How to save money in Thailand: start with where it goes
1. Why your money seems to disappear
Most days bring a few small payments: lunch by PromptPay, a QR code at the market, a ride home. In 2024, people in Thailand made about 651 digital payments each, or around 1.8 a day, and 95% of PromptPay payments were under ฿5,000 (Bank of Thailand, Payment Directional Paper).
Each one is small, so none of them feels like much. Added up over a month, they can come to more than you thought. That’s why the first step isn’t cutting back. It’s seeing where your money goes.
2. Write down money in and out
A bank transfer or a PromptPay payment gives you a slip with the amount, the date and the names. Save your slips to your photos. In Slip Tracker, open Add, then Scan slips, and choose the slips you saved. It reads each one for you and marks anything it isn’t sure of Needs review. See which bank slips it reads.
After your first scan, the app asks Which account is yours? Pick your own account, then tap the Use button at the bottom, which shows its bank and last four digits. Money that account sent then counts as spending. Until you choose, those slips won’t count in your totals.
Cash and payments without a slip need a manual entry: open Add, then Enter manually. Add your salary and other income the same way, so you can see what comes in next to what goes out. See how to track your income and expenses.
3. See what you spend the most on
Open Summary. It splits your month by category, such as food and drinks, transport or groceries, so you can see which ones take the most. Switch to Merchants to see the shops and people you paid the most.
When a slip names a shop the app knows, the category is filled in for you. It knows over 1,000 Thai shops. If you change a category, the app can remember your choice for that shop.
4. See what went up this month
Home shows what you’ve spent this month so far. The line under the total says how much more or less that is than the same days last month.
In Summary, each category and merchant shows its own change, such as ฿1,200 more. Look at the ones that went up. Some have a reason you already know, like a birthday or a trip home. Others may be worth a closer look.
5. Find your repeating payments
In Summary, open Repeating payments. It lists the payments that come back, such as rent, a phone bill or a streaming subscription, with how often each one comes and what it usually costs. It also shows the ones still to come this month.
Repeating payments are easy to forget, because you chose them once. Seeing them together lets you check whether you still want each one. The list fills in as you record more months.
6. See how often you pay one shop
Small payments to one place add up. Coffee at ฿65 on 20 working days is ฿1,300 a month.
In Slips, search for a shop’s name. You see the payments you’ve saved to that shop and how many there are.
7. Set a monthly spending guide
Once you have a full month recorded, set a spending guide for the whole month: a range to compare your month with, never a limit. Open Settings, then Spending guides. Set an amount, or use your usual spending.
Slip Tracker then shows whether your month is within the range or above it. It never stops a payment.
8. Decide where to cut back
Now you can see where your money goes. What you change is your choice. It might be a repeating payment you no longer use, or a shop you visit more often than you thought. Slip Tracker shows the numbers. It doesn’t tell you what to cut.
Then look again next month. Summary puts the new month next to the last one, so you can see what went up or down.
9. What Slip Tracker doesn’t do
Slip Tracker is an expense tracker. It doesn’t hold or move your money, and it has no savings account or savings goal. It can’t promise that you’ll save. It shows where your money went, and what you change is up to you.
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
Is Slip Tracker a savings app?
No. It doesn’t hold or move your money, and it has no savings goal. It’s an expense tracker: it reads your PromptPay and Thai bank slips and shows where your money went. Where to cut back is your choice.
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.
Does it count my cash?
Only the cash you add. Cash leaves no slip, so add it by hand: open Add, then Enter manually.
How soon can I see where my money goes?
Home and Summary show this month’s spending from the first slips you add. The comparison with last month needs last month’s payments, and Repeating payments fills in as you record more months.
11. Get Slip Tracker
Free on Android.
Android 8.0 or later iPhone coming soon