Setting Budget Categories

Budget categories match your expense transaction categories. When you create a budget for a category like "Groceries", the system automatically tracks all transactions in that category and shows your spending against the budget limit.

You can only have one budget per category. This keeps your budget tracking simple and organized.

The category dropdown shows all available expense categories from your transaction system. Common categories include:

• Food and Dining - Food Shopping, Restaurants and takeout
• Transportation - Gas, public transit, parking
• Bills & Utilities - Rent, electricity, water, internet
• Entertainment - Movies, concerts, hobbies
• Shopping - Clothing, electronics, general purchases
• Healthcare - Medical expenses and prescriptions
• Personal Care - Haircuts, gym, personal items

When creating a budget, click the Category dropdown in the budget dialog. The dropdown will only show categories that don't already have an active budget.

If you don't see a category you want, it may already have a budget. You can edit or delete the existing budget for that category if needed.

Start with categories where you spend the most or where you want more control. Common starting categories include:

• Variable expenses - Categories like Groceries, Dining, and Entertainment where spending can vary month to month
• Discretionary spending - Shopping, Entertainment, and Dining where you have control over spending
• Problem areas - Categories where you tend to overspend

Don't budget every single category. Focus on the 3-5 categories that will give you the most benefit.

The system prevents duplicate budgets by only allowing one budget per category. This means:

• You can't create two monthly budgets for "Groceries"
• Categories with existing budgets won't appear in the create dropdown
• To change a budget category, you need to delete the old budget and create a new one

This keeps your budget system simple and prevents confusion about which budget applies to which transactions.