Certain things tend to repeat themselves. Some are pleasant, like spring or holidays. Others, like mortgage payments and utility bills, are more of a necessary evil.

Use the repeat option in the Toshl app to keep track of your reccurring expenses. You can set the interval so that the expenses repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever you decide. Remember that adding extra information to either incomes or expenses is done in the same way. We will present an example for an expense, but you would edit an income following the same steps.

The option to repeat expenses, incomes and transfers automatically becomes available with Toshl Pro or Toshl Medici subscriptions.

Repeating entries are appropriate for use on financial accounts you otherwise track manually. Accounts that are connected to your bank will add the entries automatically as they come in, so such repeating settings are not necessary there.

 

 

1. Selecting the Repeats tab

After adding the basic expense information, continue downwards to the row of icons under the Date tab. The option to automatically repeat the entries is marked with an icon featuring the letter R in an arrowed circle.

 

2. Repeat options

2.1 Repeat intervals

The expense can be repeated:

• daily
• weekly
• monthly
• yearly
• on weekdays
• on weekends
• in a custom interval.

Tap on the Repeat option and select a suitable interval from the menu.

For a common recurring expense such as utility bills you can specify a monthly repeat and leave the “End repeating” option set to “Never”.

 

2.2 Ending the repeats

The repeats can go on forever until you stop them, stop after a certain date, or stop after a set number of repetitions. Select an option by scrolling through the menu.

To end the repeats on a specific date, use the calendar to set the correct day, month and year of the final repetition.

For a set number of repetitions simply designate a number from the list.

The date of the final repeat will be displayed on the screen. Keep in mind that your first expense is included in the repeat count.

 

2.3 Custom repeat

The “Custom repeat” option allows you to set a repeat with an uncommon interval. For instance, you could use it to record a short-term loan that would be paid back in 10 instalments (partial payments) every other week.

In such case you would set the custom repeat to 2 weeks …

… and proceed to set the repeat to 10 times.

The date of the final repeat will be displayed on the bottom of the screen. As mentioned before, your first expense is included in the repeat count.

 

 

3. Automatic reminders

Setting a weekly, monthly and yearly repeats, as well as the custom repeats (except custom daily repeats), automatically turns on the reminder function to notify you of an upcoming expense. This is indicated with the tiny bell in the icons line-up.

The first reminder is set for the day before the expense, and a second one on the day the expense is due. You can modify the reminders according to your needs, or cancel them altogether.

 

4. Managing repeating expenses

Entries that include an automated repeat are marked with an “R” icon on your list of expenses.

The set interval and possible alerts for the payment are included in the details of an expense.

 

4.1 Edit repeating expenses

You are able to edit or delete such expenses in the same way as all other entries. However, you do have to specify if you wish to apply changes only to the expense you are editing, just to the expenses that are planned for the future, or to all the repetitions of this expense.

A dialogue with these options also appears whenever you attempt to delete an entry with a set reminder.

After a repeating expense has been created, it is not possible to edit the overall repeat setting – with the exception of setting it to “Never” and cancelling the repetitions. For example, if an expense was set to repeat on the 10th every month, it cannot be changed to repeat on the 15th, or for instance switched from a monthly to a weekly repeat.

The date can be edited only for an individual expense inside the repeat frame, but the repeating for the expense will continue as it was set initially.

 

4.2 Cancel repeating expenses

To permanently change the pattern of a recurring expense, you have to stop the expense from repeating and enter a new one with new repeating dates.

To end a recurring expense, tap the “Edit expense” option, adjust the repeating interval to “Never”, and confirm. This will set the repeating of the expense to end on today’s date, and in effect turn off all future reiterations.

When modifying or deleting the entries with repeats, make sure not to delete all the repetitions of an expense if you wish to keep the past entries in your record of expenses.

 

 

5. Examples for using repeats

5.1 Example: salary – repeating income

The most clear-cut example of a repeating income is the monthly salary. Let’s record a regular income of 1400 €, in a category “Salary”, for the financial account “General”. The event will be repeated monthly on the selected date, with a reminder on the day it’s due.

That is all you have to do to have your income automatically recorded and repeated. Simple.

 

5.2 Example: subscriptions – repeating expense

Another good example for the use of repeats are the subscription services. Let’s check the recurring expenses for a media streaming subscription for 7.99 € on the 12th each month, file hosting for 9.99 € on the 10th, and, most importantly, a monthly delivery of socks for 12.02 € on the 23rd. These amonts will be billed on the credit card (be careful when selecting the appropriate financial account).

We will record them all under a category “Subscriptions” and with appropriate tags to further simplify the overview of our expenses later on.

 

5.3 Example: repeated transfers into a savings account

Repeats can also come in handy when managing your savings account.

First, open up a new transfer tab. This can be performed by tapping in the upper right corner on the tag indicating which month’s time span you’re currently observing, or by swiping from anywhere on the rightmost edge of the screen toward left to access the accounts and time span sidebar.

Additionally, you can drag the “+” button across the screen and release it when the icon turns grey, indicating a new transfer entry.

Next, enter the amount as well as the “Source” and “Destination” accounts – in our case that’s “General” and “Savings”. Proceed with the date, an optional description, and finally the repeat setting.

This way the Toshl app will remind you each month, on the 16th, that 300 € is waiting to be transfered from your general financial account into savings.

 

5.4 Example: paying off debt in instalments – repeating expense

Let’s say that you bought a 750 € custom paint job for your car, as one of those impulse purchases. No reason to worry, here’s how you can quickly split your expense into, for instance, 3 instalments with a custom repeat every 3 weeks, for a total of 3 repeats of 250 € each.

Other great examples to use repeats with your incomes and expenses in Toshl include tracking of utility bills, rent, taxes, insurance, and many more.

 

 

6. In conclusion

With such versatile options, why not take advantage of the repeating entry function and include it into your monitoring of personal finances. A brief moment to consider possible patterns in your financial flows now could save you loads of time later on.

 

For additional information and, perhaps, inspiration on how you might be able to use repeats with your financial tracking, follow this link to learn more about tracking of loans, repaying debt, and shady loansharks.

 

Related articles:

• Add and Track Your Data
• Venues and Locations
• Reminders
• Photos

 

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 function

After you have entered the amount for your expense and selected a category, continue downwards to the row of icons under the Date tab. Tap the icon on the far left to bring up the Location function.

 

2. Entering the location details

The suggestions of nearby locations and venues will show up automatically.

The locations displayed are the venues that exist in your immediate surroundings. If you already see the venue where you spent your money, just tap on it and the location will be added with your expense. Save the expense and you’re all done.

If the location you’re searching for isn’t on the list, tap on the “More locations” option below the suggestions to expand the list of venues nearby. Alternatively, it is always possible to search for the location manually.

This works well if you are adding an expense on the spot, but if you’re already somewhere else or want to make your entry more precise, there is another trick you can use to quickly specify the town or city where the expense took place. Tap on the search field and type the name of the venue you’re looking for, add a comma (,) and type in the town or city where the venue is located.

Check this guide for more information about the use of a comma with locations.

 

 

3. Reviewing locations

Access the menu by tapping the main menu button in the top left corner or swiping from the left edge of the screen. To review saved locations, navigate to the Locations option.

The Locations tab displays a map with all the expenses with saved locations. Tapping on the mark on a map brings up a bubble with the amount that was spent there, and the number of visits to the venue. If you’ve been spending at a single location multiple times, these entries will be summed up on the location.

Location is also displayed in the details of an expense you’ve saved.

 

4. Filtering locations and filtering by locations
The locations map, like all the data in Toshl, depends on the filtering options that are set at the time. By default the map will display all the locations in your current financial month.

Need to see where you’ve been spending in the last two months, perhas in the last year, or during any other time period? Simply adjust the time span by tapping in the upper right corner where you can see a tag indicating which month you’re currently observing, or swipe from anywhere on the right edge towards the centre of the screen.

In the web app you can filter your expenses not only by time spans or financial accounts, but also by tags and categories.

 

Related articles:

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

Toshl monster’s recent locations: Naples for pizza, Brazil for a cup of coffee, and Tennessee for one Elvis-inspired pompadour!

 

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 tap 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, expenses and transfers in the Toshl app on Android.

 

 

1. Add a new expense or income

Starting the Toshl app will bring up the Expenses screen. Tap the large red “+” in the bottom left corner for a new entry.

To enter an income, open the main menu by tapping the main menu button in the top left former and navigate to Incomes. Alternatively you can also swipe from anywhere along the left edge of the screen toward right. This will open the main navigation menu.

After selecting the Incomes option, click the large green “+” to record a new entry.

There is another quick way to add a new entry: drag the “+” button across the screen up and to the right, to open a new expense, income or transfer window, depending on where you release it. Read more about this useful trick here.

 

Your Toshl app will normally open up on the Expenses screen, but you can change that at any time by going into “Settings” and selecting “Open app on” option.

Remember, after selecting a new entry for either an income or expense, both procedures 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

Tap the “+” button in the bottom left corner and a new screen will pop up. You can then enter the amount of the expense and confirm it by selecting “>” in the top right or bottom right corner.

Use a decimal separator when necessary. It is either a point or a comma. Which one is used in the forms and displays of sums inside Toshl depends on the regional settings of your mobile device.

 

2.2 Currencies

Make sure to use the correct currency. Tapping the currency symbol, for example the $ or € sign‚ will open a list of all the currencies available in Toshl, including their suggested exchange rates.

The currency catalogue includes a search field right on top, so you do not have to scroll through the whole list to get to the right one.

5 currencies that you have used most recently will be placed on the top of the list for easier selection. If you have used any custom exchange rates, the custom exchange rate will be saved in the “recently used” section as well. If you would prefer to use the automatically updated suggested exchange rate, select the currency from the alphabetical part of the list.

Selecting the red “i” icon next to the currency on the list brings up a convenient currency converter, where you can quickly check if you’ve brought enough Venezuelan bolívars (the black market edition) to pay for a scoop of ice cream.

For the well-being of your pockets we hope you aren’t carrying coins.

 

Whichever currency was used with your last expense will remain set for further entries until changed to another.

 

2.3 Expense calculator

The expense screen includes two additional features to help you figure out the exact amount you need to store. Selecting the “Σ” (greek letter sigma) adds four basic mathematical operations to your entry form: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

 

2.4 Percentage calculator

Similarly, the “%” button brings up an option to add or deduct a certain percentage to or from your amount. Perfect for when you are, for example, deciding on a tip for a great service in a bar or a restaurant.

After entering the correct amount, whether you’ve modified it with a calculator or not, simply confirm it with the “>” button.

 

2.5 Categories

In the next step, select a category for your expense. Assigning a category is required with each entry.

Swipe right to browse through more categories, or use the search function by tapping on the magnifying glass icon to find the correct one by entering a letter or two of the category’s name into the text field.

While preset categories cover most types of expenses and incomes, you can always add your own. Simply tap the “+” icon on the right side of the Category tab, type in the title of your new category, and confirm.

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

 

You can edit, remove or merge the categories by accessing your Toshl account through the Web app, and modify them according to your needs. For further information check the Edit Categories and Tags guide.

 

At this point your expense is ready to be saved since all the required information – the amount, category, account and date – has already been entered or pre-set. For a more detailed record of your personal finances you can continue with your entry and supply additional information.

 

2.6 Tags

It is possible to assign multiple tags to your incomes or expenses. Use tags such as “groceries”, “restaurant”, “parking” and others to add further details to your financial data.

Just like with categories, it is possible to browse through the list of stored tags by swiping right, or seach among them by name by selecting the magnifying glass icon.

Using the “+” option on the right side of the Tags tab gives you an option to enter your own tag, which is then stored and can be used with future entries.

 

Once a category is selected, the tags are arranged automatically based on your choice. Tags that were sorted into the category you selected will be displayed first (for example: the category “Food & Drinks” brings up the tags “groceries”, “soft drinks”, “restaurants”, etc.), followed by all the rest. You can still use any tag with any category, but this step makes 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 through the Toshl Web app. Consult the Edit Categories and Tags guide for more details.

 

2.7 Accounts

Set the financial account this expense was made with. The payment method in other words. This might be your credit card, bank account, a financial service like PayPal or simply cash. Toshl can help you track the balance of incomes and expenses on each of the accounts.

When you sign up on Toshl, the Cash account is added automatically, but you can always add others. Check your accounts by tapping in the upper right corner of the screen when not adding an expense. You’ll see an indicator of the time span and accounts you’re currently observing …

… or swipe from anywhere on the rightmost edge of the screen toward left to access the accounts and time span sidebar.

… to display the list of your financial accounts.

To add a new account, tap “Edit” in the bottom right corner …

… and tap the option “Add account“.

 

2.8 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 tapping on the Date tab. From there, select either the “Custom“ option or use the convenient shortcut to assign the yesterday’s date.

For a custom date, pick your specific day, month and year.

 

3. Advanced options

Icons on the bottom of the entry window, just below the date, represent 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 your entry

To save your expense, simply confirm by tapping the tick button on the bottom of the screen or the top right corner. It will instantly appear in the expense list, graphs and sums.

 

5. Edit or delete an entry

After you have saved your expense, it will appear on the Expenses list inside the Toshl app. Tapping on an entry will display the expense details. Here, you can review the information of your entry and edit or delete it by selecting the appropriate option from the top right corner.

 

6. Transfers

Besides incomes and expenses you can also record a money transfer between two financial accounts. This option is available from the accounts and time span sidebar (mentioned in the section 2.4), which is accessible by clicking on the indicator of time span and accounts in the upper right corner or by swiping from the rightmost edge of the screen.

The “Add transfer” button is at the bottom of the screen.

Alternatively, you can also also drag the “+” button across the screen and release it near the right edge, when the icon turns grey, indicating a new transfer.

Entering the amount for a transfer works the same as with other inputs, except that the next step requires you 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 to withdraw cash at an ATM. That withdrawal should be noted in Toshl as a transfer from the credit card account to cash account.

This time there are no categories or tags. Additional options include Description, Repeats and Reminders.

Confirm your transfer when ready. It will be shown under both incomes and expenses if all financial accounts are set to be displayed, and marked with a special transfer icon with two arrows. All transfers can be viewed, edited or deleted just like incomes and expenses.

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.

 

Related articles:

• Venues and Locations
• Repeating Entries
• Reminders
• Photos

Toshl monsters are here to help you stay on top of your bills, budgets, loans, incomes and transfers. As easy as riding a bike.