You come home from a road trip with seven charging apps on your phone. Each one wanted a top-up, and none of the leftovers shows up on your bank statement.
In short: prepaid credit is your money, just parked with the charging network. List what's in each app, keep topping up only the one or two networks you really use, and spend down or reclaim the rest. When you record it, a top-up is a transfer to that app and the charging is the expense, so the trip isn't counted twice.
- List every balance
- Pick your main networks
- Spend down the rest
- Top-up is a transfer, charging is the expense
A worked example
Made-up but realistic: what's left in seven apps after a ten-day trip.
| Left in the app | What to do with it | |
|---|---|---|
| Network A | €38 | main network, keep using |
| Network B | €22 | second network, keep using |
| Network C | €15 | spend it on the next charges, then stop |
| Network D | €9 | spend it if you pass one |
| Network E | €6 | check whether it can be refunded |
| Network F | €4 | check whether it can be refunded |
| Network G | €3 | write it off and delete the app |
| Total | €97 | €37 sits in apps you won't top up again |
€97
The €97 isn't lost. But €37 of it is in five apps used on one trip, and small credits like that tend to sit until they're forgotten. The bank only showed seven top-ups, so without a list nobody knew what was left.
The steps
1. List every balance
Open each charging app and write down the network and what's left. Five minutes, once. This is the only number your bank can't show you.
2. Pick one or two main networks
Most charging happens at home or at one or two networks on your usual routes. Those are the only apps worth keeping credit in.
3. Top up small
Top up roughly one or two charges' worth, not "enough for the summer". A small balance is easy to use up; a big one is money parked outside your account.
4. Spend down or reclaim the rest
Use the small balances first when you pass that network. Some apps let you withdraw unused credit or ask for a refund, many don't: check the app before you write anything off.
5. Pay at the charger when you can
Where a charger takes a bank card directly, paying there leaves no balance behind. On a trip through networks you'll rarely see again, that's often simpler than another top-up.
The recording trap
If you record a €40 top-up as spending and then record the charges paid from it as spending too, the trip costs €80 on paper. Pick one rule:
- One or two apps, rarely used: record the top-up as the charging expense and stop there. Simple, but the leftover credit stays invisible.
- Regular use or several apps: give each app its own balance. A top-up is a transfer from your current account to that app, and each charge is an expense from it. Your budget sees the charging when it happens, and the leftover credit stays visible.
Where Volora fits
In Volora, each charging app can be a wallet: the top-up is a transfer into it, and each charge is an expense from it, booked under a Transport or Charging category in your plan. A low-balance alert on the wallet tells you when it's time to top up again, so you don't top up "just in case".
One thing to do today
Open every charging app on your phone and add up what's in them. Then delete the ones you won't use again once their balance is spent or reclaimed.