How do you track your expenses?

[Baptiste Wicht]

Hi,

I am currently writing an article on how to track expenses in Switzerland. And I wondered how you guys were tracking your expenses?
The export function from Swiss banks are not always great (and sometimes outright missing). And as far as I know, there is no good application that would import your expenses from Swiss apps directly.

Personally, I export my Neon Duo transactions to CSV. Then, I export my Cembra transactions to PDF and use an online tool to convert it to CSV. From there, I then import both CSV into my budget application, where I wrote code for each of these two CSVs. However, the export and transformation of transactions from Cembra is really not that great.

What about you?

 

[zeusone]

Hi Baptiste,
same here.

• Bank Accounts: I export transactions directly to CSV files.
• Cembra Statements: I currently use Adobe Reader's free version to convert PDF reports into text files, which I then manually transform into CSV format—a rather time-consuming process.
• Expense Tracking: I use Money Manager Ex to categorize expenses, importing the CSV files using predefined templates for both bank accounts and credit card reports.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Thanks for sharing @zeusone

Cembra Statements: I currently use Adobe Reader's free version to convert PDF reports into text files, which I then manually transform into CSV format—a rather time-consuming process.

Have you tried an online PDF->CSV converter? I am using Zamzar. There are still some manual processes to clean up the tables, but not too much.

Expense Tracking: I use Money Manager Ex to categorize expenses, importing the CSV files using predefined templates for both bank accounts and credit card reports.

Interesting, I had never heard of this tool before. Are you happy with it?

 

[zeusone]

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll give this converter a try.

I've been using MMEX for three years now, and it has worked well for my needs. I primarily use it for expense tracking, though it also includes investment tracking, which I haven't explored.

For me, the key features are:

1. Flexible Transaction Importing – MMEX allows you to define templates for importing transactions from different sources. You can customize delimiters, column mappings, and date formats to match your data.
2. Hierarchical Expense Categorization – You can organize your expenses into a structured hierarchy of categories and subcategories, making tracking more intuitive.
3. Smart Category Assignment – During the import process, MMEX automatically assigns categories to transactions with recurring recipients, saving time and effort.
4. Detailed Expense Reports – The tool can generate pie charts for a custom date range, alongside a table that aggregates expenses by category and subcategory. Clicking on a category provides a breakdown of all related expenses for the selected period.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Thanks for the details. I am glad there is a free tool that does things properly!

 

[Lelouch]

I created a Numbers sheet, where I track all my money. I do have to enter the daily spending manually; but the overview is great and I don't mind doing it at all.
It took me a long while to create it, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Numbers is incredibly user-friendly.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

I created a Numbers sheet, where I track all my money. I do have to enter the daily spending manually;

You could probably import a CSV into, use some simple formulas for rearranging and then copy the data into your sheets, no?

 

[Lelouch]

You could probably import a CSV into, use some simple formulas for rearranging and then copy the data into your sheets, no?

I would have to look into it, because I don't know how to do that. But honestly, entering every expense manually doesn't really take anytime (I can do it on my Mac or my iPhone, takes seconds) and I feel it really helps building some discipline, as I see the total expenses increase with each addition.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

it really helps building some discipline, as I see the total expenses increase with each addition

Completely agree. I only recently moved to importing but for years, I have really appreciated entering everything by hand because it gives a real sense of what is going on.

 

[crypto-grapher-boy]

I use Revolut for every expense besides fixed costs. I do not yet have a system for those.

I need to categorize a purchase only once and my choice is remembered by the app.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

I use Revolut for every expense besides fixed costs. I do not yet have a system for those.

Do you have the new Revolut contract where you get a presonal CH IBAN?

 

[crypto-grapher-boy]

Do you have the new Revolut contract where you get a presonal CH IBAN?

Today, I received an email from Revolut with the title "Your individual Swiss IBAN is waiting for you".

I must say, timing is quite suspicious.

 

[Rothgard]

Hi,

I am currently writing an article on how to track expenses in Switzerland. And I wondered how you guys were tracking your expenses?
The export function from Swiss banks are not always great (and sometimes outright missing). And as far as I know, there is no good application that would import your expenses from Swiss apps directly.

Personally, I export my Neon Duo transactions to CSV. Then, I export my Cembra transactions to PDF and use an online tool to convert it to CSV. From there, I then import both CSV into my budget application, where I wrote code for each of these two CSVs. However, the export and transformation of transactions from Cembra is really not that great.

What about you?

I personally use a google sheet. I use it for both tracking the net worth and expenses.
For expenses I usually use ubs and neon, so at the end of every month I spend like 15 min to enter manually the expenses into the spreadsheet, where I've built a dropdown menu with my most used transaction category.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

I personally use a google sheet. I use it for both tracking the net worth and expenses.
For expenses I usually use ubs and neon, so at the end of every month I spend like 15 min to enter manually the expenses into the spreadsheet, where I've built a dropdown menu with my most used transaction category.

Thanks for sharing! Google Sheets are popular!

 

[zeusone]

Have you tried an online PDF->CSV converter? I am using Zamzar. There are still some manual processes to clean up the tables, but not too much.

Hi Baptiste, I tried with Zamzar and it's much better that the standard Adobe conversion to text.
The output is cleaner and it takes care also of the CSV special characters like comma inside the Description.
Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Glad it worked out!