How to track Orange Money, Wave, M-Pesa and MTN MoMo spending

Why mobile money slips out of your budget

Mobile money is now mainstream finance. The GSMA, the global mobile operators’ association, counted 2.3 billion registered mobile money accounts at the end of 2025 and $2 trillion in transactions that year, double the 2021 figure. Most new accounts came from Sub-Saharan Africa.

That speed is the problem for a budget. Paying for electricity tokens, sending KES 2,000 to your sister, buying airtime: each takes seconds, and none of it produces a paper statement. You see a balance, not a story. By the time you sit down to do your monthly budget, you remember the rent and forget the dozen small sends in between.

The history on your phone doesn’t always save you, either. Orange’s help pages in Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo say the USSD menu shows only the last five transactions; Orange in the Central African Republic shows ten and sends you to a branch, with ID, for anything older. If you wait until the end of the month, part of the month may already be gone from the menu.

Where to find your history and statements

Menus change by country and by app version. This is what the official pages said in September 2026; always check your own provider.

If your provider offers a downloadable statement, as Safaricom does, request one every month and file it. If it doesn’t, take a screenshot of your app history on the last day of the month. It costs nothing and it won’t scroll away.

Fees: real examples, country by country

There is no single “M-Pesa fee” or “MoMo fee”. Each operator and each country publishes its own tariff, usually in bands, and promotions come and go. These are examples from official pages checked in September 2026, not universal prices.

Two things stand out. First, bands matter: on M-Pesa, sending KES 2,500 costs KES 33 but sending KES 2,501 costs KES 53. Second, withdrawals are usually the expensive part. Wave’s website doesn’t name a country or a cap, so check the app before a large transfer.

Why bother? Because fees are real spending that never shows up as a “purchase”. Take someone in Nairobi who withdraws KES 10,000 from an agent every week: at KES 115 a time, that’s KES 460 every four weeks, or KES 5,980 over a year of 52 weeks. Put fees in their own category and you will finally see the number.

Reading an SMS receipt

The confirmation message you get after each transaction is your receipt. It usually includes a transaction code, the amount, the other party’s name or number, the date and time, and your new balance. On M-Pesa, sends also show the transaction cost.

What to take from it:

1. The exact amount, not a rounded one.
2. The fee, logged separately from the amount sent.
3. The reason. The SMS never says whether KES 3,000 was school fees or a loan to a friend. Add that yourself, right away.
4. The transaction code for anything important (rent, a client payment). That’s what support will ask for if something goes wrong. On M-Pesa, the same message is what you forward to 456 to start a self-reversal.

Keep the messages until you’ve closed the month. And watch for fake “you have received” texts: a real payment shows up in your balance, not just in your inbox.

Transfers between your own wallets aren’t spending

This is the classic double-counting mistake. When money moves between two of your own accounts, you are no richer or poorer. Only the fee is gone.

If you run a side business, keep client money in a separate wallet, or at least a separate category. Our guide to separating personal and business records covers the method.

Reconciling a month, step by step

Reconciling means checking that your records explain the balance your provider shows. Here’s Wanjiru in Nairobi, using M-Pesa, in September. She starts with KES 3,200.

If her app shows KES 22,832 on 30 September, everything is recorded. If it shows KES 21,832, KES 1,000 of outgoings is missing, and it’s time to check the statement.

Now look at what she actually spent: 12,000 (rent) + 3,000 (family) + 4,600 (groceries) + 500 (airtime) + 268 in fees = KES 20,368. The KES 10,000 withdrawal isn’t spending: it moved to her cash, where each market purchase gets logged on its own (our guide to recording cash purchases shows how). The KES 5,000 deposit isn’t income: it was already hers.

Budgeting when your income lands on your phone

Salaries, client payments and money from family abroad increasingly arrive straight into a wallet. Three habits keep it from draining away.

Budget from last month’s money, not next month’s hopes. If your income varies, use the lowest of the last three months as your baseline.

Decide on arrival. When a payment lands, split it immediately: what stays in the wallet for bills, what you withdraw for cash spending, what goes to savings. Money left “for later” on a phone you check twenty times a day tends to leave in small sends.

Park savings somewhere you don’t spend from. A separate account you never pay from works better than a balance you watch all day. Our emergency fund guide covers how much to aim for.

Logging it in one sentence with Binome360

To be plain about it: Binome360 is not connected to M-Pesa, MTN MoMo, Wave, Orange Money or any bank. It doesn’t import statements and it never moves money. You create your accounts (one per wallet, plus Cash) and log transactions by typing or dictating a sentence, for example by reading out the SMS you just received. The app drafts the entry; nothing is saved until you confirm.

With voice, always read the numbers back before you confirm. “Fifteen hundred” and “fifty thousand” are easy to mix up.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get a full M-Pesa statement?

In the M-Pesa app, go to M-PESA Statements, pick the period and generate the statement. On *334#, choose My Account, then M-PESA Statement, pick the period and enter the email address it should go to. Safaricom says the service is free, covers up to two years or a custom period, and arrives within about five minutes. For older statements, it directs you to a Safaricom shop.

Are withdrawal charges an expense?

Yes. The withdrawal itself just moves your money into cash, but the charge is gone for good. Give fees their own category; over a year they are often bigger than people expect.

Can Binome360 import my M-Pesa or MTN MoMo history?

No. The app has no connection to mobile money providers or banks and never moves money. You log transactions yourself, in a sentence, by voice or from a receipt photo, and confirm each one.

Should I keep all my wallets in one account?

No. One account per wallet is what makes reconciliation possible, because each provider shows its own balance. Categories (groceries, family, transport) are what group your spending across wallets.

In short

Mobile money can be tracked like a bank account, with one difference: you have to keep the statement yourself, because the phone’s memory is short. One account per wallet, fees logged separately, transfers kept out of spending and a monthly reconciliation are enough to lose nothing.

First step: today, write down the exact balance of each wallet and screenshot its history. Those are your opening balances.

Sources

• GSMA, State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026, press release, 24 March 2026: gsma.com.
• Safaricom, “M-PESA Charges”, last updated 4 August 2026: safaricom.co.ke; “M-PESA Statement”, last updated 28 May 2024: safaricom.co.ke.
• MTN Uganda, “Mobile Money Tariffs”, accessed September 2026: mtn.co.ug.
• Wave Mobile Money, homepage (published fees), accessed September 2026: wave.com; Wave app listing on Google Play (countries served), updated 16 September 2026: play.google.com.
• Orange Côte d’Ivoire, “Tarifs Orange Money”, accessed September 2026: orange.ci.
• Orange Senegal community support, “Consulter les 5 dernières transactions OM” (certified answer): assistance.orange.sn; Orange DRC, “Comment gérer mon compte Orange Money ?”: orange.cd; Orange Central African Republic, “Comment vérifier mes dernières transactions Orange Money ?”: orangerca.com.

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