Learn why assigning budget categories is important

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A budget is really nothing more than a plan for how you'll spend your income each month. The easiest way to divide up your expenses is by category. While it's good to know that you spent $33.95 at Mike's Pizza last month, what really matters is that you spent a total of $275 on food. Here's how to use categories effectively with your budget:

1  Build your budget around the expense categories you spend money on most frequently. Categorize the rest of the money you've allocated to Expenses as All Other Expenses.
2  Be sure to categorize every transaction you enter into Money so that you can compare your budgeted spending for each category to the amount you actually spent using the How I'm Doing on My Budget report.

Note that in Money, you can budget an amount for a category with no subcategory, for a category and a subcategory, or simply assign an amount to the All Other Expenses category. You can be as general or as detailed as you want.

How do I set up a budget?

How do I add an income category to my budget?

How do I add an expense category to my budget?