Mastering Money: A Step-by-Step Guide to DIY Expense Tracking

Have you ever been in a situation where you spent a lot of time in the lookout for a good cheap expense tracker and returned empty handed?

Most of the apps you find on the app store are either too expensive or they don’t have the specific features we are looking for or they don’t have the required customisations.

Here’s a quick snapshot of my journey before settling into a solution:

Let me try and convince you why you should have this setup to track your finances and get one step closer to financial independence.

To setup this expense tracker — you need a google account. Thats all!

Step 1: Create a Google Form to capture your expenses

1. Click on this link to access google forms — sign in to your google account if not already signed in. This link (forms.new) will automatically open up a new form called “Untitled Form”
2. Rename your form — Skip this step if you are absolutely insane. Add a description if needed

Step 2: Start adding questions to your form

Questions are how you capture the expense. To keep it simple, lets create an expense tracker with just the type of the expense and the amount. Follow the below steps:

The first question is already created for you (Thanks Google!)

1. Enter “Expense Type” as the first question to capture the type of expense. Select “Multiple Choice” from the dropdown. This is the answer type
2. Add options for answer — like household, shopping, medical, miscellaneous etc. and turn on the Required button.
3. Add next question by clicking the (+) sign on the right. Enter “Expense Amount” in the question, select Short answer as answer type and turn on Required

Step 3: Configure your Tracker

You can now start using the form. We now have to link this form to a google sheet — so that we can start visualising the data. Follow the below steps:

1. Go to the Responses tab and click on the sheet icon
2. Change the name of the sheet and Click on Create. This will create and open a new sheet in your drive which will store all the form responses
3. Click on Send on the top right of the window. You can either send the link as an email or click on the link icon, click shorten URL and copy the URL

The copied URL is the link to the form we just created.

Paste this URL in a safe and easy to access location like your WhatsApp / Telegram self group.

Or, create this URL as an application in your android phone. For this, open this URL in google chrome, go to settings and click on Add to Home Screen or Create Shortcut.

Finalise, save this URL and fire it up . Time to enter some sample values!

The magic happens as you start capturing data and open the Expense Tracker sheet from google drive.

You can see all the data that you have entered which will form the database from where you create your visualisations.

The beauty of this solution lies in its customisation.

You can capture and track any information you desire. Over time, I’ve found it beneficial to include additional details like expense classification (need, want, invest), avoidable expenses (a simple yes/no question), and brief descriptions (because sometimes “household” alone doesn’t cut it).

Now that you’ve accumulated all your data in the Google Sheet, it’s time to unleash the power of visualisation.

You have the option to view the table as is, or if you’re anything like me, create dynamic pivot charts. This enables you to explore the data from various angles, such as monthly breakdowns, expense categories, and many more insightful perspectives.

Undoubtedly, this tool is a fantastic resource for tracking expenses and managing finances.

It offers the perks of being free, flexible, and customisable, making it a no-brainer for most users.

However, like any other application, its effectiveness hinges on how it is used. Without capturing data, this tool remains futile. Developing the habit of recording expenses promptly is crucial to harness its full potential.

As always, consistency holds the key to making things work in your favour.