I finally audited my monthly cash flow with this Android app and cut hidden streaming fees

I understand how budgeting works, but it's easier said than done.

Sometimes, I find myself asking the dreaded question of where my money went. I'm even more shocked when I find that I spent it all without help and have nothing to show for it.

I'd used the You Need A Budget (YNAB) app to track my finances before. But it's paid, and defeats the purpose of cutting subscription costs.

I only needed to see which streaming service was ripping me off on my mobile devices. Cashew is my replacement and has a similar core idea without the monthly fee.

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By  Ben Khalesi

Cashew is my favorite smart money tracker

It knows where every dollar goes

Cashew is a free, open source expense tracker. Its home screen is built around almost everything I need.

I tap the + button in the lower-right corner to log income and expenses. A pop-up tab appears, and prompts me to enter a title and select the category.

Then I tap the calendar icon to adjust the date and time. There are Default, Upcoming, and Subscription toggles for controlling whether the log is a one-time entry, a future planned expense, or a recurring charge.

The Notes field is where I detail the specifics of a charge. I may also add a receipt attachment before saving the transaction.

My balance updates in real time, but I may forget to log several small purchases over a few days, and what they were for.

There's a Balance Correction feature hidden in the upper-right corner that lets me update my balance without making a new entry.

I treat each entry as a moment to slow down, so I don't make mistakes or miss anything.

Cashew also offers an experimental Intelligence toggle for adding transactions with natural language. The feature runs on Google Gemini. I needed to enter an API key, generated through Google AI Studio, to authorize the connection.

In the API key section, tap Create a new key. Then name it and attach it to a Gemini project. Create a new project if none exists. Then generate and copy your key.

In Cashew's Settings & Customization menu, go to Experimental Features and toggle on Intelligence. Return to the Settings menu and select the Intelligence option with the Beta label. Paste your key into the Gemini API key field.

This setup allows me to describe my transaction in plain language whenever I swipe up on the + icon.

I may enter something like "I paid $100 towards a debt yesterday." Cashew generates a preview of the appropriate card, and I simply need to add it.

I love using Gemini in the middle of errands when I'm distracted. An accidental tap on the keypad may confuse my records. But there's no fear of it happening with image uploads.

Tapping the camera icon on the AI's input field allows me to capture a real-time photo or upload one from my gallery. I may take a photo of a receipt, and the tool extracts the amount, sender, recipient, and other details.

I'm more accountable for my spending

I'm no longer paying for services to exist

Among the perks of moving back home to the family house is only having to pay bills as contributions to the household pool.

I've redirected house rent and maintenance funds I would've saved over the year toward savings and personal upgrades like better internet.

Still, bills are inevitable. I made sure to prioritize recurring payments like my income, savings, debt repayment, and subscriptions.

My one rule is that I can only build the rest of my spending around what's left after they're covered.

My Bills and Fees category alone costs $194 across eight transactions, which is 49% of everything I spend in a month.

At one point, I was paying for seven streaming platforms, and they cost me $50 monthly.

Although I subcategorized these expenses in the Home menu, the separate budget tab allows me to isolate my streaming subscriptions.

Seeing YouTube Premium, Apple TV+, DStv, Spotify, Netflix, PlayStation Plus, and Deezer listed out made me question why I needed that many services.

I'd initially subscribed to Apple TV+ to watch See, and left the plan active for everyone in my household. I eventually forgot to cancel it.

Similarly, I subscribed to Spotify to do hands-on feature tests a few times and never revisited it.

DStv is for my mom because she won't give up her favorite satellite channels. It didn't help that the renewal reminders got buried in my email.

But I've reviewed them on Cashew and downsized to Netflix, PlayStation Plus, Spotify, and DStv, saving $23 a month.

I replaced vibe spending with intentional auditing

I can read lines of expenses clearly

My payment structure as a freelancer is irregular because I invoice clients on different cycles. So, my streaming budget during a high-influx month becomes a problem during a low-influx month.

It's why I rotate subscriptions and then monitor my spending summary in the More menu.

I like to compare expenses before and after swapping services to estimate the value I'm getting. I even did a calculation for fun.

For example, Deezer used to cost me $12 monthly. Divided across 30 days, that comes to 40 cents daily, whether I use the service or not.

I hadn't streamed on the app more than five times a month before I cut it. So, the daily cost across five days was $2.40.

I made sure to note this information under entry cards to create a richer financial audit. I've also dialed back on costly apps and filled gaps in my viewing experience with locally saved media files.

So far, I haven't needed Cashew's Pro plan. It offers unlimited tracking across more than one budget simultaneously, full statistics with deeper financial breakdowns of past periods, more customization with icon packs and shapes, and extended history comparisons spanning multiple months.

I'd like to see a breakdown of my spending history at the end of the year. Plus, it'll be great to catch harmful patterns and see how far back money has been bleeding.

It's why I'm considering the lifetime tier of $12. I'm seeing it as a long-term investment in my financial rehabilitation.

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By  Parth Shah

Streamline your viewing experience

Cutting off some of my streaming services hasn't been easy, even with the subscription fatigue. It feels weird not having so much to pay for anymore, and almost like I'm missing something.

Thankfully, there are free solutions that ease my transition to a more frugal lifestyle. I use Spotify's free tier, YouTube, and other ad-supported platforms to cover basic functions in months when I'm not renewing my subscriptions.