How much emergency money do you need? First find what one month costs you
1. The usual answer: a number of months
The Bank of Thailand says emergency money is for needs you didn’t plan for, such as losing your job or falling ill, and that it should generally cover at least three to six months of expenses (Bank of Thailand household survey 2024, in Thai).
In that survey of 12,558 households, run with the National Statistical Office, 23.7% had emergency money for six months or more (the same report).
2. Why that rule needs your own number
A number of months is only half the sum. The other half is what one month costs you, and that’s different for everyone.
The rule counts months of expenses, not months of pay. Many examples start from a made-up salary. A better start is your own last month: you’ve already paid it, and many of those payments left a slip.
3. Record last month
Start with last month, because it’s finished. In Slip Tracker, open Add, then Scan slips. If the app asks, tap Allow photo access. Pick Custom, choose last month’s dates and read the slips it finds. Anything it isn’t sure of is marked Needs review, so check those first. If a slip is missing, add it with Choose photos.
Cash and payments without a slip need a manual entry: open Add, then Enter manually. Add your pay the same way and choose Income, so your record has money in as well as money out. Income isn’t counted as spending. See how to add slips and cash.
4. See what last month cost
Open Summary, tap the month and choose last month. The total under it is what you spent that month.
Below that, Categories shows where the month went, such as rent, food or transport, with a total for each.
One month can be unusual: a wedding, a trip home or a big repair. If you’ve recorded earlier months, look at those too.
5. See what a usual month costs
In Summary, tap a category to open its page. Usual month shows what that category usually comes to in a month.
It’s based on up to your last six finished months, so it appears once your first recorded month has finished.
6. Check what you pay every month
In Summary, open Repeating payments. It lists the payments that come back, such as rent, a phone bill or insurance, with how often each one comes and what it usually costs.
These are often costs you’d still have to pay if your income stopped. Take day-to-day costs, such as food and transport, from Categories. The list fills in as you record more months.
7. Add up the costs you’d keep paying
Go through your categories and repeating payments. Some costs you’d keep paying if your pay stopped for a while, such as rent, bills, food and transport. Others you could stop or put off. Slip Tracker shows the numbers. Then decide what’s worth it to you.
Add up a usual month of each cost you’d keep: Usual month for a category, or what a repeating payment usually costs. That’s your one-month number.
8. Pick the months, then keep the money elsewhere
Now pick how many months you want to cover. That’s your choice. Multiply your one-month number by it, and you have your own emergency-money number.
Keep that money somewhere other than Slip Tracker. The app records payments and holds no money, so where you keep it is up to you. Look at Usual month again now and then: if your costs change, so does your number.
9. What Slip Tracker doesn’t do
Slip Tracker is an expense tracker. It doesn’t hold, move or set aside money, and it has no savings account. It has no goal, target or progress figure, and it doesn’t tell you how many months or how much to keep.
It only counts what you add: the slips it reads and the cash and income you enter. It never logs in to your bank.
10. Common questions
How many months of emergency money should I have?
The Bank of Thailand says emergency money should generally cover at least three to six months of expenses. How many months you pick is your choice. Slip Tracker shows what one month costs you, so you can do the sum.
Can Slip Tracker keep my emergency money?
No. It doesn’t hold or move money, and it has no savings goal. It’s an expense tracker: it reads your PromptPay and Thai bank slips and shows what your months cost. Where you keep the money is your choice.
How long before I know what a month costs me?
Once you’ve recorded a full month, Summary shows what it cost. Usual month appears after your first finished month and uses up to your last six.
Does it count my cash?
Only the cash you add. Cash leaves no slip, so add it by hand: open Add, then Enter manually.
Do I have to connect my bank account?
No. Slip Tracker has no bank login and no sign-up. It reads the slips saved on your phone and keeps your transactions on the phone, encrypted.
11. Get Slip Tracker
Free on Android.
Android 8.0 or later iPhone coming soon