Recommended Budget Categories 🌈

Money Keeper · Track Money Easily

After using a budgeting app for over a year, I’ve realized that properly categorizing expenses is key to effectively tracking and analyzing past spending. The highly requested ‘subcategory’ feature has now been added to the Money Keeper app, so I took the opportunity to review my entire category setup. As of December 22, 2025, I’m sharing my personal expense categories to help those who are wondering how to organize theirs 🙏

🌈 Recommended Expense Categories

In my case, I only add subcategories under the main categories where I feel they are truly needed. If you find yourself with too many ambiguous subcategories, creating a general “Others” subcategory might be a helpful way to manage them!

For example, the subcategories like YouTube Premium, Netflix, and iCloud+ under the main category “Subscriptions ⚡️” could technically belong in other categories, but I’ve grouped them separately to stay mindful of these recurring monthly subscriptions as fixed expenses. I plan to continue refining this over time 👍

Food 🥗
└─ Delivery or Takeout
└─ Groceries
└─ Dining Out
└─ Coffee
└─ Others

Housing 🏡
└─ Rent
└─ Gas
└─ Water
└─ Electricity

Transportation 🚆
└─ Bus or Subway
└─ Taxi

Communication 📡
└─ TV & Wifi
└─ Smartphone

Subscriptions ⚡️
└─ YouTube Premium
└─ Netflix
└─ iCloud+

Health 💪
└─ Healthcare
└─ Exercise
└─ Supplements

Entertainment 🎥
└─ Movies
└─ Exhibitions

Clothing 👕
└─ Tops
└─ Bottoms
└─ Shoes
└─ Accessories
└─ Outerwear

Household Items 🧴

Personal Development 🧪
└─ New Experiences
└─ Research

Taxes ⚡️

Loan Repayments 🏦

Finance 🏦
└─ Savings
└─ Credit Card Annual Fees

Donations ❤️

Once you’ve organized your categories, try to consistently record your expenses as they occur. This makes it much easier to track and analyze your spending in the Money Keeper app’s “Monthly Summary” feature. It’s a useful tool for reflecting on past expenses and planning future spending 📊

Money Keeper

Expenses Tracker, Payday & Budget Calendar