Plans: a trip or a project, kept together
A week in Japan or a kitchen renovation does not fit neatly into a normal month. In SpendWe, a trip or a project becomes a plan (plans are planned for SpendWe Pro, which is not on sale yet): a name, optional dates, a budget, and its own currency. Every expense you add to it is grouped there, by category, so at the end you know what the trip really cost.
A plan can be kept out of your month. With Exclude from monthly budget switched on, the plan's spending does not count in your monthly totals, so a holiday does not make your groceries budget look broken. Leave it off, and the plan counts like any other spending.
How currency conversion works
When a plan has its own currency, you type each expense in that currency and SpendWe saves it in your app currency at the day's rate, showing both. The plan's budget stays in your app currency, so you can compare it with the rest of your money.
The rates come from a free source that needs no account. They are cached for 12 hours, and when you are offline SpendWe uses the last rates it saved. If it has never saved a rate for that currency and you are offline, the expense is not saved, and the app says so, rather than guessing. The rate is the day's rate, not the one your bank applied, so your card statement can differ slightly.
The same conversion works for a paper receipt: the receipt scanner detects a foreign currency, converts the total, and keeps the original amount and currency on the expense.
SpendWe supports 11 app currencies: euro, US dollar, pound sterling, Swiss franc, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollar, Moroccan dirham, UAE dirham, Japanese yen and Swedish krona. Currencies without decimals, like the yen, are handled correctly. Once you have recorded money, your app currency locks, so amounts can never be silently relabelled from euros to dollars. A shared household has a single currency.
How to track a trip, step by step
- Create a plan with New plan: give it a name, its currency, a budget and, if you know them, its dates.
- Decide whether it counts in your month with Exclude from monthly budget.
- Start the plan when you leave, and add expenses in the local currency as you go, or scan the receipts.
- Follow it on the way: the plan shows what you have spent against its budget, by category, and the day of the trip you are on.
- Settle up for this plan when you are back, if you travelled with others, then end the plan and share its summary.
Travelling with others
In a shared household, a plan has its own settle-up: Settle up for this plan works out the suggested payments for that trip alone, without mixing in the rent or the groceries. It sits alongside the household's normal balance, described in shared expenses. The shareable summary of the plan gives everyone the same totals. For more practical advice before you leave, read how to track spending abroad.
Savings goals
A goal is money you are putting aside for something: a holiday, a new laptop, a safety net. Give it a target and a deadline, then add money as you go; each contribution is listed under Money added. SpendWe shows how far you are and when you will get there at your pace. If the pace means you will miss the deadline, or nothing has been put aside lately, an insight card says so in Insights. Your goals also appear in the monthly recap.
Accounts work alongside goals: each account has an opening balance and a running balance, so you see what is left, not only what you spent.
What is free
One savings goal is free. Goals beyond the first, and plans, are planned for SpendWe Pro, which is not on sale yet; see pricing. If Pro ends, your goals stay usable and only creating a goal beyond the first needs Pro. Converting a foreign-currency receipt does not need a plan.