Customize your expense categories

Create, rename, and color-code your expense categories in Dongip so your spending is organized exactly the way you think about money.

Categories are how Dongip turns a list of transactions into a picture of your spending. Unlike apps that lock you into fixed buckets, Dongip lets you rename, merge, recolor, and create categories from scratch — your money, your labels. The more consistently you use your categories, the more useful your monthly reports become.

How categories work

Every expense you log — or that Dongip pulls in via bank sync — gets assigned to a category. Over time, Dongip’s auto-categorization learns from the choices you make: when you reassign a transaction, the app remembers that pattern and applies it to future transactions from the same merchant.

Categories exist at the account level. Your personal account and each shared account have their own category lists, so a shared account with a partner or roommates doesn’t clutter your personal setup.

Create a new category

1. Open Settings

   Tap the Settings icon in the bottom navigation bar.

2. Go to Categories

   Select Categories from the Settings menu.

3. Add a category

   Tap + Add category, then enter a name.

4. Choose a color or icon

   Pick a color or icon to make the category easy to spot in your reports and transaction list.

5. Save

   Tap Save. The new category is immediately available when logging expenses or recategorizing transactions.

Rename or edit an existing category

1. Open Settings → Categories

   Tap Settings, then Categories.

2. Select the category

   Tap the category you want to change.

3. Edit name, color, or icon

   Update the name, color, or icon as needed.

4. Save

   Tap Save. All existing transactions already assigned to this category update automatically.

Merge two categories

If you end up with overlapping categories (for example, separate “Coffee” and “Dining out” categories that you’d rather combine), you can merge them.

1. Open Settings → Categories

   Tap Settings, then Categories.

2. Select the category to merge

   Tap the category you want to fold into another.

3. Choose Merge

   Tap Merge into… and select the target category. All transactions from the old category are reassigned to the target, and the old category is removed.

Merging cannot be undone automatically. If you merge “Coffee” into “Eating out,” transactions are reassigned immediately. You can always create a new category and manually reassign transactions if you change your mind.

How auto-categorization learns from you

When Dongip imports a bank transaction it can’t confidently categorize, it makes its best guess based on the merchant name. Every time you correct a categorization, the app stores that mapping. After a few corrections for the same merchant, Dongip categorizes future transactions from that merchant automatically — without you doing anything.

Spend a few minutes after your first bank sync going through the imported transactions and fixing any wrong categories. That single session trains the engine and dramatically reduces manual work in subsequent weeks.

Tips for a good category structure

Aim for five to eight spending categories

Fewer than five categories and your reports are too vague to act on. More than eight and you spend more time picking a category than it’s worth, which leads to inconsistency. The five-to-eight range is the sweet spot for most people. A “Savings and transfers” bucket on top of those keeps internal transfers out of your spending totals.

Categorize by purpose, not by store

“Amazon” and “Target” are stores — they are not useful categories. Use purpose-based names like “Shopping,” “Groceries,” or “Electronics.” A single store can cover many purposes; a single category should cover one.

Assign every transaction to exactly one category

Split transactions are supported but should be rare. If you’re splitting the same type of purchase across multiple categories every month, your categories are overlapping and need a merge.

Review and rebalance quarterly

At the end of each quarter, look at your lowest-volume categories. If one is under 2–3% of total spend and isn’t a strategic bucket (like Savings), merge it into something else. If one category has grown past 30% of spend, consider splitting it.

Add life-event categories when needed

Start lean and add categories as life changes — Kids, Pet, Business, Gifts. Creating them before you need them just creates clutter.

Avoid 'Miscellaneous'

A “Misc” or “Other” category is a black hole. If a transaction genuinely doesn’t fit anywhere, that’s a signal to create a real category for it, not to hide it.

Shared account categories

Categories in a shared account are separate from your personal categories. When you create or join a shared account (with a partner, roommates, or a trip group), that account gets its own category list. Keep shared categories focused on joint spending — Groceries, Rent, Utilities, Subscriptions — and leave personal categories for your individual account.