Manage categories is where you shape your budget's structure. Categories live in groups; both can be renamed, reordered, and moved.
The basics
Add — use the new-category field inside a group, or the new-group field for a group.
Rename, hide, delete — each row's ⋮ menu.
Reorder and move — drag a group to reorder it, or drag a category within its group or into another one. The order is exactly what you see on the Budget screen, so arrange it the way you actually work: the categories you touch weekly at the top, the annual ones lower down.
Hiding is archiving, not deleting
Hide removes a category from the Budget screen and from category pickers, while keeping every bit of its history.
This is almost always what you want for a category you've stopped using. Its past transactions stay categorized, its old allocations still count, and your reports for previous months remain correct.
One consequence worth knowing: a hidden category still holds any money left in it. That money is still assigned, so it still counts against Ready to Assign. If you're hiding a category with a balance, move the money out first — otherwise you'll have funds parked somewhere you can no longer see.
Unhide at any time from the same menu.
Deleting, and what it does to your history
Deleting depends on whether the category has been used.
No history — deleted outright. Nothing to decide.
Has history — you'll get a dialog showing exactly how many transactions are affected, and you must confirm moving them to Uncategorized. Confirming will:
- Move every one of those transactions to Uncategorized
- Remove the category's allocations
- Recompute any affected credit-card reserve
Reports for past months will show that spending as Uncategorized from then on. This can't be undone.
Prefer hiding. Deleting is right for a category created by mistake. For one you've genuinely finished with, hiding keeps your history intact and costs nothing.
System categories
Some categories are managed by Earmarkr and marked System or Income:
| Category | Why it's protected |
|---|---|
| Inflow: To Be Budgeted | Where income lands; Ready to Assign is derived from it |
| Credit card payment categories | One per card, tied to that card's reserve |
| Loan payment categories | One per loan or mortgage |
These can't be deleted, and the income category can't be hidden either. Payment categories can be renamed — call it "Visa" or "Chase Sapphire" if that's clearer — and they stay linked to their account.
They're protected because deleting one would break the arithmetic behind Ready to Assign or a card's reserve. They appear and disappear on their own as you add and remove accounts.
Deleting a group
A group must be empty of non-system categories first — you'll be asked to move its categories to another group. A group containing only system categories can't be deleted.
Designing a category list that works
The most common mistake is too many categories. Every one is a decision you've committed to making every month.
Start coarse and split only when it changes something. One "Groceries" is better than separate produce, pantry, and household lines — unless you'd genuinely budget them differently.
Split when you'd act on the answer. If separating "Dining out" from "Coffee" would change your behaviour, split it. If you'd only look at it, don't.
Give irregular costs their own category. Car maintenance, medical, annual renewals. They're not emergencies, just infrequent — and a category plus a goal turns them from crises into line items.
Match your groups to how you think. Fixed vs. variable, needs vs. wants, or by frequency — whatever makes the Budget screen quick to scan.
If a category has sat at $0.00 with no activity for six months, hide it.