Case studies

Real routines. Honest balances.

Four ways people across Pakistan put Self Expense to work — from Karachi freelancers juggling five accounts to a Lahore kiryana store's udhaar register.

Hamza · KarachiRashid · LahoreAyesha · IslamabadZainab · Peshawar
HK

Hamza

Freelance developer

Karachi

From five apps and a notebook to one honest balance.

“Transfers used to make me look like I spent double. Now the numbers actually match my bank.”
accounts reconciled
3
accounts reconciled
double-counted transfers
0
double-counted transfers
for tax season
1 file
for tax season

The challenge

Payments land in Payoneer, move to HBL, get split to SadaPay for daily spending and JazzCash for family. Every transfer looked like an expense in his old app, so his monthly “spending” was always wildly wrong.

How Self Expense fits

  • Set up HBL, SadaPay and JazzCash with opening balances on day one
  • Logs moves as Transfers — both sides written together, never counted as spending
  • Says “client payment 85k HBL mein aya” and AI files it as Income
  • Exports the yearly Excel workbook for his tax consultant

The outcome

His expense total finally reflects real spending, and the annual overview shows exactly which months he can save more.

TransfersAccountsAnnual overviewExcel export
RA

Rashid

Kiryana store owner

Lahore

Every udhaar, every wapsi — nothing forgotten.

“Main bas bolta hoon, app hisaab rakhti hai. Ab koi udhaar yaad se nahi nikalta.”
first, no typing
Voice
first, no typing
of repayments linked
100%
of repayments linked
Drive backup
Daily
Drive backup

The challenge

Regular customers buy on credit and pay back in bits. The khata register was hard to search, and he lost track of who still owed what — and he was too busy at the counter to type.

How Self Expense fits

  • Speaks entries in Urdu: “Bilal ko 2500 ka udhaar diya”
  • Partial repayments are matched to the right open loan, and ambiguous ones are flagged for him to pick
  • Checks the Loans screen for outstanding receivables every evening
  • Backs up to Google Drive so a lost phone doesn't mean a lost khata

The outcome

A searchable, always-correct list of who owes him and how much — with a full history for every customer.

Loans & udhaarVoice entryUrdu AIDrive backup
AS

Ayesha

Runs the household budget

Islamabad

Month-end panic replaced by a 90% warning.

“I see NEAR LIMIT on groceries in the third week, not after the month is gone.”
category budgets
5
category budgets
early warning
90%
early warning
spending history
12 mo
spending history

The challenge

School fees, groceries, utilities and petrol all came from one salary. She only found out the grocery budget was blown when the month was already over.

How Self Expense fits

  • Set monthly budgets for groceries, utilities, fuel and eating out
  • Gets a NEAR LIMIT warning once a category passes 90%
  • Logs the day's spending in one line: “sabzi 800, doodh 350, bijli bill 9k”
  • Reviews the annual overview before Ramadan and Eid planning

The outcome

Overspending shows up mid-month, while there's still time to adjust — and Eid shopping gets planned from real numbers.

BudgetsMulti-entry AIAnnual overview
ZK

Zainab

University student

Peshawar

A monthly allowance that finally lasts the month.

“It works even when my data runs out, which is basically always.”
on the Free plan
Rs 0
on the Free plan
on campus
Offline
on campus
friend loans settled
3
friend loans settled

The challenge

A fixed allowance via EasyPaisa, unpredictable mobile data, and friends who borrow and forget. Tracking felt like homework.

How Self Expense fits

  • Uses the Free plan offline — entries work even with no data
  • Tracks small loans to friends so they actually get paid back
  • Sets one simple monthly budget for eating out

The outcome

She knows exactly how much allowance is left each week — and who still owes her for last week's biryani.

Free planOffline-firstLoans

These are illustrative scenarios showing how Self Expense's features fit common routines — not paid endorsements.

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