Tutorial and How-To

Mojito version 1.1

Quick Links

0. Getting started
1. Import the latest transactions and account balances from Mint.com
2. Import transactions or account balances within a specific date range
3. Work with budgets

3.1 Track your dining out expenses
3.2 Track your vacation expenses without having to use the "Vacation" category for everything
3.3 Track parents' and kids' entertainment expenses separately
3.4 Track work expenses separately from personal expenses

4. Create savings goals
5. Compare your total inflows vs. outflows (income vs. expenses)
6. Edit transactions directly within Mojito
7. Reconcile an account

Getting Started

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, it will probably easier to start with a new copy of Mojito when you are ready to use your own transaction data, rather than deleting all of the sample data. You can download as many copies of Mojito as you want, so don't worry about it.

Remember: Your data is saved in Mint

Think of the transaction data you import into Mojito as disposable. The actual transaction data is stored in Mint. Mojito does allow you to edit your transactions directly in the spreadsheet -- to change the category, add tags, etc. -- but you should save those changes to Mint so the latest transaction data is always stored on Mint's servers.

This will give you peace of mind. If you accidentally mess up your transaction data in Mojito, you can simply re-import your data from Mint and be back in business. Or, if you break Mojito by deleting something "important", you can always download another copy.

Recommendation: Store only 12 months of transaction data in Mojito

Storing lots of transaction data in Mojito can slow things down. As your number of transactions grows above 1,000 rows, some calculations will start taking longer and the spreadsheet may start to feel "sluggish" (although, the Mint website is pretty dart slow, so maybe you won't notice...). To help avoid performance issues, you should consider starting a new copy of Mojito at the beginning of each year; and be sure to put the year in the file name.

The Mojito menu

When you open the Mojito spreadsheet, an extra menu named "Mojito" is added to the menu bar at the top. The items in this menu are described below.

• Sync all with Mint - Saves any transactions changes, then imports the latest transactions and account balances from Mint.
• Sync: Import txn data - Saves any transactions changes, then imports transactions from Mint that occurred in a specified date range.
• Sync: Import account balances - Only imports today's account balances.
• Sync: Save txn changes - Saves transaction changes to Mint. Nothing is imported into Mojito.
• Reconcile an account - Displays the Reconcile dialog window so you can reconcile an account.
• Check for Mojito updates - Checks for any Mojito updates, such as bug fixes, a new version, or helpful tips. Note: Mojito automatically performs this check periodically.
  

Script authorization - Permissions

Mojito uses Google Apps Script behind the scenes to do it's magic. The first time you do something in Mojito that triggers a script, you will see an Authorization Required prompt. 

Clicking OK will show a window with the permissions that Mojito requires. There should be only three.

Permissions explained:

1. View and manage your spreadsheets in Google Drive.

Needed to manipulate the spreadsheet, get/set cell values, etc.

2. View and manage data associated with the application.

Needed to save data to an internal database, used only by your copy of Mojito.

3. Connect to an external service.

Needed to sync your data with Mint.com and check for Mojito updates.

If you see ONLY the three permissions listed above, then click Accept to authorize the Mojito scripts to run.

If you see any other permissions listed, click Cancel to block the scripts from running; and please send me an email describing the extra permissions and where you got your copy of Mojito so I can investigate. Thanks.

1. Import the latest transactions and account balances from Mint.com

• Select the "Sync all with Mint" item from the Mojito menu.
• If you see the "Authorization required" message box, click OK, then click Accept on the next window.
• Select "Sync all with Mint" from the Mojito menu again.
• The login window will appear.

• If it isn't already filled in, type your mint.com login credentials, or type "demo@mint.com" in the Email field to use Mint's sample data
• Click OK to login.
• If you use the "demo" account, logging in takes a looooong time. I don't know why, but it does. So BE PATIENT.
• You will see the import progress in the form of popup notifications in the lower right of your window.

Notes:

• If you use the demo@mint.com account, Mint will create three to four months worth of sample data. The import all of it, select the "Sync: Import txn data" menu item. The sample data will vary somewhat each time you import it. You can re-import the data as many times as you want.
• The "Sync all with Mint" operation will also save any transaction edits you have made.
• If you have more than 50 accounts, you may get an error when importing your account balances. Just add more columns to the AccountData sheet (as many as you need), and try importing your balances again.

Performance Tip: If your account balance import seems very slow (which tends to happen near the end of the year when the spreadsheet is full of data), you can try this trick to speed it up. After starting the import, switch to a different sheet, like the About sheet. Half of the import time is just Google Sheets updating the data displayed in the AccountData sheet. If a different sheet is active, then no on-screen data needs to be updated, resulting in a faster import.

2. Import transactions or account balances within a specific date range

• If you would like import transactions or account balances that fall withing a specific date range, select either the "Sync: Import txn data" or "Sync: Import account balances" item from the Mojito menu.
• If the login window appears, specify your Mint login credentials.
• Next, the import window will appear.

• Specify the start and end dates you would like to import.
• If you would like to replace the existing data, check the checkbox.
• Click OK to accept the import date range.
• You will see popup notifications as the import progresses.

Notes:

• There is no harm in re-importing transactions or account balances that already exist in the spreadsheet. Mojito will just replace the existing data.
• On the TxnData sheet: In the "Select an action" field, you can click the small down-arrow to see a list of actions you can perform. Select an action in the list to execute it. (The reason buttons were not provided for these actions instead of the drop-down list is because Google Spreadsheets won't let you put an image or drawing in the "frozen" area of a sheet.)
• On the AccountData sheet: You can insert additional columns between the imported account columns without affecting the import. For example, you may want to add a column containing a formula that adds up the total of your bank accounts minus your credit cards. Extra columns that keep running totals like this are helpful for creating useful charts.

3. Work with 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, custom date range, etc.


To add a new budget item, click the "Insert new budget item" button, then edit the fields of the new budget row:

1. Specify the budget item name. Optional: You can add a description to your budget item by right-clicking the cell and selecting "Insert note" from the popup menu.
2. Give it a highlight color (for highlighting matching transactions on the TxnData sheet)
   
   
   
3. Specify the budget amount
4. Specify the frequency period for the budget amount:
   M (monthly), W (weekly), Q (quarterly), Y (yearly), or explicitly enter the number of days; e.g. 14 (biweekly), 183 (every 6 months), etc.
5. Specify the list of categories and tags that will match transactions to this budget item.
• Separate each category / tag by a comma
• The categories and tags you specify must EXACTLY match the one in Mint; e.g. "Mortgage & Rent". Copy-and-paste the category or tag from the TxnData sheet if you have to.
6. If multiple categories / tags were specified, how should they be matched?
• OR = only one required
• AND = all are required

Buttons

• Recalc - Forces the budget calculations to update. Click this button if the computed cells do not appear to update automatically.
• Show matching txns - (Pictured below) Activates the TxnData sheet then highlights and sorts 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 txn row highlights" from the action list at the top of the TxnData sheet.
• Insert new budget item - Inserts a new budget item row just above the blue line. You can move the new row to order your budget items as desired. However, do not move a budget item below the blue line.

Notes:

• When you change a budget item, the computed budget cells on the right will be automatically recalculated. You can click the Recalc button to force the computed cells to update.
• You can delete a budget item by selecting the entire row and deleting it.
• DO NOT delete all of the budget items. If you do, you will break the "Insert new budget item" button, which works by copying the formulas from the last budget item in the list. Also, DO NOT delete the "Everything else" row.
• The initial budget items that Mojito comes with are just examples. You can delete any budget items that don't apply to you.
• Several cells have help notes, indicated by a black triangle in the upper right corner. Hover the mouse over the cell to see the note.

Important:

• Since Mojito allows you to create budget items that include both categories and tags, you should make sure that none of your tag names matches a category name. If a category and a tag have the same name and you use it in a budget item, the budget item will match more transactions than you intended, leading to confusing results.

Budget item examples:

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

3.1 Tracking 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 just 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 Expenses" tag. Do NOT call the tag "Vacation" because Mint already has a category named "Vacation".

In Mojito:
- Select "Sync all" from the Mojito menu to get the new tag.
- Assign the "Vacation Expenses" tag to all transactions related to your vacation.

Budget item: Vacation Expenses
   Include Categories + Tags:   Vacation Expenses
   Include AND / OR:   OR

Extra credit: Track your vacation savings separate from your expenses

You can track vacation savings and vacation expenses separately by using the existing "Vacation" category for your vacation savings and using the "Vacation Expenses" tag for your vacation expenses.

In Mojito:
- Assign the "Vacation" category to all transactions related to saving for vacation, such as regular transfers to a savings account.
- Assign the "Vacation Expenses" tag to all transactions related to your vacation.

Budget item: Vacation Savings
   Include Categories + Tags:   Vacation
   Include AND / OR:   OR

Budget item: Vacation Expenses
   Include Categories + Tags:   Vacation Expenses
   Include AND / OR:   OR

3.3 Track parents' and kids' entertainment expenses separately

In Mint:
- Create "Parents" and "Kids" tags (or whatever you prefer)

In Mojito:
- Select "Sync all" from the Mojito menu to get the new tags.
- Assign the "Entertainment" category, plus "Kids" and "Parents" tags to your transactions, as appropriate.

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 expenses separately from personal 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. Instead, we'll use an "exclude" trick to get the desired result.

In Mint:
- Create a tag called "Work".

In Mojito:
- Select "Sync all" from the Mojito menu to get the new tags.
- Assign the "Work" tag to your transactions, as appropriate.
- On the Budget sheet, in the Budget Options section, add the "Work" tag to the "Categories and tags to exclude from budgets" list.

Budget item: Work expenses
   Include Categories + Tags:   Work
   Include AND / OR:   OR

* 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. Create savings goals

Mint already allows you to create "savings goals", but its implementation is so limiting that it is hardly worth using. Mint ties a savings goal to a specific account. So the balance of that account is effectively your savings for that goal. This might work fine if you are saving for your child's college education using a "529 plan" account; but for most situations, you would never use a separate savings or investment account for each goal you are saving for.

Mojito takes a different approach to savings goals. Mojito tracks savings goals the same way it tracks budgets -- using categories and tags. This allows you to use a single account for multiple savings goals, or even use multiple accounts for a single savings goal. Mojito doesn't care how you save your money. It just looks for transactions with the categories and/or tags that you associated with the savings goal.

To add a new savings goal, click the "Insert new savings goal" button, or use an empty row if one exists, then edit the fields of the new savings goal row:

1. Specify the savings goal name. Optional: You can add a description to your goal by right-clicking the cell and selecting "Insert note" from the popup menu.
2. Specify the end date when the savings goal should be met.
3. Give it a highlight color (for highlighting matching transactions on the TxnData sheet)
4. Enter the goal amount.
5. Specify the list of categories and tags that will match transactions to this savings goal. Usually this will be a single tag, such as "House down payment" or "Kids summer camp".
• Separate each category / tag by a comma
• The categories and tags you specify must EXACTLY match the one in Mint; e.g. "Mortgage & Rent". Copy-and-paste the category or tag from the TxnData sheet if you have to.
6. If multiple categories / tags were specified, how should they be matched?
• OR = only one required
• AND = all are required
7. If you have a savings goal that spans multiple years, your transaction data probably won't go back that far (if you start a new copy of Mojito every 12 months, as recommended). Use the "Carry Forward Balance" column to specify any existing savings goal amount that can't be calculated from the TxnData sheet.
8. Enter the date when you started saving for the goal, or Mojito will use today's date if you leave it blank.
9. Important: Under the Savings Goal Options section, specify which accounts to use for your savings goal calculations. The accounts you should list here are NOT your savings accounts. This should be accounts that you are deducting funds from to save towards your goals, such as a Checking account. Do NOT include the accounts where the funds are being saved.

Tip: A flexible way to track savings goals is to create tag called "Savings goal", and then additional tags for your specific goals, e.g. "Trip to Europe", "Camping trip", etc. For the "Trip to Europe" goal, for example, you tag your payments toward the savings goal with both tags: "Savings goal, Trip to Europe"; then you tag your expenses from the actual the trip with only the "Trip to Europe" tag. Using the two tags in this way will let you track your savings and your expenses separately.

Buttons

• Recalc - Forces the savings goal calculations to update. Click this button if the computed cells do not appear to update automatically.
• Show matching txns - (Pictured below) Activates the TxnData sheet then highlights and sorts the transactions by savings goal. If you wish to remove the highlights, you can select the "Clear txn row highlights" from the action list at the top of the TxnData sheet.
• Insert new savings goal - Inserts a new savings goal row just above the bottom black line. You can move the new row to order your goals as desired. However, do not move a goal below the black line.

Matching savings goal transactions highlighted on the TxnData sheet:

Notes:

• You can delete a savings goal by selecting the entire row and deleting it. Note that this does not remove any tags from the transactions themselves.
• DO NOT delete all of the budget items. If you do, you will break the "Insert new savings goal" button, which works by copying the formulas from the last goal in the list.

5. Compare your total inflows vs. outflows (income vs. expenses)

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

This sheet answers the simple question "Am I spending more than I make?". However, you have greater control over how this calculation is made by allowing you to filter out (exclude) transactions from specific accounts or transactions with specific categories or tags.

1. Choose any date range you want.
2. Specify accounts, categories, and tags to exclude.
3. Click the "Recalc" button to recalculate the income and expense values based on the transaction data and specified date range.
4. Click the "Show matching txns" button to show the matching income / expense transactions in the TxnData sheet, sorted by amount then date.

6. Edit transactions directly within Mojito

Mojito allows you to edit transactions in the TxnData sheet and save your changes to Mint! When you edit a transaction, Mojito marks it with an "E" to indicate that the transaction has been edited and needs to be saved.

The following transaction columns can be edited:

Date	Be care about changing the txn date. If you change the year by mistake and save it, you may "lose" the txn because you accidentally changed the year to a different century.
Merchant	No restrictions
Category	Must be a valid category, listed on the CategoryData sheet. If you add or change a category in Mint, be sure to do a "sync all" in Mojito.
Tags	Multiple tags should be separated by commas. Each tag must be listed on the TagData sheet. If you add or change a tag name in Mint, be sure to do a "sync all" in Mojito.
c/R	See more about clearing and reconciling txns in the next section.
Memo	No restrictions
Amount	Editing the txn amount is how you create or remove "split" items. See more on editing split items below.

If you modify any transaction column not listed above, a popup message will be displayed asking you to undo your change.

Warning: If you try to save changes to unsupported columns, you might cause Mojito to corrupt transactions in Mint, especially if you change any of the "ID" columns (Txn ID, Parent ID, Category ID, Tag IDs).

The one exception to the above warning is if you want to clear the "E" column to prevent Mojito from saving a transaction the next time you sync with Mint. Do not edit the "E" column for any other reason.

Editing split items:

You can create, edit, or remove split items simply by editing the amount column of a transaction.

What is a "split item"?  You create split items to break a transaction into separate "sub-transactions". This allows you to assign a different category and/or tags to each split item. For example, you might spend $150 at Costco, but that $150 may not all be groceries. You can break the transaction in to split items to track the separate portions: $30 Clothing, $70 Home furnishings, $50 Groceries.

1. To create a split item, edit the amount of the transaction you want to split.
2. Decide what you want one of your split amounts to be and enter that for the transaction's amount.
3. A new row will be inserted with its amount set to the remaining balance, and both rows will be marked with an "S".
   
   
   
   
   
4. Change the category of your split item(s) as you wish. Note: At this time, you cannot edit the other columns, like Tags or Memo, until you save the split changes to Mint.
   
   
   
   
   
5. To insert another split item, just edit the amount of an existing split item.
6. When you edit a split item amount, you will be asked if you want to insert a new split item.
7. Selecting "Yes" will insert another split item row just as before.
   
   
   
   
   If you select "No", a new split item will not be inserted. Instead, the remaining balance will be added to the split item immediately below (or above) the current one.
   
   
8. To remove a split item, change its amount to 0 (zero).
9. You will be prompted if you want to remove the split item.
10. Selecting "Yes" will remove the split item row and add its amount to the split item immediately below (or above) the removed one. Selecting "No" will cancel the change.
    
    
    

What if I edited a transaction by mistake? If you edited a transaction by mistake, or messed something up, try to "undo" it by pressing Ctrl-Z (or Edit > Undo menu) one or more times until your change is reverted. If this doesn't seem to work, or you're not sure, then clear the "E" column for any transactions you don't want to save and re-sync your data from Mint.

7. Clear transactions and Reconcile an account

Mojito allows you to clear (i.e. acknowledge) transactions as well as reconcile your accounts with your monthly statements.

To enable transaction clearing and reconciling:

1. In Mint, create two tags, a "cleared" tag and a "reconciled" tag. Use any tag names you wish, the actual names are not important. These tags will be used exclusively for the purpose of marking transactions as cleared or reconciled, so don't use them for anything else. I use the tag names "xCleared" and "xReconciled"; the "x" helps me quickly distinguish between normal tags like "Work" and "Vacation" from utility tags that are useful in Mojito.
2. In Mojito, select "Sync all" from the Mojito menu to download your new tags.
3. Add your new cleared and reconciled tags to the Settings sheet.

To clear transactions:

Simply enter a "c" in the c/R column of the transactions you want to clear. Don't forget to save your changes to Mint.

To reconcile an account:

1. When you receive your statement, make sure Mojito is sync'ed with the latest transactions in Mint, then select "Reconcile an account" from the Mojito menu.
2. The Reconcile dialog window will appear. Choose the account you want to reconcile; specify the statement end date, beginning balance, and ending balance; specify the mint account; then click OK.
   
   
   
   
   
3. The Reconcile sheet will appear with the unreconciled account transactions.
4. For each transaction listed on your statement, find that transaction on the Reconcile sheet in Mojito and enter 'R' in the Reconcile column (highlighted in pink). As you mark the transactions with 'R', you will see the total reconciled amount at the top of the sheet.
   
   
   
   
   
5. When the reconciled amount matches the target amount, you are finished. You should see a message at the top of the sheet prompting you to enter an 'R' in a yellow box to complete the Reconcile process.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Type an 'R' in the box and press Enter to confirm you are done. Upon doing so, Mojito will go mark the associated transactions on the TxnSheet with an 'R'. Mojito will also create a "dummy" reconcile transaction so you can easily track your reconcile history.
   
   
   
   
   
7. You are then prompted to save the transaction changes that Mojito has made. It is fine if you click Cancel to close this message box; just be sure to save the changes soon.
   
   
   
   
   

Notes:

• You can cancel the reconcile session at any time by entering an 'X' in the indicated cell.
• If you leave the Reconcile sheet partially finished and later select "Reconcile an account" from the Mojito menu again, you will be prompted if you want to cancel the previous reconcile session.
• If you finish your reconcile session (i.e. Mojito has marked all of the associated transactions with an 'R') and you wish to revert the changes and prevent them for being saved to Mint, you can either:
1. Clear the "E" column for the reconciled transactions and delete the dummy ** Reconciled ** transaction.
2. Or, you can select "Sync: Import txn data" from the Mojito menu and click "No" when you are asked if you want to save your transaction changes first. This will allow you to re-import the transactions and overwrite the changes in Mojito.

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