How to Track Cash

Learn how to track cash using Tiller finance spreadsheets.

Heather Phillips avatar
Written by Heather Phillips
Updated over a week ago

If you spend cash, it’s likely that you see the cash come out of your checking account as an ATM withdrawal or if you're paid in cash you need a way to account for it in your finance spreadsheet.

Cash is usually spent over several days across multiple categories. We recommend two methods for tracking cash. 

Simple Cash Tracking Method

  1. Use the Tiller Money Feeds add-on to split the original ATM transaction into multiple transactions using multiple categories. 

Note: If you are paid in cash, and thus no ATM withdraw transaction appears on your Transactions sheet simply add a row anywhere on your transactions sheet and fill in the details of the cash income transaction. 

Super Tidy Cash Tracking Method

  1. Categorize the ATM withdraw as a transfer.

  2. Add a new row for a credit in the amount of the cash withdrawn from the ATM, allocate it to a "CASH" account, and categorize it as a transfer.

  3. Add new debit rows for each purchase paid with cash coming out of the CASH account and categorize the spending as you normally would. 

Note: When using the Super Tidy Cash Tracking Method if you spend all your cash, and you track all that spending, your amount in the cash account should total out to $0. 

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Q&A

Can you start with say under the mattress cash (an initial cash balance) , that may have occurred before an ATM transaction has been posted to Tiller transaction sheet?


Yes, if you’re tracking the balance in the Balances sheet using the Tiller Money Feeds add-on manual balance option you add the balance of the cash there with whatever date you like. If you’re using the automated balance for cash based on Transactions you may also want to enter a transaction for the starting balance.

I have transactions in two currencies - USD and Mexican pesos. My Mexican transactions are all in cash or from accounts not supported by Tiller. I’m fine tracking balances etc. in USD; I’ve been manually inputting USD values based on either the transaction-date exchange rates or (when possible) the exchange rate from whenever I turned dollars into pesos. Wondering if you have ideas for how to make that process a little less manual?


We’re primarily focused on USD right now so we don’t have great specifics on how to handle multiple currencies. The best thread going right now is here: Currency conversion while adding Indian bank accounts and loan accounts

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