Tracking spending in more than one currency

The moment you buy something in a currency other than your own, two numbers exist: what the shop charged and what it cost you. Tracking only one of them leads to confusion later.

Keep the original

Always record the amount and currency exactly as they appear on the receipt. That is the fact. Everything else, including what it came to in your own currency, is a calculation you can redo, and the receipt in your hand will always agree with the original.

Convert on the day it happened

Exchange rates move. A dinner in another country should be valued at the rate of the day you ate it, not the rate on the day you happen to look at the report. Converting at the expense date also means a report for last March does not change its totals when the currency moves in April.

That is how Spend works: each expense keeps its original amount and is converted into your base currency using the rate for its date. Your totals, charts and budgets all speak one currency, and the original is one click away.

Expect small differences

Your card statement will not match to the cent. Banks add their own margin and use their own timing, so a few cents of difference per purchase is normal. If you need the exact figure your bank charged, note it on the expense; for budgeting and reports, the day's rate is accurate enough.

Choose your base currency once

Pick the currency you think in, and stick with it. If you ever need to change it, your history can be converted again, but doing it casually muddies comparisons between months.