The other day I unexpectedly stumbled upon a great example of how Money Dashboard can be used to manage your money, track your spending, and proactively manage cash loan repayments, all because I forgot my wallet at lunchtime.
During a busy working week I realised I had left my wallet at home, with my bank cards and cash inside, and had no way to pay for my lunch. Naturally, I did what most would do in this situation. I "tapped"/"subbed"/"got a shot" of some cash from a colleague, with a "pay you back tomorrow agreement. In essence, I had instantly entered into an impromptu "soft" cash loan based on trust alone. Obviously, this kind of arrangement is easily forgotten.
In times of austerity and belt-tightening, such as these, it's good to track all your impromptu cash transactions and debts. Small cash spends soon mount up to something more significant. But worse than that, if you have borrowed money from a colleague, as I did; forgetting to repay the money can cause embarrassment and awkwardness in the office, and can put your colleague's budget out.
I signed into my Money Dashboard account. The application makes you aware of all of your transactions in one place, including cash withdrawals. You can use this feature to remind yourself of why you made any cash withdrawals in the first place. From there, I can simply tag the spending as "food" or "lunch (borrowed)", using the easy to view Track Spending feature. Now I have a record that I spent that money, and a reminder that I have to repay my debt to my colleague.
Done. Simple, quick, and accountable.
Money Dashboard "the one place to manage your money", prompting you of soft cash loan repayments with colleagues.
by Angus Grossart, Software Architect and Team Leader
