Category - Group Management

📂 Category & Group Management: Customizing Your Buckets

Every vanlife journey is different. Some travelers are “digital nomads” tracking office supplies and coworking fees, while others are “weekend warriors” focused strictly on fuel and surf gear. To make the app truly yours, you need to master your Categories and Groups.

Think of Groups as the big plastic bins in your garage, and Categories as the specific labels on the boxes inside them. Organizing these correctly ensures your charts are beautiful and your Runway Forecast is accurate.

🏗️ Managing Groups: The “Big Buckets”

Before you create a category, you need to know which group it belongs to. Groups allow the app to bundle your spending into logical sections like “Living,” “Transport,” or “Van Build”.

To Manage Your Groups:

Go to the Money tab and tap the Settings (gear) icon.
Tap Manage Groups.
Tap the + to add a new group, or tap the Pencil on an existing group to edit it.

Color-Coding Your World

Income Groups: These are always strictly color-coded Green so you can instantly spot your money-making wins in every chart.
Expense Groups: You can choose a custom color from our extended palette or leave it on “Auto” to let the app pick a balanced theme for you.

🏷️ Managing Categories: The “Labels”

Categories are the heart of your ledger. They determine how your money is tracked and how your vehicle maintenance is managed.

To Create or Edit a Category:

In the Money Settings, tap Categories.
Tap the + to build a new one, or tap any existing row to edit it.

Choosing the Perfect Icon

We have provided a library of over 100 custom-designed vanlife icons—from “solar panels” and “LP gas” to “hiking boots” and “coffee mugs”. Use these to make your ledger “skimmable” so you can recognize an expense at a glance without reading a single word.

🚛 Advanced Feature: Vehicle Tracking

This is one of the most powerful features in Vanlife Assistant. When you flag a category as a Vehicle Expense, you unlock the app’s mechanical brain.

The Odometer Trigger: When you log an expense in a Vehicle category (like “Fuel” or “Maintenance”), the app will automatically ask for your current mileage.
Mechanical Logic: Flagging a category as “Service” or “Repair” ensures these costs appear in your Maintenance Tracking timeline and contribute to your “Vehicle Health” alerts.

✨ Magic Feature: Trip Defaults Do you have “Fixed Costs” like van insurance or a Netflix subscription that you pay regardless of where you are? Inside the Category Editor, toggle Default to No Trip. This ensures these bills don’t clutter up your specific Travel Expedition stats!

🧹 Keeping Things Tidy

Over time, your needs might change. You might finish your “Van Build” and no longer need categories for “Plywood” and “Insulation.”

Hiding vs. Deleting: Don’t delete a category if you have old transactions in it—that will mess up your history! Instead, use the Hide toggle. This removes the category from your “Add Transaction” list but keeps your old data safe and visible in your reports.
Sorting Your View: Tap the Sort Icon in the top bar to reorganize your list. You can sort by A–Z, by Group, or even by Transaction Count to see which categories you use the most.

What’s Next?

Now that your buckets are organized, let’s look at the “Who” and the “Where” of your spending—the difference between a Shop and a Label.

👉 Vendors vs. Categories - Organizing Your Ledger 👉 Mastering Ledger Search - Filters