Category: Tutorials

How to Add Expenses Straight From Your Lock Screen and Avoid Being Eaten by Wild Boars (iOS)

Do you know that feeling of being chased around a thick forest by a wild boar? You run as quickly as you can, heart pumping at maximum, sweat pouring down your face. But, no matter how hard you try, you still cannot escape the thumping of his small, yet surprisingly swift feet, the sound of his loud breathing as he catches up, to sink his sharp teeth into your…
Well, ok, maybe you don’t know the feeling of that exact situation.
Consider for a second though, that moment when you’re at the grocery store cash register, trying to pack all the food into the bags before the cashier hands you the receipt and gives you the evil eye for being so damn slow. It’s the next closest thing to the wild boar situation.
If you’re a thrill seeker like me, you’ll try to up the game and add the grocery expense to Toshl just after handing the cashier the credit card and before getting the bill back. It’s doable: amount, category, tag, save aaand you’re done. The tricky part is unlocking the phone, finding the Toshl app, tapping on Add expense, then doing the actual adding. There is a solution!

The add entry widget on the Today screen (Notification center).

Screenshot Toshl add expense widget
1. Hold up your iPhone, activate the screen and swipe from the top edge.
2. Tap the big red + button.
3. Toshl opens with Add expense all ready, just waiting for you to enter the amount.
The same also works for incomes and transfers between financial accounts. Just tap the green + button for incomes and the grey + button for transfers.

How to set up the Toshl widget?

 

1. Swipe form the top edge of the screen to open the Today screen.

2. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the Today screen and tap the Edit button.

3. Find Toshl in the list of the apps and tap the green + button next to it, to include it on the Today screen.

4. Use the 3 lines icon on the right to drag it to the top (if your heart so desires).

5. Tap Done.Screenshot edit Today screen in iOS Notification center

Next time you open the Today screen, the 3 Toshl add buttons for expenses, incomes and transfers will be available for quick use.
In case you can’t activate the Today screen while the phone is locked, but would like to, make sure you have that option enabled in the iOS settings.
This feature is available from the version 2.0.6 of the Toshl Finance iOS app onwards.
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Happy grocery hunting!
Posted in iOS Tutorials, Personal finance, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials

How to Track Loans, Repay Debts and Deal with Your Friendly Neighbourhood Loanshark (Web App)

Toshl_2.0_monster_0057_58We have almost certainly all been there at some point – borrowing money, launder loaning money, forgetting about loans, etc. Be it a small amount for drinks, because you forgot your wallet, or a bigger sum because you chose to buy something expensive that you obviously really, really, really needed.

So, how to go about tracking and dealing with the dynamics of loaning and borrowing money? Fear not, for Toshl is here for you again, not in the money loaning business though, but in the business of helping to track loans and debts – or simply Hilfespurverleihenborgengeschäft, as the Germans would put it.

 

Track major debt repayments

Let’s say I want to buy a new Ferarri for $3200, but I am just $3100 short for it. What do I do? I go to a guy* I heard you can get a loan from, that hangs out behind the parking garage in the shady part of town every other night (because he has kids). I ask him for a donation towards my cause and after a few laughs, I promise I would pay him back in ten months with $1900 interest. I get the money, and now I have to settle the $5000 debt in ten months, which makes for $500 per month. Because I use Toshl, the best loan app around, I know this will be a piece of cake and I will not get my legs broken in the process.

 

1. Add income marking the received loan

I put the $3100 in Toshl as an income, category ‘Loans’, account ‘Cash’, plus I put ‘Drago’ in the description – which is supposedly the guy’s name and also means ‘expensive’ in some languages. Just so I can be precise when I tell my grandchildren about my first Ferrari.
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Ok, we got the money, we got the income from the loan marked, now to go about tracking the debt.

 

2. Add a new account to track the repayment of debt

I make a new account for the debt, called ‘Drago’ and set up the initial balance as ‘-$5000’ which is the total amount of the debt, including the interest.
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account_list

 

3. Add transfers to note the debt repayments

To note the repayments as I return the money to Drago in monthly instalments, I make a transfer of $500 from account ‘Cash’ to account ‘Drago’, date it on the day of the first payment, set it up to repeat every month for ten months and set up reminders for it. Now I will be reminded to take the $500 to him every month, and the ‘Drago’ account will get out of red numbers over the ten months.
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That’s it!

 

Track smaller loans to friends

Let’s take a look at another, simpler case. Let’s say I lend $4.99 to a fellow car enthusiast for a little 1:100 plastic Ferrari model.

 

1. Note the loan as an expense

I give him the money, put it in Toshl as expense, category ‘Loans’, account ‘Cash’.

If this is a one-off loan, I can put the guy’s name in description. If I lend to this guy often, I could also put his name in a new tag on the expense. That way I can easily sum up everything he owes me.
add_exp

 

2. Note the loan repayment as an income

When he pays me back after seven and a half months, I just enter it as an income with appropriate tags, etc. This way I can always track borrowing and loaning entries.

Alternatively, I could just erase the loan expense, but that wouldn’t give me any insight on the loan later on.

add_inc2Note the screenshot from the future

Bob’s your uncle! Use whichever method works best for you or be creative and invent your own system. That’s it for now from our secret volcano base, ta ta!

 

*Toshl does not recommend taking loans from random guys behind the parking garage, nor can we provide phone numbers of any specific guys providing such loans. A bank would probably still be a better bet, although their moral compasses might not be in much better shape, compared to the guy behind the parking garage.
Posted in Debt, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials, Web App Tutorials

Hint: Swiping From The Edge Is Better Than Living on It

swipe_menus

Our phones’ screens grow larger, yet our thumbs stay the same. How do we then reach the main menu button or the time span and accounts button on the top of the screen?

Worry not. You can easily swipe from anywhere along the left edge of the screen toward right. This will open the main navigation menu.

The same works on the right edge of the screen. Swipe with your finger from anywhere on the rightmost edge of the screen toward left and the accounts and time span sidebar will open. When done, you can simply swipe them back in the opposite direction.

This can make your use of Toshl a lot quicker and more comfortable for your thumbs.

Posted in iOS Tutorials, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials

Hint: Drag the + button to quickly add expenses, incomes and transfers

Toshl 2.0 mobile apps have a useful little trick up their sleeve. No matter where in the app you are, you can quickly add an expense by simply dragging the + button up and to the right in a circular motion. Depending on where you release the button, you can add an expense, income or a transfer.

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If you haven’t yet, you can download the Toshl 2 iOS app here.

Posted in iOS Tutorials, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials

How to Set Up Automatic Monthly Financial Reports (Web App)

Want a report with your finances to be delivered to your email once your financial month has finished? No problem, here’s how you can make that happen.

This functionality is only available in the Toshl Finance web app and cannot be set up in the mobile apps.
Simply go to the Export & Reports section and scroll down to the “Monthly e-mail reports”. Turn the switch ON.
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Destination emails
Your account email will be already entered as the destination for the monthly report, but you can change it, or add up to 9 more additional emails that should receive this report. Useful if you need the report with a part of your finances for work, or wish to share it with other family members for example.
Data filtering
You can choose to include Expenses & Incomes, or just either of the two. The time span in this case will be your previous financial month, as the report will be sent automatically once it has concluded.
Keep in mind that you can use all the filtering options from the right sidebar, just like with data exports.
You can filter by financial account, categories, tags or locations. You can select the ones to export or exclude the ones which you don’t want to export.
If, for example, you want your monthly report to include just the expenses with the category “Transport” and the tag “work” that would be no problem at all.
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File formats
PDF, Excel (.xls) and Comma Separated Values (.csv) are at your disposal. You can send all of them or just one or two. Keep in mind though that the files will not be sent as attachments to the emails. The monthly reports you will get by email will contain just the links to the report. The moment you click on the report icon in the email, the reports will be generated and downloaded to your computer.
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There’s also a checkbox at the end, giving you the option to send the report right away. It’s good to try out the financial reports when you first set them up and with this option, there’s no need to wait until the full financial month comes around.
Happy reporting!
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Posted in Family finance, Personal finance, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials, Web App Tutorials