Money
Household budget categories, ready for your first import
A tidy one-level category set for a shared household, covering spending, income and transfers, plus a short checklist for mapping your first bank CSV.
What’s inside
Map your first import· 6 items
Export one month from your main account as CSV
Import it into the matching Thendoo account
Check the Columns and Format settings in the preview
Save the settings for this bank
Add rules for your five most common payees
Link the transfers between your own accounts
Money categories
HousingExpense
- Rent or mortgage
- Energy and water
- Home insurance
- Repairs and upkeep
FoodExpense
- Groceries
- Eating out and takeaway
- School lunches
ChildrenExpense
- Childcare
- School costs and activities
- Kids' clothes
Getting aroundExpense
- Car costs
- Public transport
HealthExpense
- Pharmacy
- Appointments
PetsExpense
Household subscriptionsExpense
Gifts and occasionsExpense
Household incomeIncome
- Salary, first earner
- Salary, second earner
- Benefits and allowances
Between our accountsTransfer
- To savings
Why the tree is only one level deep
Thendoo supports a parent and one level of children, and that turns out to be a good limit. Two levels is enough to answer the questions households actually ask: how much did food cost, and how much of that was takeaway. A third level mostly creates sorting work. Budgets roll children up into the parent, so you can set one limit for Children and still see childcare on its own.
Spending, income and transfers kept apart
Income and transfer categories never count as spending. Moving money to savings or paying off a card from another account is a transfer, so it stays out of Spent on Overview. Linking those pairs with Link as transfer is the step most first imports miss, which is why it is on the checklist.
How to adapt it
- No children? Delete that branch and the school lunches line.
- One earner? Remove the second salary, or rename it for side income.
- Thendoo already seeds categories such as Groceries and Subscriptions. Keep whichever name you prefer and delete the twin.
An honest tip
Resist adding categories during your first month. Use Other for anything that doesn’t fit, then look at what piled up there. Real spending shows you which category is missing far better than guessing does. This is an organizing aid, not financial advice.