Customize your tags

Tags are simple. Just select what applies to each transaction, from the people you spend for and the things you buy to the trips and occasions you want to track.

Dollar Diary includes a complete set of tag groups and tags that you can customize during setup and keep refining as your life changes.

Customize the defaults

When you first create a workspace, customize the included tag groups and tags. Keep the tags you’ll use. Rename the personal examples, remove choices you do not need, and add what is missing.

• People: in Spent For, replace example names such as Olivia with people in your life. Keep Family for a broad view, or add your sister if you want to track purchases for her separately.
• Trips: replace example trips such as Japan 2025 with your own journeys.
• Everyday purchases: keep the tag groups you use and remove irrelevant choices from your setup.

Use Go simple if you want fewer choices to customize. The goal is a system you can use consistently when reviewing transactions.

Give each tag group one job

Tag groups describe different aspects of a transaction. A purchase can have a tag from several tag groups at once.

Tag group	Question it answers	Example tag
Food & Drink	What did you buy?	Groceries
Spent For	Who benefited?	Family
Context	What part of life was it for?	Daily Life
Holidays	Which celebration?	Christmas

Keep these dimensions separate. A family grocery purchase can use Groceries, Family, and Daily Life together. You do not need a separate “Family groceries” tag for every combination.

Choose sensible defaults

Spent For and Context are required by default, with Myself and Daily Life selected. Change those selections when a transaction is for someone else or belongs to a different context.

You can rename the tag groups, change their default selections, or make them optional. Choose defaults that fit your usual spending, then review the exceptions.

Confirm and start tagging

Choose Confirm & start tagging once the system fits your life. This saves your starting setup and takes you to tagging. You can continue customizing later.

When reviewing a transaction, select the tags that apply and choose its discretion level. For a mixed purchase, split the amounts so each part can have its own tags. See The power of tags for a complete example and the spending questions it answers.

Refine your system over time

Rename a tag when a better label comes to mind; the new name appears on past transactions too. Archive a tag when you stop using it but want to preserve its history. Deleting a tag removes it from transactions. The tagging guide explains these controls.

Custom fields can hold additional transaction details, while tags organize the spending breakdowns. Add detail when it helps you answer a question you care about.