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Categories & Budgets

Organize your finances with categories and track your spending with budgets.

Categories

Categories help you organize transactions and understand where your money goes.

Default Categories

FRacker includes default categories:

Income: - Salary - Freelance - Investment Income - Other Income

Expenses: - Groceries - Dining Out - Transportation - Utilities - Entertainment - Healthcare - Shopping - Housing

Creating Categories

  1. Navigate to Categories
  2. Click Add Category
  3. Enter a descriptive name
  4. Click Save

Category Naming

Use clear, consistent names like "Transportation - Gas" and "Transportation - Public Transit" for better organization.

Editing Categories

  1. Click the Edit button next to a category
  2. Update the name
  3. Click Save

Impact of Changes

Renaming a category updates all existing transactions with that category.

Deleting Categories

  1. Click the Delete button next to a category
  2. Confirm the deletion

Before Deleting

Transactions with deleted categories will become uncategorized. Consider reassigning transactions first.

Category Best Practices

Do: - Keep categories broad enough to be useful - Use consistent naming conventions - Create subcategories with prefixes (e.g., "Food - Groceries", "Food - Dining") - Review and consolidate periodically

Don't: - Create too many narrow categories - Use vague names like "Stuff" or "Things" - Duplicate similar categories - Delete categories with active transactions

Family-Scoped Categories

Categories are shared across your family account:

  • All family members see the same categories
  • Changes affect everyone in the family
  • Useful for consistent financial tracking

Budgets

Budgets help you control spending and achieve financial goals.

Creating a Budget

  1. Navigate to Budgets
  2. Click Add Budget
  3. Fill in the details:
Field Description Example
Name Descriptive budget name "March 2025 Food Budget"
Amount Budget limit in dollars $800.00
Start Date When budget period begins 2025-03-01
End Date When budget period ends 2025-03-31
Categories Which categories to include Groceries, Dining Out
  1. Click Save Budget

Budget Types

Monthly Budgets: 

Name: "Monthly Groceries"
Amount: $500
Start: First day of month
End: Last day of month
Categories: Groceries

Quarterly Budgets: 

Name: "Q1 2025 Entertainment"
Amount: $1,200
Start: 2025-01-01
End: 2025-03-31
Categories: Entertainment, Dining Out

Annual Budgets: 

Name: "2025 Healthcare"
Amount: $5,000
Start: 2025-01-01
End: 2025-12-31
Categories: Healthcare, Prescriptions, Insurance

Multi-Category Budgets: 

Name: "Transportation Budget"
Amount: $400
Categories: Gas, Public Transit, Parking, Tolls

Tracking Budget Progress

The Budgets page shows:

  • Budget Name - What this budget tracks
  • Amount - Budget limit
  • Spent - Current spending
  • Remaining - Money left in budget
  • Progress Bar - Visual indicator

Budget Status Colors

  • Green (< 75%) - On track
  • Yellow (75-99%) - Approaching limit
  • Red (≥ 100%) - Over budget

Editing Budgets

  1. Click Edit next to a budget
  2. Modify any field
  3. Click Save Changes

Historical Data

Changes to budget dates or categories affect historical tracking. The spent amount is recalculated based on new criteria.

Deleting Budgets

  1. Click Delete next to a budget
  2. Confirm deletion

Deleting a budget doesn't affect your transactions, only removes the budget tracking.

Budget Reports

View detailed budget performance:

  1. Click on a budget name
  2. See breakdown by category
  3. View spending timeline
  4. Identify over-budget categories

Budget Strategies

Zero-Based Budgeting

Assign every dollar a job:

  1. List all income sources
  2. Create budgets for all categories
  3. Ensure total budgets = total income
  4. Track variances monthly

50/30/20 Rule

Allocate income by percentage:

  • 50% - Needs (housing, food, utilities)
  • 30% - Wants (entertainment, dining out)
  • 20% - Savings and debt repayment

Create budgets matching these percentages.

Envelope Method (Digital)

Create separate budgets for each spending category:

  • One budget per category
  • "Envelope" for each expense type
  • Move money between budgets as needed

Rolling Budgets

Use overlapping periods:

January-March Budget
February-April Budget
March-May Budget

Smooths out seasonal variations.

Tips for Success

Setting Realistic Budgets

  1. Review History - Check past spending before setting limits
  2. Start Conservative - Better to exceed than constantly fall short
  3. Adjust Monthly - Refine budgets based on actual spending
  4. Account for Seasonality - Higher budgets for holiday months

Staying on Track

  1. Check Weekly - Review budget status regularly
  2. Set Alerts - Note when approaching limits
  3. Adjust Behavior - Reduce spending in over-budget categories
  4. Reallocate - Move unused budget to needed categories

Family Budgets

For shared finances:

  • Discuss Limits - All family members should agree
  • Individual Categories - Some budgets for personal spending
  • Shared Categories - Joint budgets for household expenses
  • Regular Reviews - Monthly family budget meetings

Common Scenarios

Over Budget

When a budget is exceeded:

  1. Identify Causes - Review overspending transactions
  2. Adjust Budget - If limit was unrealistic, increase it
  3. Reduce Spending - Cut back in the category
  4. Reallocate - Move money from under-budget categories

Under Budget

If consistently under budget:

  1. Lower Limit - Allocate savings elsewhere
  2. Build Buffer - Keep extra for irregular expenses
  3. Treat Yourself - Occasional rewards for staying on track

Irregular Expenses

For annual or occasional expenses:

Annual Car Insurance: $1,200/year
Monthly Budget: $100/month

Create 12 monthly budgets or:
One annual budget tracking progress

Variable Income

For freelancers or variable income:

  1. Base on Minimum - Budget using lowest expected income
  2. Percentage-Based - Use percentages instead of fixed amounts
  3. Build Buffer - Save excess in good months
  4. Flexible Categories - Adjust monthly as income changes

Troubleshooting

Budget Shows Wrong Amount

  • Check date range matches your expectation
  • Verify selected categories are correct
  • Ensure transactions are properly categorized
  • Look for misclassified transfers

Can't Create Budget

  • Check all required fields are filled
  • Ensure end date is after start date
  • Verify at least one category is selected
  • Try a different budget name

Categories Don't Appear

  • Ensure categories exist before creating budget
  • Check spelling matches exactly
  • Refresh the page
  • Clear browser cache

Next Steps