Setting Budget Categories

Effective budgeting starts with the right categories. JE-PFM gives you a set of sensible defaults and lets you customize them to match your actual spending patterns.

Default Categories

When you create your account, JE-PFM includes common budget categories such as Groceries, Dining, Transportation, Utilities, Housing, Entertainment, Healthcare, and Shopping. These cover the spending patterns most people encounter.

Creating Custom Categories

If the defaults do not fit your needs, you can add custom categories:

1. Go to Settings > Categories.
2. Click Add Category.
3. Enter a name and optionally choose a color and icon for visual distinction on charts and the budget page.

Custom categories work identically to built-in ones — they appear in the categorization dropdown, can have budgets assigned to them, and show up in reports.

Organizing Categories

You can reorder categories to control how they appear on the Budgets page and in dropdown menus. Drag and drop to arrange them in your preferred order, or sort alphabetically.

If a category is no longer relevant, you can archive it. Archived categories are hidden from the budget page and dropdowns but remain associated with any historical transactions that used them.

Tips for Choosing Categories

• Keep the list manageable. Ten to fifteen categories is usually enough to get useful insight without creating excessive overhead.
• Group similar expenses. For example, a single "Transportation" category can cover gas, parking, and public transit unless you need to track them separately.
• Match your budget categories to your actual spending habits rather than an idealized plan.