Help Topics:
Help and How-tos
Learn the ins and outs of using Tweetwhatyouspend to successfully track your cash spending
Setup an Account
While you don't need to have a Twitter account to use Tweet What You Spend, you do need one if you plan to post entries to your Cash Journal through Twitter. Setting up a Twitter account is easy and you can register one by clicking here. Once you have a Twitter account, follow these steps.
- Register from the Tweetwhatyouspend homepage, or by clicking the 'register' link in the top-right of the page.
- Enter your Twitter username and password along with a valid email address and Tweetwhatyouspend will take care of the rest!
How to post through Twitter
Posting an entry to your Cash Journal through Twitter is easy! Below is a guide to the Tweetwhatyouspend syntax. A simple post to your Cash Journal looks like this:
"d twys" is the Twitter syntax for sending a direct message to the user twys (twys is tweetwhatyouspend on Twitter). "groceries 46.20" is the message you're sending to twys, which is securely, and automatically parsed into your Cash Journal.
Below is a complete guide to the Tweetwhatyouspend Twitter syntax.
Complete Syntax Guide
| d twys hardware 9 | entry name is hardware, price is $9.00. You can specify a decimal on price or not |
| d twys screwdrive 3, mousetrap 3.75, key chain 1.50 | comma separates individual entries creating three separate entries in your Cash Journal |
| d twys new cabinet from Lowes 175 Household | Add category name after price to specify the category for the entry, "Household" in this example |
| d twys copies 6.49, train tickets to Philly 125 < Business | categorize multiple entries at once by adding a "<" followed by the category name. Both the Copies and Philly tickets will be categorized on entry as "Business" expenses |
| d twys iPhone 299 Leisure, gas 75, groceries 46 < Houshold |
Categorizing your Entries
Tweetwhatyouspend allows you to easily categorize Cash Journal entries. You can categorize your entries at the time of entry through Twitter (see syntax table above) or on the Tweetwhatyouspend website. To categorize an entry on the Tweetwhatyouspend website, follow these steps.
- Click the entry you want to categorize and drag it the corresponding category
- Release the entry over the category to categorize it
- The category counter next to the category name will increment
- The entry will color according to the category
Setting your time zone
The default time zone setting for Tweetwhatyouspend is Eastern Standard Time. To localize to your home time zone, go into Settings under Cash Journal and select your time zone from the drop-down menu.
Changing your privacy settings
By default, your entries appear on the homepage anonymously. If you would like your entries to be named on the homepage, change the privacy setting checkbox under Settings in Cash Journal
Security on Tweetwhatyouspend
Your password is encrypted and stored securely upon registering an account with Tweetwhatyouspend. No one has access to your password information except you.
The Wall of Shame module in your Cash Journal and The Wall section
The Wall of Shame module lives in the right-hand side of your cash journal. Drag and drop entries onto "the wall of shame" to highlight them in your cash journal, and optionally share them with the Tweetwhatyouspend community! The Wall of Shame is your personal bulletin board where you can highlight imprudent, or otherwise shameful spending in your cash journal. You can even share your shame with other members of the Tweetwhatyouspend community for support, a good laugh, or both!
Here's how it works:
- Drag an entry from your cash journal onto the Wall of Shame Module, and drop. By default, Wall of Shame entries are shared in The Wall section for other members to see.
- If you don't want your Shame entries to show on The Wall, uncheck the "share my shame publicly checkbox at the bottom of the module"
- On drop, the entry will appear on the Wall of Shame module in your journal. If the "share my shame publicly" checkbox is checked, a dialogue will open.
- You can add a comment about the entry here, or optionally close the dialogue.
- In either case, your entry will be posted to The Wall for others to see
- You can now click the entry from your Wall of Shame module in your cash journal to see it on The Wall.
- If people comment on your entry from The Wall, you'll be able to tell right from your cash journal. In the Wall of Shame Module, a comments indicator (0) will increment as a thread forms around your entry.
- If you don't want to share your Shame entries on The Wall, uncheck the "share my shame publicly" checkbox before dragging an entry onto The Wall of Shame module
- You can post your entries to The Wall anonymously. To do so, go into settings and check the box that says, "anonymize my shame entries on the wall."