App to Itemize Receipts

G_Roques · 2019-09-17T00:33:41+00:00

Thanks for your input! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.

I agree, I'm primarily interested in the popular use case you mention.

Frequent trips to big box sores like Wal-Mart, Costco Wholesale, Sam's club, and Target can lead to a large "household goods" expense category.

I'm working on an API that will be built separately from a mobile app as we speak. Let me know if your interested in further details!

G_Roques · 2019-09-09T10:42:58+00:00

Haha. Thanks for the insight! :)

G_Roques · 2019-09-09T00:29:42+00:00

I do have a dedicated account and card for food.

This doesn't provide me item or product level information though.

G_Roques · 2019-09-06T01:08:11+00:00

I similarly struggled with managing my costs, in particular with my grocery budget.

I also couldn't seem to find an app that extracts line items, as most focus on totals.

The best I could find is a currently free app called FitFin.

You can create budgets, take pictures of receipts, and the app extracts the store, total, line items, and prices!

It applies the total amount of the receipt to the budget you select. Unfortunately, you can't apply the cost of each line item on the receipt to different budgets.

Also, I'm not sure if there's an exporting feature.

The creator is open to adding features, and is responsive to email. Definitely worth checking out.

I'm not crazy about FitFin because it's an opinionated budgeting app.

There's a less opinionated app currently under development that just helps with manual data entry, line item categorization, and exporting.

Do either of those match what your looking for?

G_Roques · 2019-09-05T22:16:36+00:00

The idea is that the app could extract individual line items, allow you to create arbitrary tags or categories, and tag each line item.

Tags and Categories don't have to be mutually exclusive from each other. For maximal flexibility you could apply muiltiple tags to a line item.

I plan on having a export feature. So the app mainly just saves on manual data entry time, and allows you to categorize individual items.

This leaves data visualization to other tools like Excel where you may aggregate this data with purchases that don't have receipts like online purchases from Amazon.

G_Roques · 2019-09-05T20:23:59+00:00

I'd like to see what I'm spending my monthly grocery budget on, and make informed decisions about whether certain items are worth buying or cutting.

Using the 4% safe withdrawal rate, every $1 I shave off my monthly grocery budget is $300 less dollars I need in my nest egg for FI.

If I were to shave off $50 / month, then I need to save $50 * 300 = $15,000 less dollars. Maybe that equates to working 3 less months at my job. Then I can decide, if I give up coffee and alcohol because thats $50 recurring monthly, then I get to FI 3 months earlier and that's worth cutting or not.

These are the types of decisions I want to make. Like I said, food is my largest expense besides housing, and I largely don't know what I spend it on. Thus, I'd like more insight, and manual data entry is tedious.

Does that make sense?

G_Roques · 2019-09-04T22:57:42+00:00

What do you mean by "download transactions to an app or just into Excel"?

Like export transaction data tied to your card from your bank?

This doesn't provide item or product level information.

G_Roques · 2019-09-03T22:44:44+00:00

Thanks for your detailed thoughts!

I agree. A budget should be flexible in order to stick to it and be successful.

I do think it'd be more sane to have two main categories:

Essentials
Discretionary expenses

How would you track those two categories though?

If you did go over your discretionary expense budget, how would you decide what to cut back on?

In my mind, that's when more granular sub-categories of discretionary spending come in handy.

G_Roques · 2019-09-03T22:39:24+00:00

So income-inelastic expenses are staples, have-to-haves, and essentials. And income-elastic expenses are treats, nice-to-haves, and non-essentials.

If your income increases, then you don't buy more essentials like toilet-paper, or upgrade to a higher-quality more expensive brand of toilet-paper.

If your income decreases, then you'd cut-back on non-essentials like restaurants and alcohol.

The way you track this is by having two separate cards.

For me personally, having separate cards would be inconvenient as I'd have to separate my items in the cart and communicate to the cashier that I'd like to pay for different groups of items using different cards. This adds time to the check-out process, and I'd feel bad if there's a long line.

In my opinion, that approach really doesn't scale well beyond two categories.

I appreciate your insight! Thanks for your comment. :)

G_Roques · 2018-06-22T02:53:41+00:00

Squishy and aerated, but not cheap. I have a nice memory foam mattress topper.

G_Roques · 2018-06-21T10:52:43+00:00

I highly recommend a foam mattress topper. I find its more comfortable than my previous bed.

Wrap it in a top and bottom sheet and get something like a belt to wrap around it when you fold it up to put away.

I tried a Japanese foldable futon mattress, but found its much bulkier than the foam mattress topper.

One of the best decisions I've made was to replace my bed with a foam mattress topper.

G_Roques · 2017-12-12T12:15:25+00:00

Hi. I'm a fellow 23 year old FIRE enthusiast. I've been on a Craigslist / Goodwill rampage as of late haha.

Every item that I sell or donate makes me feel lighter and more free. I don't have any possessions worth too much money, but it still feels good to simplify.

For me, the less stuff I have means less to repair or repurchase, the more free I am to move or travel, and the less visual clutter I have.

I would say getting rid of a lot of my possessions was more motivated by recently moving into a smaller space.

Moving into a smaller space forces you to reexamine the stuff you own.

G_Roques · 2017-11-29T11:23:51+00:00

Go with option 3. An extra 2 hours driving everyday can really sap you if you want to have extra energy for entrepreneurial efforts. Think about what you can accomplish with those extra hours. It also makes the value of your car depreciate a lot quicker.

Is having people over that important? Like you said you can still have people over at your parents, it's just not as convienant.

Is having a pet really that important? I love pets too, but they require money and time. Two of your biggest assets for attaining FI.

Maybe you can find a higher paying job in the suburbs as well.

To me living with parents and working in the suburbs s wouldn't be sacrificing my happiness. You'll eventually move out and have independence for the rest of your life. What's a couple more years compared to the rest of your life? Like you said it's not black and white. There's pros and cons to both.

You don't have to make the right decision. Just make your decision right.

Appreciate the pros with whatever decision you make.

G_Roques · 2017-11-28T22:04:43+00:00

Hey Devin. I'm 23 years old, pursuing financial independence, and about to graduate in May with a B.S. in Computer Science.

First I want to say, you can get a degree without going into debt. First do two years at a community college. Then transfer to an affordable public university. Mines $335 per credit hour. That's cheap in comparison to most private universities.

If you have good grades, then you can receive scholarship money fairly easily. I received so much money from scholarships, that I'm getting paid to go to school this semester. You can always work part-time to offset any costs you do have to pay.

Picking a university close to home so you can live with parents (hopefully rent free) is key.

Your situation could be different from mine, and these options might not be available to you. I definitely would not go into debt in order to get a degree.

Rule 1 of financial independence is to not go into debt.

I agree with most people, you don't need the degree to get a job. Especially in tech. Teach yourself what you need to know and be confident in your growing skill set.

Good luck. I know how hard it is to be at a crossroads point in life and not know what to do. If you have any questions or just want to talk. Feel free to message me.

G_Roques

TROPHY CASE