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Using the Expense Tracker

What the app is, how to open it, and how to enter an expense day to day.

The Expense Tracker is a one-screen web page for logging expenses. You fill in a short form, press Save Expense, and the entry is added as a new line in a Google spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is the real record — the app is just the quickest way to add to it.

There is nothing to install and no login. You open it at https://lineentry.traveller.org in any modern browser, on a computer or a phone. Keep that address to yourself: there is no password, so anyone who has it can add entries to the spreadsheet.

Opening the app

When the page loads, it checks its connection to the spreadsheet on its own. A moment later you should see the Add New Expense form, and below it a status line reading Google Sheets Status: Connected with a green dot.

If instead you see a Connection Error screen, the form is hidden until the connection is fixed — see the page When something goes wrong.

Putting it on your phone

The app is set up to be added to an iPhone home screen. Once added, it gets its own icon and opens full-screen like an app.

What you do (iPhone, Safari):

  1. Open https://lineentry.traveller.org in Safari.
  2. Tap the Share button.
  3. Tap Add to Home Screen.
  4. Tap Add. An “Expense Tracker” icon appears on your home screen.

Entering an expense

The form has six boxes. Fields marked with a star (*) must be filled in; the app will not save without them.

  • Category — pick one from the list: Bank Transfer, Credit Cards, Groceries, Income, Restaurant, Taxes, Travel, SEP-IRA, or Stipends. The app will let you save without a category, but the entry’s category column in the spreadsheet will then be blank.
  • Amount * — the number only, for example 250 or 12.50. No currency symbol, no commas. It must be more than zero. On a phone, tapping this box brings up the number keypad.
  • Currency * — USD or MXN. One of the two is already selected when the form opens, so glance at it before saving, especially when you are entering the other currency.
  • Month * — the month the expense belongs to, listed as 01-Jan through 12-Dec. The current month is already selected when the form opens. This is the month you are booking the expense against; the app also records the date you actually saved the entry, automatically.
  • Expense Type — Variable Expenses, Core Expenses, or left blank. It starts on Variable Expenses, since most entries are that. Leaving it blank is allowed on purpose: Taxes and SEP-IRA entries are meant to be saved with the type blank.
  • Notes — anything you want to remember about the entry. Optional.

What you do:

  1. Choose a Category.
  2. Type the Amount.
  3. Check the Currency — change it if it is not the currency you paid in.
  4. Check the Month — it starts on the current month; change it if the expense belongs to a different one.
  5. Leave Expense Type on Variable Expenses, change it to Core Expenses, or set it to the blank choice for Taxes and SEP-IRA.
  6. Add a Note if you want one.
  7. Press Save Expense.

While it saves, the button shows Saving…. When it works, a green message — Expense saved successfully! — appears for a few seconds and the form clears itself, ready for the next entry, with Currency, Month, and Expense Type back on their starting values.

If something you entered is not acceptable — for example an amount of zero — a red message appears, the problem field is outlined in red with a note under it, and nothing is saved until you fix it and press Save Expense again.

The rules panel

Under the status line there is a blue panel headed Use Reminders. It lists the house rules for this particular spreadsheet — which things to enter as individual lines, what to mark Variable, when to enter the monthly Core Expense amount, and which entries get a blank Expense Type. When in doubt about what to enter (as opposed to how), follow that panel.

Checking your entry landed

The status line at the bottom shows which spreadsheet and tab the app is saving to, as a blue link.

What you do:

  1. Scroll to the status line under the form.
  2. Click the blue Sheet: link. The spreadsheet opens in a new browser tab.
  3. Your entry is the newest row at the bottom of the entered lines.