Once a month: what came in, went out, was left
The easiest place to give up on tracking money is not the recording. It is never looking at what you recorded. Entries pile up, the list grows longer, and nobody ever reads it back, so tracking turns into effort with nothing in return.
Looking once a month is enough to close that loop. No complicated spreadsheets. Just three numbers and a quick look at where most of the money went.
Start with three numbers
At the start of a month, look back at the one before and check three numbers:
- In: how much came in during the month
- Out: how much went out during the month
- Left: in minus out, what was left
On the Finances page in the app, the month's income, expense and balance sit right at the top, and you can step back to the previous month or forward to the next. While a month is still running, the page says which day the totals run to, so for a full month the best time to look is early the following month.
Once you have the three numbers, do not jump to conclusions. Having little left does not always mean you overspent. Maybe a once-a-year bill landed this month. Having a lot left may just mean a payment has not gone out yet. The three numbers give you a rough sense of the month. They are not a grade.
Then see where it went
Three numbers tell you how much, not where. The second step is to look at the breakdown.
On the Analytics page, choose This month and you can see spending split by category: Food & Dining, Housing, Transport, Shopping, and how much each one takes up.
As you look, watch for two things:
- What the two or three biggest pieces are, and whether they match what you expected
- Whether any piece is noticeably bigger than you thought
If one piece surprises you, go back to the Finances page, filter this month to expenses, and look down the list. Each entry shows its category, so you can pick out the ones that make up that piece. Often the answer is right there. It is not that you spent more every day, but that the spending bunched up on a few days.
Fill the gaps before you look
Looking at the numbers only helps if they are accurate. If you paid for a lot with WeChat Pay or Alipay this month and did not record every payment, import the bills first.
Export the bill file from WeChat or Alipay, unzip it, and select it under Import a bill file (at the bottom of the Finances page, and in Settings → Data). The file is opened on your device, and the original file is never uploaded. Before anything is imported, every entry is listed for you to check, and only the ones you tick are imported. Entries imported before are marked, so nothing gets recorded twice. If you import the wrong thing, you can undo the whole batch on the page that appears when the import finishes. Once you leave that page, or after two hours, the batch can no longer be undone.
Day to day, one line in the chat works too. Say "taxi 26", confirm it, and it is recorded. Amounts are recorded in RMB (¥) for now. For more on keeping the recording step light, see Write it down first, judge later.
When you are done, change one thing
With the three numbers and the breakdown in front of you, the last step is this: if you want to adjust anything, pick just one.
Say takeout came to more than you expected this month. Next month, watch only that, and leave the rest alone. Changing one thing at a time is something you can actually manage, and you can see whether it worked. Trying to cut everything at once usually falls apart by the second week.
And if nothing jumps out this month, that is good too. Looking at your money is not only about finding problems. It is also about knowing clearly how this month's money went. Early next month, look again.
General information only, not professional advice.
Written by the Examen team with AI assistance, reviewed and edited by people · Oct 2026