A common question when you start tracking your spending is: How do I choose which budget categories to use?

Some categories are very obvious, but overall you can end up with too many categories, or categories that are less useful in your attempts to adjust your spending. Since this is the source of all the information you use to control your spending, it’s important to get it right.

Remember: Recording your spending is only a tool, and you need to make that tool as useful as possible.