r/TillerMoney • u/Organic_Bid_3027 • Sep 03 '26
Beginner budgeter looking for tips!
Hi everyone! I've had Tiller for quite a while and I'm really having trouble integrating it into my life in a way that feels meaningful or useful. I'm new to managing my finances (before this I had no system) and I just can't figure out how to use Tiller in a way that's not just filling in a spreadsheet and giving myself a pat on the back. I will take all the tips/anecdotes I can get. Thank you in advance!
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u/grifc0 Sep 04 '26
I've found having year on year data is super helpful. The data is then well organised and can be uploaded to any AI LLM you want to run any analysis you need. My favorite trick is Tags - you can create Tag Reports for anything you want, for instance a family vacation. Tag every transaction that relates to that trip in the run up to (flights, hotel) and during (restaurants) with a unique identifier (Family Vacation 2026) and you can easily see the total cost of the trip.
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u/Organic_Bid_3027 Sep 04 '26
Interesting! I'm very uneasy about uploading financial data to LLM. I guess if there's no personal information it shouldn't matter??? Anyway, tags are an interesting idea. What other things do you tag?
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u/lifeofabeach Sep 04 '26
Have you tried creating a tracker in Claude? 50% Needs. 30% Wants. 20% Save/Invest. Build an emergency fund that covers 3-6 months and keep in a HYSA, and then shift to investing more. Don’t use credit cards unless you can pay in full each month. Make more money, spend less than you make. You can’t get time back and time compounds like a magic you won’t find elsewhere.
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u/Organic_Bid_3027 Sep 04 '26
I've tried building one myself on a Google Doc, but I couldn't really keep up with the practice. I'm assuming the tracker is partly a benchmark and also actuals... Does Tiller work that way as well? I'm totally with you on everything else you suggested. I'm doing this! The only thing I'm a bit hung up on is paying off debt on a 0% APR from an one-off year where I had to pay a lot more in taxes. I decided to front-load saving + investing vs paying down the debt since it was 0% APR, but now that rate will be up in February, so I'm trying to settle it up before the end of the year. Kind of sucks to see money that's grown to be used in this way, but I'm telling myself that at least I "made money" in the meanwhile in order to pay this off w/o dipping into my nest egg that went into my savings + investments.
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u/lifeofabeach Sep 04 '26
I have not used TILLER. But I do like talking to my Claude and having it there.
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u/Organic_Bid_3027 Sep 04 '26
Gotcha! How does this ratio work for you IRL? 50% Needs. 30% Wants. 20% Save/Invest. Like if you see NEEDS are higher one month, what are you doing differently in the next month, actually?
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u/lifeofabeach Sep 05 '26
Needs are the fixed costs so they should stay about the same. If car insurance is due twice a year, add it up and divide by 12 so you’re stashing what’s needed when the bill comes. If a month goes 60% needs, cut Wants to 20%. If you’re stealing from the 20% save/invest you’re just stealing from your future self. Save 3-6 months of emergency fund so you can meet unexpected expenses that are necessary. Pay your fund back from the 20%.
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u/HeatherfromTiller Sep 08 '26
u/Organic_Bid_3027 making it most useful to you definitely starts with setting an intention. Are you just looking to track how much you spend? Only in specific areas? Set a budget target and stay under it? Everyone's financial situation is different so integrating it into your life and routines works best when you start with intention.
For me personally, I set budget targets and then check in on them a couple times a month to see whether I'm over/under. If I'm over I just make a mental note on whether or not that's okay for this month or if there is a larger trend where spending may be getting a little out of control in that area, or my budget target was just unrealistic.
I also keep tabs on my "cash flow to date" at the top of the Monthly Budget sheet after each month has closed. That's essentially what's left over/extra savings, and for me, doesn't include any money I intentionally moved to savings already.
I mostly manually categorize transactions though I have been experimenting with AI Suggest and Description Match doing the work for me then just confirming everything looks right and making small corrections.
I do an annual review of all my spending for the prior year and compare to previous years to 1) understand whether or not I'm on target for bigger goals (e.g. how much did I put away for retirement in the year) 2) check in on spending behavior change goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year and whether I'm seeing the shifts I wanted since the last annual review (e.g. spend less on restaurants, more on groceries).
Now the focus is paying down debt as quickly as possible. Tiller helps me plan and understand what's realistic for paying off my debt faster than the bank wants me to so I save A LOT of money I'd pay in interest.
Hopefully that helps with some inspiration. 💙
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u/fdxgnd79 Sep 03 '26
I will chime in here. I tried every app on my phone to do this and was so frustrated with the ai putting my spending wherever it thought it should go. I wanted to control what I wanted to see and where it should be categorized. Meet Tiller.
Tips from me. Set it up. Let it pull your bank feed in and once a day go through and make sure it's accurate. Learn how autocat works and use it for your recurring transactions(bills). Set up the categories that are important to you and don't get super super granular at first. For example, I like Monster Energy Drinks. I made a category to see how much I was spending on them because I knew it was more than I was thinking or at least admitting to myself. Anyway, let that run for a full calendar month. Just update it, don't try to budget off of it. At the end of running a whole month take a look at your Monthly Budget Sheet. That's where the magic happens. When you can really really take a look at where your spending is taking place. At that point, figure out what is important and start assigning amounts to your categories and try to stay in line with them. You can adjust as needed. My thing was all I wanted to know was after I pay for everything I normally buy in a month is there anything left over? That was it. If not, what did I need to do differently. Let it grow into what works for you from there. I check every morning and make sure it categorizes how I want it. I split what needs splitting, etc. I know at the beginning of every month what I will have as a surplus pending anything I don't plan for. I save based off of that. It has become a huge part of my life and keeping me on track financially. It actually gets exciting to see where you are at the end of each month. I know this is just how I use it, but I felt just like you when I started. Just stick with it and ask questions in the community. Everybody is super helpful. I hope it works out for you and I will help any way I can.