Spending by category: a monthly total or your full history?
This guide is for CleverNote Finance: transactions, budgets and goals. Explore the other blog
You open By category and see $420 for Transportation. You select Manage, and the same category shows $3,680. Both amounts can be right. The card shows the selected month, while Manage categories brings together spending across your recorded history.
In the web version of CleverNote Finance, the All-time totals line shows the first and last months included in the category manager. Read that line before using an amount to answer how much you spent in a particular month.
To check a month’s spending, start with the month selector
In Entries, choose the year and month you want to review. Check the month shown on the By category card and find the category. In list view, select the bar to open that category’s entries for the selected month. You can then see which purchases make up the total.
In a fictional example where all entries use the same currency, the October card shows $420 for Transportation. Three entries of $180, $140, and $100 make up that amount. If you want to know what you spent on transportation in October, these are the entries to check.
Check the date range before organizing categories
On the same card, choose Manage. If you’re using the app as a guest, the button says View categories. If the line reads All-time totals: Jan 2026 to Oct 2026, the $3,680 for Transportation covers the spending recorded in that category over that span, including October’s $420. The category manager keeps that scope when you change the month in the selector. The dates show where the recorded history begins and ends. If you just imported statements, check that the months you want to review are available in Entries.
That wider view helps when you’re organizing category names. For example, if you use Transportation and Travel around town for the same kinds of purchases, check how you’ve used both names before merging them. With an account, merging reassigns the entries from the old category across your history. If you’re checking whether two entries describe the same purchase, open both and compare the receipt and bank statement.
Return to the monthly card
If the card is available for the selected month, choose See this month by category in the category manager. The shortcut closes the panel and takes you back to the card for the month you already had selected. To check a different month, use the selector in Entries.
Open CleverNote Finance, choose a month, and check a category you use often. Compare the amount on the card with the date range shown in Manage categories.
Try the app from this guide with your CleverNote account.
Also on iPhone and Android
CleverNote Finance