Tutorial 0.9.x


Tutorial for Mojito version 0.9.x


A good way to get started with Mojito is to import some sample transactions and account data, then play around with the spreadsheet to see how it works. Luckily, Mint has a "demo" account that we can use to import some sample data! Of course, you can certainly use your own mint.com account, too.


If you start with the Mint sample data...

If you decide to use the Mint sample data for this tutorial, you will probably want to start with a new copy of Mojito when you are ready to use your own transaction data, rather than deleting the sample data.
You certainly can delete the sample data and start over, so it's your choice what you prefer to do.

Before you start, keep this mind ...


Think of the transaction data you import into Mojito as disposable. The actual transaction data is stored in Mint, so any transaction edits you make in Mojito will just get overwritten the next time you re-import your transactions from Mint. If you need to edit some transactions -- to add a tag so they match one of your budgets, for example --  you should edit the transactions in Mint, then re-import your transactions into Mojito. This may sound cumbersome, but you will quickly get used to the process of: 1) update all of your new transactions in Mint, 2) Import your transactions into Mojito. Simple as that. I generally do this once a week; but sometimes, when I'm really busy or out of town, I'll do it every two or three weeks.

If you only need to update a couple of transactions, you may find it faster just to manually update them in both Mojito and Mint, without re-importing. Just don't forget to update Mint since that's where the data is actually stored.

OK. Let's go!!



1. Import transaction data from Mint.com



  • Select the "Import Mint Txn Data" item from the Mojito menu.
    • If you see the "Authorization required" message box, click OK, then click Accept on the next window.
    • Select "Import Mint Txn Data" from the Mojito menu again.
  • The login window will appear.
  • If it isn't already filled in, type your mint.com login information, or type "demo@mint.com" in the Email field to use Mint's sample data
  • Click OK to login.
    • Logging into the "demo" account takes a looooong time. I don't know why, but it does. So BE PATIENT.
    • The login window will stay open as if you never clicked OK. Don't click OK again. Just wait for 60 seconds or so.
  • The import window will appear.
  • Use the default date range (Jan. 1st to end of current month) and leave the "Replace existing data" box checked.
    • If you are trying this early in the year, say before April 15th, then specify a start date that is 4 or 5 months prior.
  • Click OK to accept the import date range.
  • You will see the import begin.

Notes:
  • The sample data from Mint varies somewhat each time you import it. You can re-import the data at any time.
  • In the "Select an action" field, you can click the small down-arrow to see a list of actions you can perform, such as sorting by date, sorting by month then amount, showing budget matches, etc. Select an action in the list to execute it.


2. Import account names and today's balances


The point of this sheet is to show the history of your account balances. If tracking your account balances over time is not interesting to you, you can ignore the AccountData sheet.



  • Select the "Update Account Data" item from the Mojito menu
  • If you do this within 5 minutes after importing the transaction data, you won't need to login to the demo account again.
    • If the login window appears, login as "demo@mint.com", same as above.
  • Once the account data is retrieved, you should see several new columns on the AccountData sheet -- one for each account.
  • You should also see one row of account balances with today's date on the far left.

Notes:
  • You can only update account balances once per day. However, you can delete the current day's row and run the update again.
  • To make this sheet useful, you should update the account balances each time you use the spreadsheet -- once per week is fine.
  • Unfortunately, you must run the update manually. Mojito does not store your Mint password, so it cannot login to Mint automatically.
  • There is a trend chart on the Charts sheet that displays the history of account balances in graphical form.



3. Create or modify some budgets


On the Budget sheet, you can create budget items that include multiple categories AND tags! You can also quickly compare your budgets to your actual expenses for various date ranges, such as last month, last 3 months, year-to-date, or a custom date range.


  • The basic idea is to create a budget item, give it a highlight color, a monthly amount, and a list of categories and tags
    • Separate each category / tag by a comma
    • The categories and tags you specify must EXACTLY match the one in Mint. e.g. "Mortgage & Rent".
    • If you have to, copy-and-paste the category or tag from the TxnData sheet
  • When you change a budget item, the computed budget cells on the right will be automatically recalculated.
    • If the computed cells do not appear to update, you can force the update by selecting "Recalc Budgets" from the Mojito menu.
  • The default budget contains some items created for the Mint sample data, plus a few extra budget items as examples.
  • Several of the cells have help notes, indicated by a black triangle in the upper right corner.
    • Hover the mouse over the cell to see the note.


Note: The examples below are not particularly applicable for the Mint sample transactions, but they give you an idea of the possibilites.


3.1 Track your dining out expenses


Mint only allows you to create a budget based on a single category; so to create a budget for all categories related to dining out, you are stuck using the parent category "Food & Dining". Unfortunately, this means ALL of the child categories are included in the budget, including "Groceries", which doesn't make sense for a "dining out" budget.

Mojito doesn't know, or care, about parent categories. You simply specify all of the categories and tags that should be included in the budget. Simple as that.

In Mojito:
Budget item: Dining Out
   Include Categories + Tags:   Restaurants,Fast Food,Alcohol & Bars
   Include AND / OR:   OR


3.2 Track your vacation expenses without having to use the "Vacation" category for everything


Mint has a "Vacation" category, so you could track all of your vacation expenses by assigning the "Vacation" category to every transaction related to your vacation; but then you wouldn't be able to use other categories that would let you see how much you spent on airfare, trains, hotels, food, souvenirs, etc. Mojito can solve this problem.


In Mint:
- Create a "Vacation" tag
- Assign the "Vacation" tag to all transactions related to your vacation.
In Mojito:
- Re-import your transactions from Mint, if necessary
Budget item: Vacation Expenses
   Include Categories + Tags:   Vacation
   Include AND / OR:   OR


3.3 Track parents' and kids' entertainment expenses separately


In Mint:
- Create "Parents" and "Kids" tags (or whatever you prefer)
- Assign the "Entertainment" category, plus "Kids" and "Parents" tags to your transactions, as appropriate.
In Mojito:
- Re-import your transactions from Mint, if necessary
Budget item: Parents' Entertainment
   Include Categories + Tags:   Entertainment,Parents
   Include AND / OR:   AND
Budget item: Kids' Entertainment
   Include Categories + Tags:   Entertainment,Kids
   Include AND / OR:   AND


3.4 Track work clothing expenses separately from personal clothing expenses


We could create separate "Work" and "Personal" tags and use the same technique as in 3.3, but it would be cumbersome to assign the "Personal" tag to every non-work transaction. Also, we can't just use "Clothing" and "Clothing,Work" for the two budgets because the "Clothing" budget would show ALL clothing expenses (both personal and work). Instead, we'll use an "exclude" trick to get the desired result.


In Mint:
- Create a tag called "Work" and assign it to your transactions as appropriate.
In Mojito:
- Re-import your transactions from Mint, if necessary
- Under Budget Options, add the Work tag to the "Categories and tags to exclude from budgets" list.
Budget item: Clothing (personal)
   Include Categories + Tags:   Clothing
   Include AND / OR:   OR
Budget item: Clothing for work
   Include Categories + Tags:   Clothing,Work
   Include AND / OR:   AND


* Why this works: Adding a category or tag to the "exclude" list causes any transactions with that category / tag to be ignored from all budget calculations ... UNLESS the category / tag is explicitly listed in a budget item; in that case the budget item will take precedence and the excluded category / tag will be included in that budget item's calculations.


4. See which transactions match which budgets


On the Budget sheet, you can see how many transactions match a particular budget item by looking at the Txn Count column, but it is often helpful to see the matching transactions themselves.

  • Switch to the TxnData sheet, click the down-arrow in the "Select an action" field, then select the "Show budget matches" item.
  • This will highlight and sort the transactions by budget item based on the budgets and date range on the Budget sheet.
  • If you wish to remove the highlights, you can select the "Clear budget matches" from the action list.



5. Look at your total inflows vs. outflows (income vs. expenses)


Once you import your transactions into Mojito (see step 1), you can use the In / Out sheet to compare your total inflows vs. outflows.

This sheet answers the simple question "Are you spending more than you make?"

Like the budget sheet, you can choose any date range you want, as well as specify accounts, categories, and tags to exclude.


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