Adding categories to your budget

Important distinction

Adding a category to your budget is different from creating a category. Categories must be created first before they can be added to a budget.

Understanding the difference

Action	What it does	Where to do it
Creating a category	Creates a new category in Skwad that can be used across the app (transactions, trends, budgets)	Categories settings
Adding a category to budget	Adds an existing category to your budget so you can allocate funds and track spending	Budget view

Think of it this way:

• Categories are labels for your transactions (e.g., "Groceries", "Rent", "Entertainment")
• Budget categories are envelopes where you allocate money to track spending against those labels

You can have categories that aren't in your budget (useful for tracking but not budgeting), and you must create a category before you can add it to any budget.

How to add a category to your budget

Step 1: Make sure the category exists

Before adding a category to your budget, confirm it exists in your category list. If not, create it first.

Step 2: Open your budget

Navigate to your budget from the main menu. Select the budget you want to modify.

Step 3: Add the category

1. Look for the Add category or + button in your budget view
2. Select the category you want to add from the list of available categories
3. Configure the category options:

Type

• Basic: Resets every month. Unspent amounts don't carry over.
• Rollover: Over/under spent amounts carry forward to the next month.
• Income: Track income against your budget.

Frequency & Amount

• Frequency: How often to allocate the default amount (monthly, weekly, etc.)
• Amount: The default budget allocation. You can override this for individual months. Set to 0 if unsure.

Start date & balance (Rollover only)

Rollover categories can have a starting balance in addition to regular allocations. The starting balance applies on the start date, which can be on or after the budget start date.

Common scenarios

"I want to track a new expense type"

1. First, create the category (e.g., "Pet Supplies")
2. Categorize relevant transactions with your new category
3. Add the category to your budget using the steps above

"I have a category but it's not in my budget"

This is normal. Not all categories need to be budgeted. If you want to start tracking spending for an existing category:

1. Open your budget
2. Add the category using the steps above
3. Set your desired allocation amount

"I want to use the same category in multiple budgets"

Categories can be added to multiple budgets. Each budget tracks spending independently, but transactions are shared since they use the same underlying category.

Tips

tip

If you're new to Skwad, we recommend reading How categories work before setting up your budget categories.

• Start simple: You don't need to add every category to your budget. Focus on categories where you want to control spending.
• Use rollover wisely: Rollover categories are great for variable expenses (groceries) or saving goals. Basic categories work well for fixed expenses (subscriptions).
• Review regularly: As your spending habits change, add new categories or remove ones you no longer need from your budget.