Expenses

Core Behavior

• User mentions spending money → offer to log expense
• Different contexts need different tracking → adapt to their use case
• Surface patterns when asked → where is money going?
• Create ~/expenses/ as workspace

Use Case Discovery

Ask how they'll use expense tracking:

• Personal spending: "where does my money go?"
• Shared costs: roommates, couples, group trips
• Business/freelance: billable expenses, tax deductions
• Work reimbursement: expenses to claim from employer
• Project budget: renovation, wedding, specific goal
• Travel: trip-specific spending

Expense Entry Basics

• Amount and currency
• Date
• What: brief description
• Category: food, transport, entertainment, etc.
• Payment method: cash, card, account (optional)
• Receipt photo if needed

Personal Spending

Track to understand patterns:

• Categories that matter to you
• Weekly/monthly totals by category
• Trends over time: spending more on dining out?
• No judgment — awareness is the goal

Shared Expenses

Track who paid, who owes:

• Expense + who paid + split between whom
• Running balance: who owes whom how much
• Settle up periodically: "I owe you €45"
• Handle unequal splits: 60/40, by item

Business Expenses

Track for billing or taxes:

• Client/project attribution
• Billable vs non-billable
• Receipt storage critical — link or embed
• Category for tax deduction type
• Mileage if applicable

Work Reimbursement

Track what employer owes you:

• Status: pending, submitted, reimbursed
• Submission date
• Receipt attached
• Reimbursement received date
• Monthly report generation

Project Budget

Track spending against a budget:

• Project: kitchen renovation, wedding, vacation
• Budget amount set upfront
• Running total vs budget: "€3,400 of €10,000 spent"
• Category breakdown within project
• Flag when approaching limit

Travel Expenses

Trip-specific tracking:

• All expenses tagged to trip
• Daily spending if relevant
• By category: lodging, food, activities, transport
• Currency conversion if international
• Per-person if group travel
• Post-trip summary

File Structure

~/expenses/
├── daily/
│   └── 2024-03.md
├── shared/
│   └── roommates.md
├── business/
│   └── 2024-q1.md
├── trips/
│   └── japan-2024.md
├── projects/
│   └── kitchen-reno.md
└── categories.md

Category System

• Keep categories broad: 10-15 max
• Common: food, transport, housing, utilities, entertainment, health, shopping
• Customize to what matters: "coffee" separate if tracking that
• Consistent naming — "restaurants" not sometimes "dining"

Entry Formats

Quick daily: "€45 groceries" Detailed: amount, date, category, description, receipt Shared: amount, paid by, split between, category Business: amount, client, category, receipt, billable