The Birth of Cash/MONEY: A Budgeting Evolution

Cash/MONEY wasn’t just an idea—it was a necessity. It was born out of the chaos of managing multiple Google Sheets, each filled with deeply nested formulas, fragile links between cells, and the ever-present fear of breaking something with a single misplaced edit.

Where it is ☝️ Where and how it started 👇

It was Formula-Ception: a budgeting system held together by conditional formatting, pivot tables, and an obsessive need for control over where every cent was going.

The Hidden Pitfalls of Budgeting: Why Your Expenses Keep Surprising You 🫨

You’d think managing expenses is as simple as dropping in the Credit Card statement at the end of the month and calling it a day, right? Yeah, we thought so too. And for years, that’s exactly what we did—spending freely, living our best lives, blissfully unaware of the financial storm brewing in the background.

Then came the dreaded billing period rotation.

Boom. The statement closed, the final amount was set, and in Germany’s auto-charge wonderland, that money was gone within a day or two—no time to react, no time to adjust. And every month, like clockwork, came the same gut-wrenching realization:

🫀 “Wait… HOW did we spend this much?!”

Cue the heart attacks.

We thought we were being responsible. We felt like we were sticking to a budget. But when reality hit, we were left staring at the numbers like a bad plot twist. Where did it all go? What could we have done differently? Could we have saved more?

We were rudderless, frustrated, and totally lost. 🚢💸

Trying the Trendy “No-Code” Route

With Notion rising in popularity as a note-taking app with a built-in database, I set out to build a simple expense-tracking system that my wife and I could use.

The goal was simple entry on the go—log expenses as they happened. At first, I relied on Notion’s “Add a new line to Database” feature, but it quickly became clear that it was clunky, manual, and prone to errors. It wasn’t intuitive enough for quick-fire logging.

Discovering NotionForms (Now NoteForms)

After some research, I found NotionForms (now NoteForms), a tool that let me create and embed a form directly into Notion. Game-changer.

Instead of manually adding expenses, we could now submit entries through a structured form that automatically updated our Notion database—without needing to host anything or deal with complex setups. It was smooth, easy to share, and significantly improved our workflow.

☝️(having to type your own name every-time was a bit tedious...)

The Notion Database: Nice, But Not Great

However, Notion’s database had limitations. As entries piled up, it got slower. I had to start breaking the months into billing cycles that aligned with our credit card statements.

It was functional, but it lacked the power of a proper relational database. No easy GROUP BY, no deep insights. Google Sheets still played a role, forcing me to keep a redundant backup.

Enter Zapier: Automating the Sync to Google Sheets

To avoid manually copying expenses, I introduced Zapier, which captured every new Notion entry and mirrored it into a master Google Sheet.

No-code was saving the day…

Until it wasn’t.

The No-Code Ceiling: Why It Wasn’t Enough

Zapier introduced limits, and I wasn’t about to pay extra just because we logged more transactions in a given month.

At the same time, Notion itself became an unnecessary step—I wasn’t even using its features anymore, yet I couldn’t easily send NoteForms data directly to Google Sheets.

That was it. Time to build something better.

Introducing Cash/MONEY: A Budgeting System Built for Real Life

So, I clicked my fingers and got to work. 🚀

What is Cash/MONEY?

Cash/MONEY (totally non-trademarked 😉) is a WebApp built using SvelteKit, designed with one clear UX principle:

Make it effortless to add transactions.

Since we can’t directly integrate with banks, users must manually log transactions—but that process should be as seamless and intelligent as possible.

Frictionless Entry: Smarter Logging

• Tap “Travel” → Get “Miles” auto-suggested (based on past entries).

• Your name? Auto-filled from the logged-in account.

• Default payment method? Credit Card (since that’s what we use most).

• Date? Today, pre-selected.

• Smart comments that adapt based on past spending patterns.

Future-Proofing for a Native App

This foundation prepares for the ultimate future goal:

A mobile app built with Flutter or React Native.

All the business logic, roles, and permissions live in a Python API with JWT authentication and a PostgreSQL database, using SQLAlchemy to keep things structured.

From Chaos to Clarity

Cash/MONEY is the budgeting system we always needed but didn’t have.

✅ No more fragile spreadsheets.

✅ No more clunky no-code workarounds.

✅ Just fast, intuitive expense tracking with real insights.

And it all started with a budgeting system held together by pivot tables and hope.