1. Pick one base currency
Choose the currency most of your spending happens in. That is the currency your budget is planned and reported in. If you live in Dubai and send money to Lahore, your base is probably AED; if you freelance from Karachi for US clients, it is PKR, even though you invoice in dollars.
2. Keep each account in its own currency
A dollar account stays in dollars, a rupee wallet stays in rupees. Record transactions in the currency they happened in. Converting by hand at the time hides the real exchange cost and makes balances drift from what your bank shows.
3. Record transfers as transfers
Moving money between currencies is not spending. Record it as a transfer: the amount that left one account and the amount that arrived in the other.
Example: you send AED 1,000 home. At the mid-market rate on 2 November 2026, that is about PKR 75,365. If your family receives PKR 74,200, the difference of about PKR 1,165 is what the transfer really cost you: margin plus fees. Recording both sides makes that visible.
4. Make remittances a budget line
If you support family, plan the amount up front like rent. It gives them a predictable sum and protects your own month. The remittance budget calculator shows both sides at today’s rate.
5. Review net worth in one currency
Once a month, convert every balance into your base currency at the current rate and note the total. Exchange-rate moves will change it even when you do nothing, so do not count a currency gain as income until you actually convert the money.
Doing it without the spreadsheet
BudgetByChat was built for this: accounts in any of 30 currencies, transfers between them, and totals converted into your base currency at rates synced several times a day. Many popular apps do not do this. Monarch does not convert currencies, and YNAB recommends a separate budget per currency.