Which kakeibo bucket does it go in?
Kakeibo sorts every spend into one of four buckets: need, want, culture and unexpected. Rent is easy. The hard part is everything in between.
Below is how yen-yen files 21 everyday spending categories, taken straight from the app's category library. Treat it as a starting point. The bucket is a question you answer, not a rule you follow, and in the app you can change any of them.
Need
Things you'd pay for even in a quiet month: housing, the food you cook at home, getting to work, keeping the lights on, and the bills that arrive whether you like it or not, such as insurance, tax and your phone plan.
| Category | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Groceries | Supermarket runs, fresh produce, household staples. |
| Food & Drink | General food purchases not categorised elsewhere. |
| Transport | Taxi, ride-share, car rental, ferries. |
| Public Transit | Train, subway, bus, IC card top-ups. |
| Fuel | Petrol, diesel, EV charging. |
| Rent / Mortgage | Monthly housing payment, key money, management fees. |
| Utilities | Electricity, gas, water. |
| Internet & Phone | Mobile plan, broadband, WiFi. |
| Insurance | Health, car, life, renters insurance. |
| Taxes | Income tax, residence tax, consumption tax payments. |
Want
Spending you chose because it makes life nicer: eating out, subscriptions, clothes, a haircut. Kakeibo doesn't call these bad. It only asks you to name them, and if the Want total surprises you at the end of the week, that surprise is the point.
| Category | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Dining Out | Restaurants, cafes, takeaway, food delivery. |
| Entertainment | Movies, concerts, sports events, gaming. |
| Subscriptions | Streaming, music, software, cloud storage. |
| Shopping | General purchases, online orders, home goods. |
| Clothing | Clothes, shoes, accessories. |
| Beauty & Personal Care | Haircuts, cosmetics, grooming, gym. |
| Gifts | Presents, donations, charity. |
Culture
Spending that grows you: learning, books, travel. The app only files Travel and Education here by default, but the four-question habit also counts spending for someone you love, so if a gift felt like that, move it here.
| Category | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Travel | Flights, hotels, holiday spending. |
| Education | Courses, books, language schools, tuition. |
Unexpected
What you didn't see coming: the dentist, a prescription, an ATM charge. A repair or a last-minute ticket home belongs here too, whatever category it sits in.
| Category | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | Doctor visits, prescriptions, dentist, hospital. |
| Bank & Fees | ATM fees, wire fees, foreign transaction charges. |
Outside the four buckets
Savings and Investments have no bucket in yen-yen. They're money you keep rather than money you spend, so they stay out of the four totals. Income has no bucket either.
| Category | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Savings | Emergency fund contributions, goal savings. |
| Investments | Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, crypto. |
The ones worth arguing about
- Dinner out with friends
- The app files Dining Out under Want. If it was a friend's farewell dinner, Culture is a fair answer.
- A birthday present
- Gifts start as Want. A present you forgot until the night before can honestly be Unexpected.
- The prescription you collect every month
- Healthcare starts as Unexpected, but a medicine you buy every month is a Need. You know your month better than a default does.
- The train to an evening class
- Public Transit is a Need and the class is Culture. Pick the one that answers 'what was this for?', or log them as two spends.
- A taxi home in the rain
- Transport starts as Need. If you'd normally have walked, it's a Want, and that's fine.
Nobody grades the answer. What matters is that you ask, and that the two of you use the same words for the same things.
On paper, or in the app
The free kakeibo template has a column for each bucket. yen-yen has these categories built in: pick one when you log a spend and the bucket comes with it, ready to change.