reminder tab opens up the menu with options:

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

With first two selections the reminder is by default set for 11am, 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, and precisely at what time.

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

 

3. Reminder notifications

Reminders are displayed in the “Monthly overview” page of your Toshl app.

Highlighting the notification brings up an option to mark the expense as paid.

Notifications can be turned ON/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 web app as well as on your mobile devices where you’re keeping Toshl installed.

 

 

4. Reviewing entries with reminders

The entries that include reminders will be diplayed on the overall list with a little bell icon.

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.

 

5. 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 1 day before
• on the day the expense is due.

Such events are once again listed with the bell icon, and also with the “R” icon that signifies repeats.

 

6. 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.

 

7. Daily reminder

A daily reminder to enter expenses is an option, available in the general Settings menu.

Here you can set an exact time when you’d like to be reminded – gently – 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 surprised.

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

 

Related articles:

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

Toshl monsters use reminders for that first morning cup of coffee. They never forget about the other 45 cups over the course of the day, either.