Budget Categories

Written By Sandra Dahl

Good morning! Welcome to my blog! Today, we are going to talk about budget categories - what they are, why you should have them and some examples of how I use budget categories.

Firstly, as everyone who starts a budget should know, a budget doesn't necessarily mean limiting yourself or no spending. It does mean you allocate your money based on your spending habits, and for things you need like housing and bills.

If you want to start budgeting, the very first step you do is to examine where your money goes. These are your expenses. You won’t be able to create your personal budget categories until you know the kinds of things you spend your money on.

The best thing to do is write down every single thing that you buy. (Your expenses). Some people use a spread sheet, but I personally love the Budget Mom System. Track this each month for a minimum of three months. At the end, examine the types of categories you spend your money in. Here are some of the categories I use.

Budget Categories

  • Food

  • Takeout

  • Holidays

  • Subscriptions

  • Debt

  • Non-Food (house, cleaning supplies)

  • Vehicle (maintenance, repairs)

  • Gas

  • Rent/Mortgage/Housing

  • Utilities (phone, internet, tv, electric, natural gas)

  • Medical (hospital visits, pharmacy items, medical devices)

  • Fees (bank, NSF, etc)

  • Pets (Registration, vet fees, vaccines, license fees, food/treats, grooming, day-care)

  • Personal (personal care, toiletries, manicures, hair cuts, clothing)

  • Insurance (home/auto, life, other)

  • Home (repairs, renovations)

  • School (Fees, field trips, sporting events, hot lunches)

  • Sports (may include under school, but if your child is involved in sports out of school, you may want a separate category for it).

If you want to buy other things that don’t fit in these categories, you might want to use the category “shopping” , or under your names if you have other members in your family.

The major change I used this year for my own personal expense categories was creating a personal category. I used to put all of these items under “non-food” and “clothing”. I may still include clothing as a separate category, or I may differentiate into school and personal.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you a bit in determining your own budget categories for the new year.

Cheers!

Sandra

Sandra Dahl http://www.sandradahl.ca
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When Is It Enough?