# Monzo Life Hacks, Extensions and Improvements! **URL:** \ **Category:** Monzo USA šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø\ **Created:** [28 January 2023 17:15 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-life-hacks-extensions-and-improvements/143486 "2023-01-28T17:15:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_G](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/peter_g/32/89632_2.png) [@Peter\_G](https://community.monzo.com/u/Peter_G)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2023 17:15 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-life-hacks-extensions-and-improvements/143486/1 "2023-01-28T17:15:59Z")
So Monzo has been in the UK for a while now! During that time, weā€™ve amassed a whole set of life hacks, workarounds, complementary apps and ways of extending the Monzo experience. And now itā€™s time for the UK users to give back and curate a list for new US folk as you begin your Monzo journeys! And itā€™ll also help us out to have a list of these all in one place! So here we go! If thereā€™s anything missing, folk reply with it below and Iā€™ll add it in! US (and UK) folk, hit us up with any questions about how these work and weā€™ll try and help. šŸ™‡ā€ā™‚ļø * * * * * * **Custom Pots Images** Need custom images for Pots? Head over here and create your own! > **[Monzo Pot Image Generator](https://potimages.rknight.me/)** > > Generate pot images for your Monzo pots (And hereā€™s the [GitHub](https://github.com/rknightuk/monzo-pot-image-generator) link) Created by the wonderful @rknightuk * * * **Adding Notes to Pots** You canā€™t add any notes to your Pots. But a screenshot of your Notes app used as your pots image will fix that: > [@Add notes to pots](https://community.monzo.com/t/add-notes-to-pots/141977): > > I tend to write down my budget for each pot in my notes app, screenshot it and then set it as the photo on my pot. I was wondering on what people thought about adding either a notes section in the pots or a notes feature on the photo. h/t @Michalalaw * * * **Automatically move money to a pot every time you spend on Amex:** (Android Only) If you use Amex and IFTTT, you can quickly set up a couple of recipes to move the value of every card transaction to a pot: > h/t to `@giloi` on Twitter and @simonb for [reporting it on here](https://community.monzo.com/t/amex-monzo-bills-pot-ifttt-closed-loop/79522). * * * **Use more than 50 custom categories** - Find a category you need but donā€™t use every day. - Tap ā€œremove categoryā€ - that will archive the category and not change any of the previously labelled transactions - Create your new category When you need to use the old category: - Follow the steps above to archive another category - Find the category in a Trends and tap on Edit (top right) - Tap ā€œUnarchive Categoryā€ at the bottom. Itā€™s super clunky, but if you have categories you want to keep but only use rarely itā€™s helpful. (from [over here](https://community.monzo.com/t/a-better-way-to-budget-is-here/141673/252)) * * * **Sync Monzo to YNAB** From [here](https://community.monzo.com/t/automatically-import-transactions-to-ynab/38594), you can roll your ownā€¦ > **[Getting Started](https://github.com/syncforynab/fintech-to-ynab/wiki/Getting-Started)** > > Automatically push Monzo and Starling transactions into YNAB in real time. - syncforynab/fintech-to-ynab ā€¦ or you can go for a hosted option: > **[Connect your bank to YNAB | Sync for YNAB](https://syncforynab.com/)** * * * **Monzo Dashboard** Created by our very own @Revels, hereā€™s a Google Docs dashboard that you can use to interrogate your Monzo dataā€¦ > [@Monzo 'Dashboard' - Add your own data](https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-dashboard-add-your-own-data/113336): > > Here goes nothingā€¦ I canā€™t keep adding bits or trying to change things. Get things get shipped or whatever that motto is. Iā€™ve tried to make a template that is broad enough that it should give some form of insight into something. I hope so anyway. [Link - Please save a copy](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Vcc5d3FBwJf3RBMHF50PAhLAmjJhR8FzcESOQeLHcXA/) First things first, you need to save this template as your own. File \> Make a Copy ā€“ Save it where you wish Youā€™ll need to get your data. You can either download the CSV and paste this in, or you can use the Google Sheetsā€¦ `\* in the workaround sense, rather than cyber vulnerability sense šŸ˜® * * * **Das Budget** A US exclusive! Das Budget is a budgeting app created and supported by Monzoā€™s very own @whileloop! And it plugs directly into Monzoā€™s API so itā€™s as live as live data can be. If you know how Simple used to do Budgeting, youā€™ll be familiar with Das Budget already! > **[DAS Budget](https://dasbudget.com/)** > > Dollars and Sense Budgeting (UK folk, the app kinda works for us, although the currency symbol is hardcoded to $ rather than Ā£. You canā€™t hook in external accounts, whereas in the US you can do it with Plaid. But most importantly, itā€™s not on the UK app stores, meaning we canā€™t download it. Or pay for it. Never mind!) ---
**Author:** ![davidwalton](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/davidwalton/32/111540_2.png) [@davidwalton](https://community.monzo.com/u/davidwalton)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2023 18:13 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-life-hacks-extensions-and-improvements/143486/3 "2023-01-28T18:13:30Z")
**Bills Pot & Salary Sorter - How much to transfer?** Quick tip - if you have a fairly regular monthly/cyclic amount needed to pay the bills from a Bills pot, letā€™s say for example you need to put Ā£1,000 into the Bills pot to cover the monthly/cyclic bills - rename the Bills pot to ā€˜Bills pot - Ā£1,000ā€™ Then when you get paid, use Salary Sorter (where available) to move funds to the Bills pot. But how much to sort? - Never fear, itā€™s in the title of the Bills pot! šŸ‘ _I keep renaming my Bills pot to account for any changesā€¦_ ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_G](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/peter_g/32/89632_2.png) [@Peter\_G](https://community.monzo.com/u/Peter_G)\ **Post date:** [30 January 2023 19:09 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-life-hacks-extensions-and-improvements/143486/4 "2023-01-30T19:09:22Z")
Hereā€™s another one (someone else mentioned it on here, but I canā€™t find it to give them a shoutout - if you know who it was - or it was you - let me know so I can thank you!) **Want to see an external account that wonā€™t connect to Monzo?** Create a pot with $0 / Ā£0 in it, and use the pot title for the name of the institution and the account balance. E.g. ā€œApple Card: -$1327.78ā€. You could even take a screenshot of the other accountā€™s app (if thatā€™s allowed) and use it as the pot imageā€¦ (Very hacky, but a roundabout way to have the info all in one place).