Sending money to your parents? See what you actually sent
1. How much should you send your parents?
Ask how much to send your parents each month, and most advice gives you a rule: a percentage of your salary.
For many families, this money matters. In the National Statistical Office’s 2021 survey of older people, children were the main source of income for 32.2% of people aged 60 and over (Department of Older Persons, Situation of the Thai Older Persons 2023).
A rule can’t see your pay, your rent or what your parents need. What you send can also change from month to month: a hospital visit, a festival, a repair at home. There are plenty of money rules. Your own numbers are in your slips.
Slip Tracker doesn’t say how much to give. It shows what you’ve already sent. Here’s how.
2. Add your slips
A transfer to your mum or dad, by PromptPay or from your bank, gives you a slip like any other payment. Save your slips to your photos. In Slip Tracker, open Add, then Scan slips. Choose the slips you saved. It reads each one and marks anything it isn’t sure of Needs review. See how to add slips and cash.
3. Tell the app which account is yours
After your first scan, the app asks Which account is yours? Choose your own account. Until you choose, these slips won’t count in your totals. You can also choose later: open Settings, then Your money, then Accounts.
Once the app knows your account, a slip that account sent counts as spending, even when the money went to a person and not a shop.
4. Set your parents’ name and category once
Open Slips and tap a payment to your mum or dad. Tap Remember this merchant. Change the name to one you’ll know, such as Mum, and under Category choose Family and friends. Then tap Remember merchant.
The app uses that name and category for saved and future slips with the same name on them, or from the same account. You do this once for each person.
Family and friends also holds what you send friends. To see your parents on their own, make a category first: open Settings, then Your money, then Categories, then Add category. Call it Parents, for example, and choose Spending. It then shows under Category when you remember a name.
5. Search for their name
In Slips, search for their name, or the name you gave them. You see the payments you’ve saved to that person and how many there are.
6. See what went to family this month
Open Summary. Under Categories, the Family and friends row shows this month’s total and its change from last month, such as ฿500 more. Switch to Merchants to see what went to each person.
Other family costs are in the same list, such as Groceries, Rent and home or Health. To look at another month, tap the month at the top and choose one. Some months cost more, such as a month with Chinese New Year or a birthday, so look at more than one.
7. Add cash you hand over
Money you give in person leaves no slip. Open Add, then Enter manually. Type the amount, choose the same category, put their name under Merchant and tap Save entry.
8. School fees work the same way
Use the same steps for school fees, books and uniforms. In Slips, tap a payment to the school, tap Remember this merchant and choose Education, which is built in, or a category of your own, such as Kids. Fees you pay in cash go in with Enter manually.
Fees often come at the start of a term, so in Summary, choose the month you paid to see the total.
9. Decide what’s right for you
With your slips added, Summary shows what goes to family each month next to everything else you pay for: food, rent, transport and the rest. Then decide what’s worth it to you.
How much to give is between you and your family. Slip Tracker shows the numbers. It doesn’t say what the right amount is.
10. What Slip Tracker doesn’t do
Slip Tracker is an expense tracker for one person on one phone. There’s no shared family view, no sync between phones and no account to share. If a brother or sister also sends money home, each of you sees only your own slips.
It doesn’t send or collect money, and reading a slip doesn’t check with the bank that the money arrived. It can’t see your parents’ money, and it doesn’t say how much to give.
It only counts what you add: the slips it reads and the cash you enter. It never logs in to your bank.
11. Common questions
How much should I send my parents each month?
Slip Tracker doesn’t say. That depends on your pay, your costs and what your family needs. The app shows what you’ve actually sent each month, so you can decide with your own numbers.
Does money I send my parents count as spending?
Yes, once the app knows which account is yours. A slip your account sent saves as spending, even when the money went to a person. Give it a category such as Family and friends to see it on its own.
Can my brother or sister see the same records?
No. Each person’s records are on their own phone, with no sync and no shared view. Each of you can use Slip Tracker on your own phone and compare your monthly totals.
Does Slip Tracker check that the money reached my parents?
No. It reads what the slip shows, such as the amount, the date and the names. It doesn’t check with the bank. To be sure a transfer arrived, ask your bank or your parents.
12. Get Slip Tracker
Free on Android.
Android 8.0 or later iPhone coming soon
More guides
- How to save money in Thailand: start with where it goes
- How to track your income and expenses
- Where did your money go this month?
- What a Thai transfer slip shows, and how to use it
- How to keep track of PromptPay spending
- Which Thai bank slips Slip Tracker reads
- What happens to your data when Slip Tracker reads a slip
- Help and support