Track Expenses Automatically | Telegram AI Bot + Make Automation (Simple Accounting)

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In this video, I show you how to build a simple home accounting assistant using Telegram, Make, and AI modules.

This bot allows you to:

✅ Send receipts or invoices via Telegram
✅ AI automatically extracts data from your receipts
✅ Categorize expenses into necessary and unnecessary
✅ Save all data into Google Sheets for analysis
✅ Track your spending by category to see where your money goes

This scenario is perfect for personal finance management at home and can be adapted for WhatsApp or uploading receipts to Google Drive.

🧠 How it works

Telegram Bot receives receipts
Upload a photo of your receipt or invoice to Telegram.
Make AI Content Extractor analyzes receipts
Extracts all items, prices, and other important details automatically.
AI categorizes expenses
Separates necessary vs unnecessary spending.
Data saved in Google Sheets
Each item is categorized and added with correct prices.
Necessary items get their price in the necessary column
Unnecessary items get their price in the unnecessary column
Text-only entries supported
You can also send text like “Gas 50 euros” and the AI will handle it.

Quality image handling
Uses highest quality image from Telegram to avoid mistakes during AI analysis.
Automation flow with routers & filters
The scenario routes receipts and text separately to ensure everything is processed correctly.

🛠 Tools used in this tutorial

Make (automation platform)
Telegram Bot API
Make AI Content Extractor (built-in AI for receipts & documents)
Grok AI or ChatGPT (fast non-reasoning AI for JSON output)
Google Sheets (expense tracking & categorization)
Routers & Filters for smart workflow

💡 Pro tips

Always use highest-quality image from Telegram for receipts
Add zeros in unnecessary/necessary columns to prevent errors in Google Sheets
Use routers to separate text and photo inputs
Customize AI prompts for your specific needs
This workflow works for both home accounting and small business expense tracking