Picking the right category isn't about getting tax categorisation right (that's your accountant's job). It's about what Statistics shows you — which category of spending is growing, which is shrinking, which is unusually high this month. Get the categorisation in the right ballpark and the analytics work; nudge it perfectly precise and you're spending time on something that doesn't pay off.
01 What are the eight expense categories?
nouz ships with eight defaults: Advertising, Transport, Staff extra hours, Packaging, Repairs, Meals, Spoilage, and Other. Between them they cover almost everything a small shop spends money on day to day, and Other catches the rest. See Expense categories for the full list with the rule behind each one.
02 How do I tell which category an expense belongs in?
When you're looking at an expense and not sure which bucket fits, run a quick one-line test for each category in order — "Did this aim to bring in customers?" points to Advertising, "Was something broken and now it's fixed?" points to Repairs, and so on. The first yes wins; anything that passes none of the seven specific tests falls to Other. The full set of tests is below.
- Advertising — "Did this aim to bring in customers?" → yes.
- Transport — "Was I moving goods to the shop?" → yes.
- Staff extra hours — "Did I pay someone outside the regular payroll?" → yes.
- Packaging — "Did this go home with a customer?" → yes.
- Repairs — "Was something broken and now it's fixed?" → yes.
- Meals — "Did a staff member eat this for free?" → yes.
- Spoilage — "Was this inventory that didn't sell and got thrown out?" → yes.
- Other — anything that doesn't pass one of the seven above.
03 When should I use the Other category?
Other is the catch-all, but every entry under Other is a missed signal in your monthly Statistics breakdown. If you find yourself using Other more than once a week, drop us an email — the eight defaults may need a ninth that we haven't added yet.
Common things owners want to log that don't fit perfectly: bank fees, accountant's one-off project, charitable donation, late-payment penalty. We may add categories for these if enough owners ask — feedback is what drives the list.
04 Can I recategorise an expense later?
If you logged something in the wrong category, fixing it is a thirty-second edit: open the expense entry, change the category dropdown, save. The Statistics breakdown rebalances on next page load. There's no penalty for misclassifying then correcting — the data ends up the same.
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