Expenses

This chapter explains how to record each Expense, categorize it, list its Expense Items, catch up on older ones, and fix mistakes.

Record an Expense

Tap the "Expenses" tab at the bottom. The "Add Expense" form at the top has these fields:

Press "Add Expense" and it appears in the list further down the page, and the daily and weekly guides on the home screen update too.

When you record several in a row, "Category" and "Date" keep the previous values; only the amount, note and "Special Expense" are cleared, so you don't have to pick them again.

Every Expense records who added it. Tap that person's name in the list to see their email.

Expense Items

When one receipt covers several things, you can list them as the Expense's Expense Items, so you can see later what the money bought.

1. In the "Add Expense" form, tap "Expense Items" to expand it. The first item row appears.
2. Fill in the item name; the amount is optional. Put the quantity in the name, for example "Milk ×2".
3. Once you fill in a row, a blank row appears below it for the next item; a blank row isn't saved. Press the bin next to an item to delete that row.
4. Press Enter in the name field to move to that row's amount, and Enter in the amount field to move to the next row's name. Enter here doesn't send the form.

The rules:

• Record a discount on the receipt as an item with a negative amount, for example "Member discount" with -20. An item's amount can't be 0.
• When every item has an amount, "Total" appears under the items, and the total must equal the Expense amount. If it doesn't, "The item amounts must add up to the Expense amount" appears and the Expense can't be sent. If any item has no amount, the total isn't checked.
• If the amount field is empty, it fills in with the total once every item has an amount. An amount you typed yourself is never replaced.
• An Expense can have up to 50 items, each name up to 100 characters.

Expense Items are descriptive only and never change any amount: the allowances on the home screen, Budget Lines and the pace all use the Expense's own amount. Items have no Category; to split a receipt across Categories, record it as several Expenses.

In the list, an Expense with Expense Items shows "Expense Items (N)" at the end of the line with its date and who added it. Tap it to see each item and its amount, with the Expense amount at the bottom. On a phone it slides up from the bottom of the screen; on a wider screen it opens in the middle.

To change the Expense Items, use "Edit"; the form brings back the existing items. As with any other field, the old entry is voided and replaced by a new one, and the older version keeps its Expense Items: in "Change log", each version has its own "Expense Items (N)" to compare.

Categories and Uncategorized

A new Household already has five common Categories: "Dining", "Transport", "Entertainment", "Home" and "Health". To add, rename or adjust Categories, open "Categories" in the Settings tab.

If you're not sure which Category fits, choose "Uncategorized" for now. Uncategorized Expenses:

• still count toward all totals and don't disappear from the screen;
• keep reminding you. While any exist, the home screen shows "… of Expenses this period are Uncategorized." with a "Categorize" link that takes you to the Expenses page.

To give one a Category, find it in the list, open the menu on the right, choose "Edit", pick a Category and press "Save".

The "Category: All Categories" button above the list shows only one Category's Expenses, including "Uncategorized", with that Category's total next to it.

The Expense list

The list in the lower half of the "Expenses" tab is titled "Expenses for …", for example "Expenses for September 2026". It shows the Expenses in one Budget Period (one calendar month). Each row shows the Category, date, who added it, the note and the amount.

• Use "‹ Previous period" and "Next period ›" to move between Budget Periods. When you're not looking at the current one, the label says "Past period".
• When a list doesn't fit on one page, "‹ Previous", "Next ›" and page numbers appear at the bottom.

Catching up on older Expenses

Forgetting to record something happens. When you catch up, just change "Date" to the day the Expense actually happened.

An Expense belongs to the Budget Period of the day it happened, not the day you recorded it. For example, lunch on August 30 recorded on September 3 counts toward August and appears in August's list.

When the date isn't today, "This entry isn't dated today." and "Use today" appear under the field, so you don't forget to change it back.

Fixing mistakes

Find the Expense in the list and open the menu on the right:

• Edit: change the amount, Category, date, note, "Special Expense" or Expense Items, then press "Save".
• Void: after you confirm, the Expense no longer counts toward any amount.

Expenses are never actually erased. Instead, they're voided:

• "Edit" voids the old entry and records a new one that replaces it.
• "Void" keeps the entry itself; it just stops counting.

So every add, edit and void can be traced to who did it and when. "Change log" at the bottom of the list shows every change in the Budget Period, each marked "Added", "Edited" or "Voided", with who recorded or voided it and when.

If you voided something by mistake, find its row in "Change log" and press "Restore". "Restore" only works for Expenses that were voided directly; an older version replaced by "Edit" can't be restored, so just edit the Expense again if you need to.

Special Expenses

Some Expenses aren't everyday ones, such as a valuable item bought in cash. Counting it toward "today" and "this week" would make the day or week look badly over budget, even though your day-to-day Expenses are under control.

Tick "Special Expense (doesn't count toward today's or this week's allowance)" when you record such an Expense. A Special Expense:

• doesn't count toward what's been spent in "Left to spend today" or the "Weekly guide", so it won't put the day or week over budget;
• is still a complete Expense that appears in the list; "Breakdown" on the home screen also shows this Budget Period's Special Expense total separately;
• works exactly like any other Expense for amounts, Categories, editing and voiding.

To see Special Expenses together, tick "Special Expenses only" on the Expenses page. You can then choose a "Range" of "This Budget Period", "This year" or "Custom dates"; for custom dates, fill in "From" and "To" and press "Apply". The page lists the Special Expenses in that range with their total.

Offline

You can still record Expenses while offline: the button changes to "Add Expense (saved offline)", the Expense is kept on this device under "Expenses waiting to sync", and it syncs automatically once you're back online. You can fill in Expense Items offline too, and open "Expense Items (N)" under "Expenses waiting to sync".

Existing Expenses can't be edited or voided while offline; fix them once you're back online. Entries kept on the device that haven't synced yet can be dropped with "Discard".