What's a category?
A category is a label that allows you to manage spending by assigning each transaction a category and then using that category to analyze where your spending is going.
A budget is typically broken down by category. Without categories, it's incredibly hard to figure out where overspending is happening. Voyage Vault allows you to specify certain categories as travel specific. This allows for a more targeted trip budget.
Default Travel Categories
- Activities
- Dining
- Groceries
- Lodging
- Metro
- Transportation
- Travel
Best Practices
The goal is to have enough categories to understand where your money is going without losing the big picture of your spending. You could break down "Dining" into "Breakfast", "Coffee", "Lunch", and "Dinner", but then you have to think harder about where a meal fits and it may not have a positive effect on your budgeting.
If you have a very expensive hobby, it may be worth breaking that out as a category so you can set a budget amount for it. Basically, we recommend you start with broader categories and if there's a spending issue that you see occurring, you can then break that out into its own category.