How to Track Discretionary Spending in a Budget for Quicken for Mac?

HJ

I'm trying to group discretionary spending versus fixed spending in a Budget. I thought Category Groups would do it but I can't see how to do it in Quicken for Mac. Is it available for Mac? If so, how do I find it / use it? If not, any ideas for a work around so I can group discretionary spending versus fixed spending?

John_in_NC

There aren't category groups in QMac. The Budget will display all the categories you wish to track, be them discretionary or fixed costs.

For my budget, I only track my discretionary spending and don't focus on fixed costs or income. (This requires a little legwork outside Quicken to determine what I have available to spend, but it is time well spent.)

John_in_NC

There aren't category groups in QMac. The Budget will display all the categories you wish to track, be them discretionary or fixed costs.

For my budget, I only track my discretionary spending and don't focus on fixed costs or income. (This requires a little legwork outside Quicken to determine what I have available to spend, but it is time well spent.)

HJ

Thanks John!

jacobs

@HJ Another option you have -- well, really an extension of what John said -- is that you can have more than one budget. So you could have one for discretionary categories, and one for all categories, or whatever variations you want.

John_in_NC

jacobs said:

@HJ Another option you have -- well, really an extension of what John said -- is that you can have more than one budget. So you could have one for discretionary categories, and one for all categories, or whatever variations you want.

You can, and I have.

But, I found it much simpler to only track the categories I consider discretionary and wish to track.

Having all the fixed costs in the way simply made for a cluttered budget. For those who track every every inflow/outflow in their budget-more power to them. I found it unwieldy.