What expense categories/sub categories do you use?

[jon-nyc]

I'm rethinking my categorization which was set up when I had a very different spending profile. I've tweaked it over time, but its pretty sub-optimal. I've been hesitant to change it too much, as it makes year-on-year comparisons hard, but I think its time.



Care to share what categorization you use?

 

[obgyn65]

I only use the categorizations used by Chase online and BoA when I download data every few weeks to have a quick look at it.

Care to share what categorization you use?

 

[LOL!]

We haven't kept a budget in a couple of decades, but here's what I use in MSMoney since this how money flows through our checking account in no particular order:

1. Net wages
2. Natural gas
3. Electricity
4. Water
5. Credit card
6. Credit card
7. Child cost
8. Cash
9. Cell phone
10. Land line/ internet
11. Property tax
12. Charitable contribution
13. College tuition

As you can see most spending is in the CreditCard category, so we just note the monthly amount and if it seems in the normal range we don't delve into it.

 

[braumeister]

I've been tracking spending for many years, and the number of categories kept getting smaller over time. It began with at least 20, but they gradually got collapsed into ten:
Auto (all gas, service, parking, etc.)
CDE (Cash, Dining, Entertainment)
Groceries (everything bought at supermarkets)
Hobby (DW and I each have several, so this adds up)
Household (home maintenance, furnishings, etc.)
Medical
Misc (includes clothing, charity, gadgets, etc.)
Taxes
Utilities
Vacation (travel, hotels, etc.)

 

[REWahoo]

Brau, where do you categorize insurance?

 

[TOOLMAN]

I'm rethinking my categorization which was set up when I had a very different spending profile. I've tweaked it over time, but its pretty sub-optimal. I've been hesitant to change it too much, as it makes year-on-year comparisons hard, but I think its time.



Care to share what categorization you use?

Each case is different. I gathered my expenses and grouped them in excel according to what made the most sense to me.

I found this PDF to be a good bench mark.
See page 24 of JP Morgan 2012 Guide To Retirement

https://www.jpmorganfunds.com/cm/Bl...blobheadervalue1=inline;filename=JP-GTR,0.pdf

 

[pb4uski]

I recently revised mine. YMMV.

Housing	Mortgage
Housing	Home Insurance
Housing	Property Taxes
Housing	Propane
Housing	Firewood
Housing	Electricity
Housing	Maintenance and repairs
Household	Food and groceries
Household	Gardening
Household	Spending money
Household	Clothing
Household	Gifts
Household	Donations
Transportation	Maintenance and repairs
Transportation	License fees
Transportation	Gasoline
Transportation	Car insurance
Transportation	Boat insurance
Transportation	Jet-ski insurance
Transportation	Snowmobile insurance
Personal and Health Care	Doctors
Personal and Health Care	Dentists
Personal and Health Care	Prescription Drugs
Communications	Telephone
Communications	Mobile Phone
Communications	Television
Communications	Internet
Communications	Movies
Personal Insurance	Long Term Care Insurance
Personal Insurance	Health Insurance
Personal Insurance	Dental Insurance
Personal Insurance	Umbrella Insurance
Recreation and entertainment	Travel
Recreation and entertainment	Hobbies: Sewing
Recreation and entertainment	Hobbies: Skiing
Recreation and entertainment	Hobbies: Snowmobiling
Recreation and entertainment	Hobbies: Golfing
Recreation and entertainment	Hobbies: Hockey
Recreation and entertainment	Dining Out
Miscellaneous	Miscellaneous

 

[bltkmt]

I use the Yodlee defaults....added a few subcategories for Transfers to handle the "other side" of transactions.

 

[braumeister]

Brau, where do you categorize insurance?

Misc.
Since it deals with both auto and home, and the bills cover varying amounts of each, it had to go somewhere.

 

[REWahoo]

Misc.
Since it deals with both auto and home, and the bills cover varying amounts of each, it had to go somewhere.

Thanks.

Insurance cost (auto, home, medical, LTC) runs 11-12% of my total budget so I break it out separately. Doesn't really matter of course - whatever works.

 

[braumeister]

Understood. Medical insurance goes in the Medical category in my system.

 

[palomalou]

We have:
Food (groceries)
Food (eating out)
Household (paper products, cleaning supplies)
Home improvement (new dishwasher, replace carpet to sell, the bigger stuff)
HOA
Clothes & personal (includes toiletries, haircuts etc.)
Car insurance
General car expenses
Entertainment (cable, internet,Netflix, alcohol, misc.)
Utilities (phone, electric, gas, water)
Gifts
Computer/office
Vacations/splurges
Medical (FICA, health insurance, LTC, out of pocket)
Insurance (homeowners on house and retirement property, personal articles)
Taxes (RE, federal, Self-employment, state, city)

 

[Huston55]

We use:

Housing
Utilities
Groceries
Personal*
Health Care
Family Care (to help our extended family as necessary)
Transportation
Recreation
Entertainment (includes eating out)
Charity
Gifts
Misc

* includes clothing, hobbies, personal care, and pet care; will likely split "Hobbies" and "Pet Care" into separate categories in future.

 

[dmdunca44]

Care to share what categorization you use?

I have 11 main categories, most have sub-categories:

DOGS: "Food", "Regular meds & checkups", "Other"

ENTERTAINMENT: "Eating out", "Liquor", "Subscriptions & other entertainment"

FOOD: "Groceries", "Take out"

GAS, PARKING, FERRY:

GIFTS: "G'kids Education Fund", "Tax Deductible", "Other"

HSA: "Health Savings Account" (for DH)

HOUSEHOLD: "Mortgage", "Misc Household"

PERSONAL CARE & CLOTHING

UTILITIES: "Elec", "DirecTV", "Phone & Internet", "Garbage", "Cell phone"

LUMPY EXPENSES: (These are the expenses that are a set amount, but not due monthly) "Auto Ins", "License tabs", "Christmas", Property Tax, HO & Unbrella premiums, Water bill (Paid annually), Propane (paid annually)

RAINY DAY EXPENSES: (I know these will come up, but don't know when or how much) "Emergency Vet Expenses", "Healthcare OOP", "House Maintenance/Repair", "Auto Maint/Repair"

 

[Rich]

I do a monthly budget on Exel. I keep it simple (not at my home computer at the moment) around ten expense categories. It used to be lots more...

Rich

 

[Huston55]

Does anyone track their expenses using Fidelity? If so, how do you like it?

 

[W2R]

I keep permanent records of every penny I spend, and exactly what it is spent on.

Then, after the fact, I put all this in categories (keeping the original spending records too, though). This way, if I don't like my categories I can change them later.

Right now, my 11 categories are:

Income Tax (state and federal)
Medical (including insurance, prescriptions, co-pays, deductible, etc)
Clothes (includes shoes, socks, coats, and any other clothing)
Fitness (gym fees, fitness equipment)
Utilities (electricity, natural gas, water/trash/sewage, cable TV/internet, cell, landline)
House (maintenance, lawn guy, upgrades, flood and homeowners' insurance, property tax)
Car (gasoline, maintenance, insurance)
Food (grocery, restaurants)
Video Games, apps (consoles too)
Books (Kindle)
Miscellaneous (everything else - - including gifts, haircuts, electronics, hurricane evacuations, travel, etc)

I recently added the Video Games category because I decided that I finally have a hobby and I want to know what I spend on it.

 

[ShortInSeattle]

We're using the Mint.com categories which is a pain. We used to customize ours in Quicken, and while we love Mint bending our brains to think about it "Their way" is a challenge. You can make custom subcategories but that's it.

 

[Midpack]

I was just summarizing Jan expenses (good timing). I use Excel. The first page is every expense entry in 2500 rows (and budget by expense by month in rows 2501-3000). I use cascading lookup lists to define major and minor categories and fix each with a fixed or variable assignment. Makes expense entries very easy (and consistent for review).

From there I have a pivot table to show expenses, and then another showing variances by major & minor categories (with conditional formatting for gains, losses and neutral). I also have a pivot table that shows the budget by month as a reference.

And I have my accrual expenses through age 95 on the final sheet, though there is no budget during the year.

1. Auto (BMV, Gas, Oil Change, Insurance, Maint/Repairs, Tires, Other)
2. Business (Deposit, Expense)
3. Charity
4. Deposits
5. DH (Clothes, Haircut, Other)
6. DW (Clothes, Hair/Nails, Other)
7. Dog (Food, Vet)
8. Drycleaning
9. Entertain (Dining, Internet, Parking, TV, Other)
10. Fitness
11. Food (Grocery, Wine/Liquor)
12. Gifts
13. Home (Insurance, Lawncare, Prop Tax, POA, Other)
14. Interest
15. Medical
16. Misc (Office Supplies, Postage, Other)
17. Taxes (Fed, State)
18. Util (Gas & Elec, Phone, Sewer, Trash, Water)
19. Vacation
20. *Accrual (Maj Appliances, Boat, Car Purchases, Furniture, Home Remodel/Maj Maint, PC-TV-Electronics, Other, Maj Travel)

*this is reserved for major expenses that typically occur (much) less than annually - as you might imagine it varies dramatically from year to year, but I budget $10K/yr
​

Some are rarely or not in use at present.

 

[FIREd]

I use the following categories (subcategories in parentheses):

Auto (depreciation, repair/maintenance, fuel, insurance,registration and taxes, tolls)
Charity
Clothing
Computer and office supplies
Dining
Entertainment
Furnishings / durable goods
Gifts
Groceries
Home (rent, renter's insurance)
Insurance (disability, life)
Medical (health insurance, doctor, dentist, vision, medicine)
Personal care
Pets
Public transportation
Utilities (cable, electric, water, internet, telephone)
Vacation

 

[audreyh1]

I started from the Quicken categories (we don't use them all), then added a few of my own (well - really mostly subcategories).

Here is a Quicken 2012 list from an article:
Quicken 2012 All-Inclusive Category List - For Dummies

 

[Gill]

Here are the categories I use for budgeting in Quicken:
Auto gasoline
Auto tags & insurance
Auto maintenance
Auto replacement reserve
Mortgage interest
Mortgage Principal
Homeowners' Association fee
House cleaning
Electricity
Propane
Homeowners Insurance
Lawn, Landscaping, Irrigation
Real estate taxes
Residence - general/washing/paint/household items/repairs/maintenance
Household supplies
Pool & Cage
Phone, Cable, Internet
Water
Medigap Ins.
Medical Rx Insurance
Medicare Part B Ins.
Medical/Dental Exp. - other
Entertainment & Travel
Income Tax
Groceries
Gifts
Umbrella Insurance
Cats
Computer/Newspapers/Books/Magazines/Kindle
Charity
Clothing & cleaning
Home Equity Line Interest
Investment Expense
Personal
Postage & Supplies
Sports Equipment, Photography
IPhones
Toiletries
Reserve for contingencies

I've done this for most of my life. I don't hold myself to a budget, but I like to make a financial plan every year and then see how the actual results compare. It not only gives me a sense of what I can afford but also serves as reassurance I'm not spending beyond my limits.

Bruce

 

[Animorph]

From Quicken, hence the []:
[Common Electric]
[Common Third Car] (until DS graduates)
[Common Christmas]
[Common Clean House]
[Common Eating Out] (and general entertainment)
[Common Groceries]
[Common Home Improvement] (all the irregular stuff)
[Common House] (the small stuff)
[Common House Escrow]
[Common Landscape]
[Common Medical]
[Common Miscellaneous]
[Common Mortgage Pmt]
[Common Owes Retirement] (budgeted money that is in investment account instead of checking)
[Common Phone and Data]
[Common Pool]
[Common Alarm]
[Common Natural Gas]
[Common HOA]
[Common Tax Liability]
[Common Travel]
[Common Utilities]

Plus a bunch of individual budget categories, including car repairs, car insurance, auto gas, clothes, and savings that are not shared expenses. All of the budget accounts exactly balance out all of the checking and credit card accounts. And "Saved Stocks" categories for everyone that exactly balance out investment accounts.

 

[imoldernu]

We don't track our expenses, but do an after the fact analysis, to make sure we're on plan (Optimum/Nominal/austerity).
The asterisks are the columns we use to track our extra expenses on our Florida home and the campground. These will fall away, in the next few years, as we sell and retreat to a single home. All other expenses are ongoing.
Food home
Eat out
Rent *
Upkeep *
Hse Taxes *
Hse Ins.*
Phone Internet TV
Utilities *
Cars Ins., Deprec., Gas
Car Lic and Reg
Repair/Replace *
Fun/sin etc.
Medicare and Supp
Dental/Optical/Meds
Nursing Home Ins.
Misc./news/cleaning/personal care

* separate total columns for Fla home and Campground

Our entire planning is a little different, as it's based on net worth and life expectancy. A spend down for the remaining years...

 

[Katsmeow]

If you really want to read about some advanced categorizing check out the YNAB forums.

You Need A Budget

This is a link to a thread on categories:

Show me your cateogories! : YNAB's Four-Rule Methodology

Most of the posts here are some variation of categories by category subject - Housing, auto, food, etc. I do that myself.

However, another way to do it that is intriguing is to categorize by priority of expenses rather than subject. So some have categories like: monthly bills, irregular bills, lumpy expenses, rainy day, etc.

Anyway

my current categories with subcategories, listed after the master category:

Irregular Expenses

Auto - Fuel; Auto Repair|misc; Tolls|Misc; Auto Insurance; Auto Purchase

Food - Groceries & Supplies; Dining Out

Household - HH Repair|Maintenance; HH goods; Computer|Office; HH & Umbrella Insurance; Real Estate Taxes; Cleaning; Mortgage

Home Improvement - Electronics|Decorative; HH Furniture; Major Improvement; Major Appliances

Utilities - Electricity; Natural Gas; Water; Garbage; Phone; Internet and TV

Healthcare - Health & Dental Insurance; Medical & Dental

Personal - Clothing|Personal ME; Clothing|Personal DH; Entertainment, Financial, Fitness; Gifts & Donations; Life Insurance; Vacation|Travel; Cash Miscellaenous

Pets - Pet Food & Supplies; Veterinarian

Children - DS, DD

DH Spending - DH Spending, DH Computer

ME Spending - Me Spending, Me Computer, Me Reserve (set aside to save for future computer)

Reimbursable - Loan or Work expense; Loan - DD; Loan - DS (these are minor amounts if we pick up something for a child who pays us back for it)