Kakeibo
A Japanese household-ledger method, mapped onto your existing categories.
It is opt-in, and it reuses what you already have
Kakeibo is off until you enable it in Settings → Modules → Kakeibo. It does not ask you to re-categorise anything: your existing spending categories are mapped onto the four buckets, and you can adjust that mapping.
The four buckets
Needs
Rent and EMIs, groceries, bills, fees — what you would still pay in a lean month.
Wants
Dining, subscriptions, shopping. Comfortable, not compulsory.
Culture
Books, courses, anything that leaves you better off than it found you.
Unexpected
Medical, repairs, gifting. Not a failure of budgeting — a category of its own.
The four questions
Kakeibo is a reflection practice more than an arithmetic one. The method asks the same four questions each month:
- How much money do I have?
- How much would I like to save?
- How much am I actually spending?
- How can I improve next month?
Unassigned is a real state
A category you have not mapped resolves to unassigned rather than being forced into Needs. Spending you have not classified is worth seeing as its own number — it is usually where the surprises are.