Why cash spending disappears from a budget
A bank only sees the moment cash leaves your card: one line, «ATM, 100». What happened to those 100 afterwards — the market, the bakery, a tip, the kids' pocket money — no statement will ever show. Apps that rely on a bank feed have the same blind spot, so cash ends up as one big «unknown» in the month.
The fix is simple: treat cash as money that lives somewhere — in your wallet — and record what goes out of it. HonestExpenses has no bank connection at all, so cash and card are logged the same way and count the same. Why there's no bank link.
Cash as an account, next to your card
- Create an account with the type Cash and give it a short name, such as «Cash».
- Count what's in it right now and enter that as the opening balance. No history needed: today is your starting point.
- From now on, each cash purchase is an expense on this account, and its balance goes down with it.
If you keep cash in more than one place — a wallet, a jar at home, an envelope for a trip — make each one its own account. They all show up in the total balance on the home screen, next to your cards and savings. More on that in several accounts in one place.
How to log cash spending in seconds
Cash is the money you're most likely to forget, so the entry has to be faster than the excuse. Three ways:
- Telegram. Send @honestexp_bot just «3.20» and tap a category. The bot uses the account you used last; the «💳 Account ▸» button switches to your cash account, and it stays chosen for the next entry. The Telegram bot.
- Voice. Say «bread 3.20 and flowers 12, in cash» and get two drafts in their categories. Check them and save. Voice uses AI actions. Logging by voice.
- A tap. In the app, the + button opens the form; pick the cash account once and it's remembered.
The habit that works: log it while the change is still in your hand, or at the latest on the way home.
ATM withdrawals are transfers, not spending
Taking 100 out of the cash machine doesn't make you 100 poorer — the money just moves from the card to the wallet. So in HonestExpenses a withdrawal is a transfer from your card account to your cash account: the card balance goes down, the cash balance goes up, and neither your analytics nor your budgets count it as an expense. The spending is recorded later, purchase by purchase, from the cash account.
- In the bot, write «transfer 100 from card to cash», using your accounts' names — it's saved in one go when both are found.
- By voice, «withdrew 100 cash from the card» becomes a transfer draft.
- In the app, open the cash account's menu and choose «Transfer to this account».
- If the ATM charged a fee, log the fee separately as an expense — that one is real spending.
Paying cash back into the bank works the other way round: a transfer from cash to the card.
When the wallet and the app don't match
Sooner or later you'll count your cash and find a different number from the app's. That's normal. Open the cash account, choose Adjust balance and enter what's really there. The difference is recorded as an adjustment — it fixes the balance without pretending to be a purchase in your expense charts.
A weekly count keeps the gaps small. If the adjustments keep growing, the missing money is usually small things — a coffee here, a snack there.
Start tracking cash today
- Create an account — no card needed.
- Add a cash account with what your wallet holds now.
- Log the next cash purchase in the bot or by voice.
- Record your next ATM withdrawal as a transfer.
A new account gets 7 days of Pro with 20 AI actions, so you can try voice logging along the way. The bot and manual entry keep working after that. Everything else is on the home page.
Questions
Do I really have to log every coin?
No. Log what you remember, and count the wallet now and then. An adjustment covers the rest, and the gap shows you how much slipped through.
Is cash included in my total balance?
Yes. A cash account is an ordinary account, so its balance is part of the total balance on the home screen and on the Accounts page.
Why isn't my ATM withdrawal shown as an expense?
Because it's a transfer between two of your own accounts. The expenses are the purchases you make with that cash afterwards.
Can I track cash in a foreign currency?
You choose one currency sign for the app, and every amount is shown with it. There's no currency conversion, so for a trip abroad, record the amounts in the currency you've chosen.
I paid partly in cash and partly by card. What now?
Make two entries: one on the cash account, one on the card, each with its own amount.