150+ Household Budget Categories to Set Up Your Monthly Budget

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It’s tough enough to decide you’re going to put yourself on a budget. Plus, having to remember everything you spend money on each month.

Because leaving things out of your budget can really set you behind.

Let’s take a look at these 150+ potential household budget categories you might need to include in your monthly budget.

This list has quite a few things in it, so don’t let that overwhelm you! It’s very possible that several of the examples won’t apply to your family. And it’s also possible that something you pay for each month may not be included. It’s meant to be a guide to help you think through everything you might need to include in your family’s household budget.

While you’re thinking about your monthly budget, check out our list of budget planners that could help guide you even more, plus keep all of your finances in order. We ended up going with this one and are liking it so far!

What categories should I include in a budget?

There are a lot of budget categories mentioned below, but not all of them will apply to you.

As you look through the budget categories, see if any of the examples apply to your family’s budget.

Some expenses might not necessarily come out every month but need to be saved up for. These might be things like annual dues, car registration, or taxes. Don’t get hit with a big bill without being prepared!

Another way to ensure you don’t miss a budget item is to open up your main banking account. Look through your expenses to see what bills come out on a regular basis. This also helps figure out an approximate amount to add to your budget!

What are the 3 simple budget categories I should include?

If you’re a total budget beginner, you might struggle with where to start with this huge list. That’s understandable!

The three main budget categories that will likely fit into everyone’s budget would be housing/utilities, transportation, and food. Even if you don’t have a mortgage and/or auto loan, you will have to pay for upkeep, repairs, and maintenance in these categories.

So once you get started with those three categories, it should really get the ball rolling for you to fill in the rest of your budget.

List of household budget categories

Since it would be overwhelming to list everything out, I’m going to break things down by major category.

Within each budget category, you’ll find examples of what might apply to you.

Before we dive into the budget categories list, you should be first and foremost adding in any income you can expect. Here’s a list of the more common income streams.

How much should I budget for each budget category?

There are quite a few templates hanging out on the internet that help guide you on household budget percentages.

Some of the big ones are Dave Ramsey’s recommendations (probably one of the more in-depth guides out there), the 50/30/20 rule, and reverse budgeting. There are a lot of others out there, but those are widely known.

Within each of those, you really have to take a look at where you are in your financial journey.

If you’re paying off debt, you’ll have to adjust your percentages to throw as much as you can toward that.

If you’re building savings, you’ll have to make adjustments for that as well.

So all of these budget percentage recommendations are just that: recommendations.

My recommendation would be to start with the plan that works best for you, then make adjustments in those first couple of months. You might also find that one plan isn’t working for you the way you thought, and you should switch things up to another plan. That’s okay!

We started and ended up with Dave Ramsey’s plan for household budget percentages.

We had to make adjustments because we were paying off debt, so we used Ramsey’s plan with his debt snowball plan, and that was the perfect plan for us!

That’s our list of household budget categories!

It can seem overwhelming, but once you get started with your budget, it will feel like a snowball!

Do you have any budget categories that didn’t make the list? Have you started your budget and are struggling with completing all of your own categories?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

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