Help · Budgeting

Category types

Each category has a type. Change it in the category's settings: click its name in the budget (on phones, tap it, then the pencil). The small icon before a category's name shows its type; Spending categories have none.

See the types in the demo

The four types

Spending

Money in each month to spend that month: groceries, gas, dining out, phone. Most categories are Spending.

Sinking

Money saved up month by month for bigger or irregular costs: car repairs, property taxes, insurance, Christmas gifts. It builds up, gets spent, and builds up again, so over a year it hovers around zero.

A sinking fund turns a $2,400 property tax bill into $200 a month. Give it a target (the amount and when it's due) and Pensum shows whether you're on track. See Targets and goals.

In the demo, Electric, Property taxes and Car repairs are sinking funds.

Savings

Money meant to grow: an emergency fund, a vacation, a new car, a house down payment. You can give it a target amount and, optionally, a date.

See Vacation in the demo

Holding

Money earmarked for a purpose that isn't spending or saving:

• A bonus or tax refund you haven't decided about yet. A Holding category can be marked as extra income.
• Expenses you paid that someone will pay you back for, like a work trip.
• A loan you're being paid back.

How the type changes your reports

• Spending shows in where your money went and in what you spend each month.
• Sinking costs are spread over the months you saved for them, so a big yearly bill doesn't make one month look like a disaster. "How are my sinking funds doing?" follows each one.
• Savings count as money kept, not spent.
• Holding categories are left out of spending.

The type doesn't change how money moves at the end of the month. That's the category's month-end rule.

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