trouble getting budget categories to show up in reports

Matt n Susi

We used to use Mint, before that YNAB and before that Quicken. We use 25+ categories to track spending - each with its own monthly allotment (budgeted amount). None of the programs have been ideal for keeping track of categories, so we have had to do "work-arounds." We put categories into Simplify, but the only things showing up in reports are "shopping" & "dining!"

DannyB

Hi @Matt n Susi

You can learn about how reports work and what reports are available in Quicken Simplifi in this article: https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4592676-using-reports-in-quicken-simplifi#spending-reports-

You may want to check into using Watchlists for monitoring spending with targets: https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/3472367-using-watchlists

As for the issue you are seeing with reports, here are a couple of screenshots of my spending report:

This is what I see typically see as the default spending report…

…but it sounds like you are seeing something like this.

The default report shows all parent categories, and you can click on each parent category to see the breakdown by sub-category.

Do you mind sharing how you have your expense categories listed or sorted?

Also, as you point out each app has it's own way of sorting things out and that is certainly true for Q-Simplifi. The Spending Plan treats monthly budget planning quite a bit differently from other apps and folks react differently to this difference.

Instead of setting a spending target for each separate expense category, Q-Simplifi's planning tool works more along the lines of a fixed and flexible method. The Income after bills and savings is more or less all your fixed expenses and Planned Spending is where you plan for and track your flexible spending. Other spending is where Q-Simplifi puts any expenses or even "income" that can't be assigned to the first two sections.

In the Spending Plan, Planned Spending is the only section where you can set expense targets.

However, Q-Simplifi provides Watchlists where you can track specific spending with target amounts. This is where you can track you spending more along the lines of having individual "budgets" for each single category.