The Birth of Cash/MONEY: From Chaos to Clarity

Cash/MONEY wasn’t a brainstormed idea — it was survival.

I was drowning in fragile Google Sheets: endless nested formulas, broken cell links, and the constant fear that one wrong edit would nuke months of tracking.

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 🫨

• Expenses only became visible once the credit card statement closed.
• Auto-charges in Germany meant no reaction time.
• 🫀 Every month ended with: “Wait… how did we spend this much?!”

We felt responsible. But the numbers proved otherwise.

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 (understandably), 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 😉 - for now) 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, intuitive and intelligent as possible.

Frictionless Entry: Smarter Logging

• Category auto-suggestions (log “Travel” → get “Miles” pre-filled).
• User auto-filled from login.
• Default payment method pre-selected.
• Smart comment suggestions from past 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.

The Outcome

Cash/MONEY turned budgeting from chaos into clarity:

• ✅ No fragile spreadsheets.
• ✅ No clunky no-code hacks.
• ✅ Just fast, intuitive expense tracking — with real insights.

It started with pivot tables and duct tape. Now it’s a scalable system built for real life. And it keeps getting better, with chart visualisations, AI agency and more.