See where your money goes each month
The month is not a vibe. Categories show where your money goes each month so you can cut one leak, not your whole life.
To see where your money goes each month you need names on the spend, not a leftover number. “Balance dropped” is not a story. Groceries, software, tax, a weekend trip - those are stories. Once the month has names, you can keep one and cut another. Until then you only feel poorer.
Categories beat a single “other” bucket
Eight to twelve categories cover most people. Food, rent, transport, tools, health, fun, tax, buffer. If everything lands in other, you will learn nothing in December. If you make forty categories, you will stop filing by week two. Pick a list you can remember without a legend.
- Give every out line a category the same day
- Keep income in its own pile so spend is not mixed with invoices
- Review the two fattest categories, not all of them
- Rename a category when you keep mis-clicking it
Look at pace, not at one ugly day
A single dinner does not ruin a month. A category that is high three weeks in a row does. Open the board in the last days of the month and ask which pile grew without a decision. That is the leak. Fix that pile. Leave the rest alone until next month.
People chase a daily chart and miss the subscription that quietly renewed. A month view is slower and more honest. You see the shape, not the noise of Tuesday.
How Money shows the month
Money by Integrono puts categories next to in and out entries on one board. You write the sum. The month adds up. No bank connection, so the picture is what you chose to record - which is the picture you will act on.
One change per month is enough
If tools are fat, cancel one. If food is fat, cook four nights, not a new diet. Write the next month with the same categories so you can compare. Seeing where money goes is useful only if the next month is allowed to look different. The board is there so that difference is visible, not motivational.