Community template
Ben's setup: simple budget categories
Ben from the US separates expected costs like rent, bills and food from highly variable spending. The predictable groups get precise budgets, and one Everything Else group carries a single cap for the rest.
- 6 groups
- 2 categories
- 27 subcategories
- Simple (under 40)
In their words
I use this category setup to separate recurring and expected expenses (bills, food) from highly variable stuff (everything else). I can accurately budget for rent, bills, and food, then set a top-level budget for everything else to stay in line with my comfortable spending level.
All 35 categories in Ben's setup
Income Income
- Wages Income
- Interest Income
- Rewards Income
Bills & Stuff
- Rent
- Insurance
- Bills
- Subscriptions
Food
- Groceries
- Restaurants
- Cafe
Everything Else
- Auto
- Cash & Checks
- Exercise / Health
- Entertainment
- Fees
- Gifts
- Home
- Medical
- Personal Care
- Pets
- Shopping
- Travel
Transfer Excluded from budget Excluded from totals
- Credit Card Payments Excluded from budget Excluded from totals
- Banking Excluded from budget Excluded from totals
- Investment Excluded from budget Excluded from totals
Ignored Excluded from budget Excluded from totals
- Taxes Excluded from budget Excluded from totals
- Investments Excluded from budget Excluded from totals
Other spending categories
- Gas / Transit
- Donations
How to use this template in Lunch Money
Click Copy entire setup at the top of this page, then paste it into Lunch Money as a preset. See the import steps.
Want only part of it? Mix and match categories in the library to build your own template.
