Expense categories

Every expense belongs to a category. Categories are what make the totals mean something — “$3,400 of expenses” is noise; “$1,900 on printing and postage” is a decision.

The default categories

A new account starts with:

Expense categories:

• Travel
• Meals & Entertainment
• Office Supplies
• Event Costs
• Printing & Postage
• Software & Tools

Income categories:

• Charitable Contributions
• Grants

karani.co/expenses/categories

Categories are typed as either expense or income.

Adding your own

Go to Expenses → Categories and add one. You’ll set:

• Name
• Type — expense or income

The type decides which side of the income-vs-expense chart on your dashboard the category lands on.

Editing and deleting

Click a category to edit its name or type.

Deleting a category with expenses in it

Reassign those expenses to another category first, or you’ll lose the breakdown even though the amounts remain. Check the category’s expense count before deleting.

Designing a set that works

Fewer, meaningful categories beat many precise ones.

• Too coarse — one category called “Fundraising”. Tells you nothing.
• Too fine — separate categories for stamps, envelopes, and paper. You’ll stop bothering to pick the right one.
• About right — six to ten categories that map to decisions you actually make.

A good test: could this category’s total change what you do next year? If not, merge it into a broader one.

Category per appeal

If you run a few distinct appeals a year, a category per appeal — “Spring Appeal”, “Year-End” — lets you compare cost against what each campaign raised. That’s the most useful thing expense tracking can give you.