The Monthly View is the core of Spew. Every bill you track, every month of the year, every payment, in one spreadsheet-style grid.
Most users spend 80% of their time here. This guide covers every feature, including the shortcuts and power-user moves.
Layout
When you open Monthly View:
- Bills run down the left (grouped by category)
- Months run across the top (Jan through Dec)
- The intersection cells show payment status for that bill in that month
- Totals appear at the bottom per month
- An Avg/Trend column on the right shows how your actual spending compares to expected
Cell states and what they mean
- Green cell with a value ($150): paid for that month, with the amount logged
- Yellow cell, empty: overdue: today is past the bill’s due date and no payment logged
- Red cell, empty: critically overdue: more than 30 days past due
- Blank cell: not yet due, not yet paid
- Partial payment indicator: cell with multiple values indicates partial payments for that month
Basic actions
Log a payment
Click any cell. Type the amount paid. Press Enter to save, Esc to cancel.
Edit an existing payment
Click the cell again. Type the new amount. Press Enter.
Delete a payment
Click the cell, clear the value, press Enter. Cell goes back to blank.
Edit a bill’s name, amount, category, or due date
Click the bill name (leftmost column). A detail editor opens. Change any field. Click Save.
Add a new bill
Click the + Add Bill button at the top of the grid. Choose a category, enter name, amount, due date. Save.
Delete a bill
Click the bill name to open the editor. Click Delete. Confirm.
Categories
Your bills are grouped into categories (Housing, Utilities, Subscriptions, etc.). Categories help with:
- Visual organization
- Dashboard rollups (total spent per category)
- Forecasting (per-category projections)
Manage categories
Click Manage Categories at the top right of the grid:
- Rename a category
- Delete a category (bills move to a default category)
- Add a new category
- Reorder categories (drag to rearrange)
Common category setups
Simple (fewer categories):
- Fixed (rent, utilities, insurance)
- Variable (groceries, gas, dining)
- Subscriptions
- Savings & Investments
- Income
Detailed (more categories):
- Housing
- Utilities
- Transportation
- Groceries
- Insurance
- Health
- Subscriptions
- Debt payments
- Savings
- Investments
- Fun money
- Income
Pick whatever matches how you think about money. You can change later.
The Avg / Trend column
The rightmost column shows:
- Your average actual payment over the last 3-6 months
- How that compares to your Expected Amount
Visual cues:
- Green arrow down: you’re paying less than expected (saving money)
- Red arrow up: you’re paying more than expected (budget creep)
- Equal sign: you’re on target
This is the fastest way to spot budget drift. A bill that’s creeping up 5% a month isn’t obvious until you see it in this column.
Partial payments
Some bills get paid in chunks (credit cards, some mortgages). Spew supports this:
- Click a cell
- Enter the first payment (e.g., $100)
- Press Enter
- Click the cell again
- Click + Add Partial Payment
- Enter the second payment (e.g., $50)
- Save
The cell now shows $150 total with a “2 payments” indicator. Hover to see the breakdown.
Attachments
Click any cell > Details to attach a receipt, screenshot, or note. Useful for:
- Proof of payment for subscriptions you want to cancel
- Receipts for business expense deductions
- Notes about unusual months (“Vet emergency”)
Attachments are stored with the payment and visible when you review later.
Sorting and filtering
At the top of the grid:
- Sort by amount (high to low, low to high)
- Sort by due date (earliest first)
- Sort by name (alphabetical)
- Filter by category (show only Utilities, only Subscriptions, etc.)
- Show unpaid only (hide paid bills for cleaner triage)
These don’t modify your data, just the view.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Click + Enter: save payment
- Esc: cancel editing
- Tab: move to next cell
- Shift + Tab: move to previous cell
- Arrow keys: navigate between cells (when not editing)
The Calendar View
Click Calendar in the sub-nav (within Monthly View). Same data, different layout:
- Every bill on its due date
- Every payment received on its expected date
- Income vs outflow per day
- See clusters of bills hitting the same week
Great for spotting “oh, 5 bills hit on the 1st and my paycheck lands on the 15th” cash-flow issues.
Bank sync and the grid
If you’ve connected a bank, the grid works differently:
- Matched transactions auto-fill cells. A Comcast charge on April 5 auto-fills the April cell for your “Internet” bill.
- Manual entries override auto-matches. If you type a different amount, Spew respects your entry and flags the discrepancy.
- Unmatched transactions land in your Transaction Inbox (under Data Repo). You can drag them to the right bill or tag as one-off expenses.
The fastest workflow: connect your bank, let Spew auto-fill 70-90% of cells, then manually triage the rest.
Power-user tips
Tip 1: Use the Avg / Trend column for monthly check-ins. Open Monthly View, scroll right. Any red arrows? Investigate. 5 minutes/month to catch drift.
Tip 2: Duplicate bills for irregular categories. Instead of a single “Groceries” bill, create “Groceries (Safeway)” and “Groceries (Costco)” if you want more granular tracking.
Tip 3: Zero out known irregular months. If you won’t pay rent in June (paid annual), put a 0 in that cell so the trend column doesn’t average incorrectly.
Tip 4: Use bill notes for context. Click Details on any cell, add a note like “Negotiated down from $75.” Future-you will thank you.
Tip 5: Pair with forecast. When the forecast shows you’ll go negative in month X, the monthly grid is where you decide what to cut or shift.
Next up
- Forecast your next 24 months: Forecast guide
- Clean up subscriptions: Subscription audit guide
- Use the data tools: Import & forecast math