# How large (or small) should your spending categories be?

**URL:** <https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/how-large-or-small-should-your-spending-categories-be/318>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [July 26, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/how-large-or-small-should-your-spending-categories-be/318 "2024-07-26T13:31:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hledgerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8491ac/32.png) [@hledgerfan](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/u/hledgerfan)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/how-large-or-small-should-your-spending-categories-be/318/1 "2024-07-26T13:31:53Z")

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How do you divide up your spending categories in your plain text accounting? Compare your answers with mine at [https://hledgerfan.com/how-big-or-small-should-your-spending-categories-be/](https://hledgerfan.com/how-big-or-small-should-your-spending-categories-be/).

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**Author:** ![f-a](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex003/user_avatar/forum.plaintextaccounting.org/f-a/32/32_2.png) [@f-a](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/u/f-a)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/how-large-or-small-should-your-spending-categories-be/318/2 "2024-07-26T14:16:31Z")

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I keep them buckets quite large, and I advise anyone starting PTA to do so.

Instead I am quite precise and specific in the entry heading. It takes less effort than to select a specific category, helps my memory of past events and I can leave with the peace of mind that if in the future I need some specific data, most of the time I can work through headings and calculate it.