Money
AI automation for a weekly money check-in
Turns a redacted export into five lines: what you spent, three leaks, and one change for next week.
Level: Assist.
Trigger
Once a week, on a day you choose
Setup
about 25 min (estimate)
Before you start
- A bank export you redact yourself
- Google Sheets — https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6000292
- An AI chat — https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-custom-instructions
- Google Calendar — https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/72143
Steps
Export the week and redact it
Download a CSV of the last seven days from your bank. Delete the account number, the card number, and any currency symbol. Keep the date, the description, and the number.
Start a rules list
In a sheet, write the few categories you actually use, and one example description for each. Add a row whenever a week is wrong. Sheets help: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6000292
Run the check-in prompt
Paste the rules and the redacted rows into a new chat. Save the prompt as custom instructions if you want the same shape every week. https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-custom-instructions
You do my weekly money check-in. Use only the rows and the rules I paste. Return five short lines: spent against the plan, the top three leaks, one change for next week, and rows you could not categorise. Do not invent a transaction. Do not suggest a new account or a loan. If a description is ambiguous, say so. Rules: [paste] Rows: [paste]
Correct the categories
Read the unsure lines. Fix them, and add one rule so the same description is right next week.
Log the five lines
Paste the five lines under this week's date in the sheet. Leave the raw export out of the sheet.
Block fifteen minutes
Add a weekly calendar event on the day you will actually do this. The setup is separate from that weekly quarter-hour. Create an event: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/72143
Example output
This week - Eating out was over the plan. Groceries matched it. - Leaks: three food deliveries, one ride, one subscription already marked cancel. - One change: cook on the two nights you ordered food. Unsure, so I left them uncategorised: a card payment with only a number, and a transfer to Sam.
Power move
Keep a rules list in the sheet and paste it with every export. Each week you add one line the chat got wrong, so the next week is more accurate. The chat never sees the account number.
What to check
- No account number or card number is in the paste or the sheet.
- Every leak names a row you can see in the export.
- The one change is something you can do next week, not a new budget system.
What it can't do
It does not connect to a bank, move money, or pay anyone. Delete account numbers, card numbers, and any currency symbol before you paste. Categories are guesses until you confirm them. It is not financial advice.
Privacy
Paste only the text a chat tool needs. Leave out passwords, account numbers, and identity numbers. The steps link to each tool's own help page when a setting matters.