To make the categories provided via bank feeds easier to manage, they'll be organised under a standard set of 14 parent categories by default.
These parent categories group general areas of spending in a way that makes sense for most people. None of these parent categories will be created by bank feed auto-categorisation, so you can budget at the sub-category level and then roll up the budgets into the parent category for analysis.
You can edit these default categories at any time. They are only created when a related sub-category is created via the bank feed - if a category isn't created, then the parent category won't be created.
Included in this set of parent categories are selected default colours for each category, as well as default settings for the category type.
You can edit these categories at any time.
Note
You can also apply this default category structure to your existing categories that were created from a bank feed, even if you've already customised your categories. Read more about this below.
Default categories
Below is a complete list of the default parent categories you might see created in PocketSmith, along with examples of sub-categories that will appear under each. Don't worry if you don't see all of these - they'll only be created when needed.
Earnings
- Income
- Salary
- Paycheck
- Interest
Housing Expenses
- Mortgage
- Rent
- Home Maintenance
- Home Improvement
Utilities and Services
- Phone
- Internet
- Power
- Water
- Gas
- Rubbish Collection
Eating and Drinking
- Groceries
- Alcohol
- Coffee Shops
- Restaurants and Bars
Entertainment and Hobbies
- Media
- Electronics
- Hobbies
- Recreation
- Subscriptions
- Entertainment
Transport and Travel
- Public Transport
- Taxi
- Parking
- Fuel
- Travel
- Automotive
Health and Wellness
- Doctor
- Dentist
- Fitness
- Pharmacy
- Personal Care
- Clothing
Family and Pets
- Child Care
- Kids Activities
- Baby Supplies
- Education
- Pets
- Veterinary
Insurances
- Life Insurance
- Car Insurance
- Health Insurance
- Property Insurance
Giving
- Gifts
- Donations
Miscellaneous
- Postage
- Printing
- General Merchandise
Banking
- Taxes
- Bank Fees
- Deposits
- Payment
- Refunds
- Allowance
- Cash Withdrawal
Transfers and Repayments
- Transfer
- Savings
- Retirement Contributions
- Loan Repayment
- Credit Card Payments
Remember: These are just a good starting point
The categories listed above are only a starting point. We encourage you to make the categories in your PocketSmith your own - feel free to edit, shuffle, update or delete these categories to best suit the way that you see your money.
Default categories template
If you would like to use the default categories listed above to help get started with categories, read on for the steps.
- Head to the Manage Categories page (Categorise > Manage Categories)
- Select + Add New
- From the dropdown of templates select PocketSmith
- You can make any changes you would like and then click Update categories once ready
- Confirm the pop-up
- You can then check your new categories and continue to refine as needed
Auto-organising your existing categories
The toolbar on the Categories page has an "Auto-organize categories" button, which lets you organise your existing bank-feed-created categories into the default category structure of PocketSmith.
When you confirm the changes from the modal window that pops up, the following will happen:
- Existing categories from bank feeds will be organised underneath the default parent categories, if they don't already have a parent category.
- Default colours will be applied to the categories within, if a colour has not already been set.
- They will have their category type changed to Expense or Income, as needed.
These changes will only apply to categories that do not yet have a parent category - so it'll work particularly well if you've not created a nested category structure already.
Once you've auto-organised your categories, you can undo the changes for a limited time.
Undoing the auto-organised changes
For a limited time after you've auto-organised your categories, you are able to undo the changes to revert your categories back to how they were. Once you've performed the auto-organise process, a message will appear on the bottom left of the screen which contains a button to undo the changes.
Generally speaking, the changes which are made by the automatic organise process are non-destructive, and so if you miss the window to undo the changes, manually adjusting your categories back to a structure that suits you won't be difficult.