The Massive List of Budget Categories You Need for Budgeting Success

Want to set yourself up for budgeting success?

Then making sure that your budget includes all of your expenses is essential.

Sure, it’s easy to just add up all of your monthly bills. But what about those pesky non-monthly bills, savings goals, and the unexpected bills?

These can seem to just pop up without warning, causing us to blow our budget. When this happens, it’s easy to feel like a budgeting failure and may give up on budgeting altogether.

I don’t want this to happen to you.

So to start your budget off on the right foot, here is a complete list of personal budgeting categories and the expenses that fall under those categories for you to consider.

This list is meant to help you think about your own expenses while ensuring that you don’t forget to include them in your budget.

It’s likely that not all of these will apply to your own personal budget. But use this as a guide to get you thinking about those sneaky expenses you incur throughout a year that need to be considered for your budget to be complete.

Before we get to the complete budget list, let’s first look at what budget categories are and why they are important.

What are Budget Categories and Why Are They Important

Budget categories represent the different ways you spend and earn your money.

Understanding where your money goes each month is a powerful budgeting tool.

This is because differentiating between things like your food and clothing spending will help you see exactly where your overspending is occurring.

If you don’t know where your spending is happening, you won’t’ know how to correct any concerns you have with your budget.

How Many Categories Should You Have in Your Budget?

It’s totally up to you how many categories to put in your budget. Every budget will eventually find what works for them.

Some people (like me) love knowing every detail of where their money is going. For this person, they may have 50+ budget categories.

Other budgeters want fewer categories. They want a basic understanding of how they spend their money and don’t want to feel overwhelmed by a bunch of budget categories.

With that said, everyone’s budget is going to look different. And it will take a little trial and error for you to figure out what works best for you.

Use the list below to get you thinking about which categories to include in your budget and get budgeting.

List of Personal Budget Categories

To help you become a successful budgeter, I’ve created the list below to get you thinking about all of your possible expenses.

When creating a budget, it’s important to think about all of the expenses you have throughout the entire year and not just the ones that happen monthly.

Your budget will not include all of these expenses. It’s simply a list to get the brain juices flowing so you can create a budget that will work for you and your money.

Income

Income includes any money you have received throughout the year. Many of us will have multiple streams of income. This is all of the money you have to fill your personal budgeting categories with.

Taxes

Taxes are an expense that many of us don’t think about because they are taken directly out of paychecks. But, they are an expense, and it’s good to track them to understand how much you do pay in taxes. For the self-employed, this is a category you definitely do not want to forget.

Housing Expenses

Housing expenses include anything that is necessary to provide you shelter. And as you can see, this can include a lot more than just your rent/mortgage.

Utilities

These are all of the bills you pay to help keep you home livable. This includes keeping your house warm/cool and lit as well as phone and internet, as those are things we need to live safely and comfortably in our homes.

Transportation

This section could include a lot more individual budgeting categories than you may realize. It includes everything you need to get you from one place to another safely.

Debt Repayment

Consistently contributing to your debt repayment to tackle debt is key to a successful money plan.

Food

Perhaps surprisingly, food can be one of our biggest expenses. This category can be a tough one to predict because our food costs can vary each month. Sometimes we need to restock our pantry items or have multiple occasions where we dine out. But this is also a category where we can easily save money with strategic shopping and eating at home more often.

Clothing

Clothing can be a large part of your budget, especially if you have growing children.

Pets

Our furry friends are part of our family and need food, care items and treatments to stay healthy just like we do. Don’t forget to include them in your budget.

Children

There and many costs that are associated with children. And these costs tend to change as our children grow up.

Household Goods

This category is a catch-all category for things needed to keep your house clean and comfortable.

Personal Care

Personal care includes any expense we have for our personal “upkeep”. It’s a category that contains both essential and non-essential expenses (like manicures).

Subscriptions

Our subscription services can really add up. A subscription is anything that you pay a regular fee for. This fee could be annual, bi-annual, quarterly, monthly, or any other timeframe.

Medical Care

This category includes any expense for your families’ health care. It can be a hard category to predict, so do your best at estimating your costs. If you’re unsure about how much to budget, always overestimate.

Other Insurance

We often have other insurance policies outside of our home and car insurance. This category includes any other insurance policy you may hold.

Fun Money/Entertainment

Don’t forget to budget for some fun.

Giving/Holidays

Giving includes gifts given or money spent for various occasions and achievements throughout the year as well as any charitable donations.

Travel

If travel is part of your life, then don’t forget to budget for these adventures.

Professional Service Fees

Often times we need professional assistance. Don’t forget to include these expenses.

Miscellaneous Fees

There are always fees we forget about. Here are a few I’ve forgotten over the years.

Savings Goals

Savings goals are a huge part of any budget. If you don’t know where to start with savings, you can start with an emergency fund.

How to Create a Budget Using Your Budget Categories

Now that you have an idea of what categories to include in your budget, it’s time to create a budget specifically tailored to you. 

Step 1: Ask Yourself Why You Want to Budget

Knowing why you want to start a budget will help you create a budget that is aligned with your goals. And when you have a clear vision of your why you will that much more motivated to stick to your budget. 

So take some time to think about why you want to start your budgeting journey. 

Do you want to become debt-free? Do you want to feel in control of your money? Do you want to save for a home? Do you want to take a vacation? 

Step 2: Pick a Budgeting Method

There are many ways to track and keep a budget. And it will take some trial and error to figure out which personal budgeting method works for you.

Here are a few of the ways you can try:

Step 3: Identify and Budget For Your Essential Living Expenses

Now that you know what budgeting method you are going to try, start by figuring out which of your budget categories are essential living expenses.

Essential living expenses are things you must have to survive.

They include things like:

When putting together your budget, identify what categories are essential and make a plan to cover these before you let any “wants” creep into your budget. 

Knowing what expenses cover your basic needs, will help you prioritize your budget. 

Step 4: Save for a Rainy Day and Your Future

Once your basic living expenses are covered, identify what savings categories you want to work towards. 

Do you want to save for retirement? Start funding an emergency fund? Or save for a downpayment on a house? 

Step 5: Use the Rest of Your Money on Your Wants

With your basic needs and savings goals covered, now you can spend the rest on your wants. 

Your wants are things you don’t necessarily need but are things that you would like in your life.  

Examples of wants include:

Step 6: Reevaluate Your Spending

When going through this process, you may find that you don’t have all of the money to do all the things you want.

This is a common budgeting conundrum. 

But one that you can figure out.

Maybe you found that you want to save more towards a house downpayment, but your bills are taking up too much of your income.

This is where understanding what budget categories you are spending money will help. 

When you understand where your money is going, you can figure out where to cut back to make room for your goals.

You Got This

Budgeting is full of trial and error. But making sure you account for all of your budgetary expenses is a key component to starting with a complete picture of your finances.

The list above should give you a great start to developing your own personal budget. And as you continue down your budgeting path, I’m sure you’ll find more categories to add that are specific to you as an individual.

Related Budgeting Posts: 

Which Personal Budgeting Method is Right for You

Needs Vs. Wants: How to Overcome This Common Budgeting Struggle

Know Your True Monthly Living Expenses

Bare-Bones Budget: Why You Need to Create Yours Today

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