PocketSmith's default category structure

To make categories provided via bank feeds easier to manage, by default, they'll be organised underneath a standard set of 14 parent categories. Included in this set of parent categories are selected default colours for each category, as well as default settings for the category type.

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, meaning you can budget on the sub-categories and then roll up the budgets into the parent category in 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.

Default Parent Categories

Below is a complete list of the default parent categories that you might see in PocketSmith, alongside a few examples of bank feed categories that will appear underneath each. Don't worry if you don't see all of these - they'll only be created when needed.

Earnings - all your income appears under this category. Examples: Income, Consulting, Superannuation, Paychecks/Salary.

Housing Expenses - all expenses related to your housing go under this parent category. Examples: Rent, Mortgage, Home Maintenance, Household.

Utilities and Services - all services that you use on an ongoing basis, probably paid monthly. Examples: Phone, Internet, Power, Rubbish Collection.

Eating and Drinking - everything related to food and drink goes under this category. You might choose to split this out to be more granular. Examples: Gdoceries, Eating Out, Alcohol, Restaurants/Dining.

Entertainment and Hobbies - a large parent category that encompasses your many activities outside of work. Examples: Sports, Books And Supplies, Recreation, Electronics, Toys.

Transport and Travel - all travel-related expenses go under this parent category, whether private or public transport. Examples: Fuel, Taxi, Parking, Hotel, Automotive.

Health and Wellness - expenses related to your health, wellness and self-care. Examples: Clothing, Wellness, Healthcare/Medical, Appearance, Pharmacy, Personal Care.

Family and Pets - everything related to your family members and dependents. Examples: Education, Veterinary, Child Care, Kids Activities.

Insurances - all your insurances go under this category. Examples: Life Insurance, Care Insurance, Health Insurance.

Giving - all donations and gifts belong underneath this parent category. Examples: Gifts, Charity, Community, Charitable Giving.

Miscellaneous - a category that encapsulates all odd-ball expenses that don't neatly fit within the other categories. You're unlikely to see many of these, and will likely want to recategorise the transactions that appear within these categories into another that better suits. Examples: Postage and Shipping, Government Services, Shopping, General Merchandise.

Banking - a catch-all category that groups together all banking related categories that don't necessarily relate to your ongoing budgets. Examples: Service Fee, Rewards, Bank Fees, Desposits.

Transfers and Repayments - all categories that relate to inter-account transfers or repayments are grouped underneath this category. Examples: Transfers, Loan Repayment, Cash Withdrawal, Retirement Contributions, Credit Card Payments.

Business - all expenses that relate to a business appears under this parent category. In most cases, you're unlikely to see many categories under this parent. Examples: Sales, Wages Paid, Office Supplies, Advertising, Business Miscellaneous.

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.

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:

1. Existing categories from bank feeds will be organised underneath the default parent categories, if they don't already have a parent category.
2. Default colours will be applied to the categories within, if a colour has not already been set.
3. 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 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.