Budgeting when your money did not move with you
Expats rarely have “one home currency” anymore. The salary lands in euros, the landlord wants złoty, the old card at home still exists for family transfers. Generic budget apps flatten that into one number too early. Here is a setup that keeps each pocket honest.
One wallet per place the money sits
Picture a developer who moved from Lviv to Warsaw: paid in EUR by a Dutch client, rent and shops in PLN, a Ukrainian card for family, a small USDT balance untouched since last year. Four wallets, three fiat currencies plus crypto — not one “home” currency forced on entry.
In Kaunti you create a wallet per account or cash stash and pick its currency from 60 fiat options or crypto. Reports stay in that wallet’s currency until you look at the total.
Choose the currency for the total, not for every line
You might think in euros for net worth but in złoty for groceries. Set the net worth display to the currency you use for big decisions; wallets underneath stay literal. The total uses converted rates — good for “am I up since March?”, not for tax filing.
Log currency exchanges as transfers
When EUR/PLN moves, rent feels cheaper or pricier even if the landlord did not change the amount. Recording each conversion as a transfer between wallets builds a history of what your swaps actually cost, instead of a vague feeling that exchange rates are “bad this month”.
Why skipping bank login helps abroad
Aggregators cover some countries well and others not at all. Expats are the edge case. Kaunti never asks for online banking credentials. On Android you can enable notification parsing for specific banking apps; Premium adds voice and receipt capture for markets and paper slips.
Splitting rent without merging salaries
A shared wallet invited by email can hold rent and utilities while each person keeps private wallets for salary and savings. The same account works in the browser and on Android (Google Play package com.pama.budget).
An evening setup
You do not need a year of backfill. Two weeks of forward logging beats imported categories you never open. The app UI is available in English, Polish, Czech, Ukrainian and Russian — useful when local paperwork is still catching up.
- Wallet per account; currency matches the statement.
- Net worth total in the currency you reason in.
- Transfers for exchanges, expenses for spending.
- One shared wallet if you split household bills.
- Review monthly, not daily.
FAQ
Do I need a local European bank account?
No. Wallets are records you keep; any of 60 fiat currencies or crypto works regardless of where you live.
Can I track transfers to family back home?
Log them as a transfer into a home-currency wallet, or as an expense if the money is gone for good — whichever matches how you think about it.
Does Kaunti work with Wise or Revolut?
There is no API link. Add a wallet in the currency those balances use and enter transactions manually, or use Android notification parsing if you enable it for those apps.
What if I relocate again?
Add wallets in the new currency; keep old ones for history. Change the display currency for totals if your head currency changed.
Put salary and rent on one screen
Two wallets — one for income, one for housing — plus a total in the currency you think in. About ten minutes.
Create free account