Hi, I use a spend tracker (Money Manager) and have various categories and subcategories like Food, Household, Baby Supplies, and Bills & Utilities. However, when I do a big shop, I often buy items from both Food and Household categories on the same bill. I’d prefer not to itemize each time. What do others do in this situation? Should I create a combined category for ‘Grocery & Small Household’ items?
I feel your pain on this. I decided to let mine count entirely in the grocery category since the grocery store is where I buy those items anyway. But you’ve given me food for thought. We could separate them in our carts and pay separately at the store. I actually don’t think that would be hard to do.
@Bela
That’s what we used to do! But my wife prefers shopping during the week while I’m working, and I can’t convince her to wait for me.
I have a personal care category for haircuts, pedicures, etc., and I combine categories like food, snacks, and cleaning supplies to simplify things.
I don’t get into that level of categorization. I just lump everything bought at the supermarket into ‘groceries,’ including toiletries and cleaning supplies. It’s an essential expense, so it’s the big category I care about.
I started splitting out Groceries and Household Supplies this year to avoid the annoyance of manual splitting. I buy supplies on Amazon and food at the grocery store. I also track alcohol separately. It’s easier this way.
I combine all grocery and pharmacy items into one category since I often buy items from both places. It keeps the tracking consistent over time.
I hated manually separating categories with tax, so I started doing separate transactions for every category. It adds a couple of extra minutes but makes tracking much easier.