PocketProfiles: “The Tracker”
How Bridie used PocketSmith to nab a free bottle of Champagne
PocketSmith is online money management software that can adapt to your personal financial situation. This means that you can tailor it to deliver the perfect insights you need on your money so you have the right information to make the best decisions.
All of us here at PocketSmith have varied financial situations and goals. There are 15 of us now, and we all use PocketSmith a little differently to one another. Some of us have mortgages and loans, some don’t. Some of us have kids, some of us are single, and some of us share finances with a partner. We generally have different hobbies and priorities for how we spend our money. The list goes on, but we all use the same app to manage our finances.
We asked staff members how they use PocketSmith to manage their different budgeting needs. They’re short reads, and we hope they give you ideas about how you could use PocketSmith too. Feel free to ask any questions, and we’ll be sure to answer.
Meet Bridie! She works on our user-experience team and focuses on areas of the app that need a bit of love so that PocketSmith is easy to use. Here’s how Bridie does PocketSmith.
What do you primarily use PocketSmith for?
PocketSmith is mainly a gauge for me to see how financially well I am and to ensure I’m sticking to savings goals. I want to buy a house, and PocketSmith helps me identify where fat trimming needs to happen. My finances are relatively simple at the moment — a checking account, saving accounts, and a credit card. I don’t have any personal loans or anything like that.
How has PocketSmith changed the way you do money?
I’ve always been a saver, but also a big spender, like, I am the ultimate consumer! After plugging in my bank accounts, I was kind of shocked to see just how much money was wasted. I would drive my car a lot and fill after every pay-check. Now I walk to work, the car stays at home and only gets filled every six weeks or so, and no more parking tickets! And man, my Subaru is expensive to run, it’s around $130NZD a fill. Love seeing those changes on my Trends charts! Same for bought lunches, waaaaay too many of those and mostly down to not being organised, it wasn’t like those lunches were memorable either. I still spend money on going out, but these days it’s largely guilt free. I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older, I care more about the money I have and PocketSmith is just epic for showing me how it really is.
What pages/ features in PocketSmith do you use most?
Because I’m a super visual person my favourite is the donut chart on the Dashboard, I like being able to have a quick look and spot spends out of the ordinary. I use the Transaction page a lot too to search for things which is handy — like a few months ago I bought a posh bottle of Champagne, opened it weeks later, and it didn’t taste right. I emailed the supplier letting them know, and they replied wanting purchase information. I was able to quickly pull those details up with PocketSmith. I don’t keep receipts and have a terrible memory for dates and things, so it’s awesome that I don’t need to worry about it. Trends is the other page I frequently visit. I love being able to see spending per category over time and not need a budget. I suspect I’ll be more active on the Budget page after we release some changes soon!
How often do you log in?
Now that I’ve got category rules and filters doing all the heavy lifting for me, I don’t need to do any upkeep… So really I probably only log in maybe 1–2 times a month. I’ve got a pretty good handle on my spending limits at the moment, but I’ll be a lot more active if there’s something going on like planning travel or most recently when my boyfriend and I moved into our own place. Rent more than doubled, as did bills — no flatties to share them with! PocketSmith was awesome at helping us ease the squeeze and making it all manageable.
Any tips?
Yes, you MUST MUST MUST edit your merchant keywords when making rules. It’s so god darn important. You can read all about category rules here.
If you have hundreds of uncategorised transactions, use the search tool and make filters to categorise them. 15 minutes of setting up filters can save you over an hour upfront, and then even more over time. You can read all about filters here.
Get stuck into your categories page and personalise them with custom colours and emoji. Because of this, my PocketSmith is really friendly.
If you’re trying to save, figure out what you can save, set an automatic payment for that amount to go to savings right after pay day. You won’t miss it, and you’ll just get better and more brutal at it.
Want to tell us how you do PocketSmith? Get in touch at contact@pocketsmith.com.
Do you want to see how much you’re spending? Find out with PocketSmith!
More PocketProfiles from the PocketSmith team!
💜 The Trend Setter Using PocketSmith to kick years of credit card debt 💳
💜 The Data Geek Using PocketSmith to maximise a house deposit 💰
💜 The Budget Wizard Using PocketSmith to run a lean household budget 🏡
💜 The Silo Saver Using PocketSmith to save and travel the world ✈️
💜 The Treat Detective Using PocketSmith to track treat money 🍦
💜 The Forecaster Using PocketSmith to forecast bills and expenses ⛅️
💜 The Debt Crusher Using PocketSmith to crush outstanding debt 👊
💜 The Daily Planner Using the PocketSmith calendar to plan spending 📅
💜 The Collector Using PocketSmith as a journal for reflection 📷 ✍️
