Yes. Custom categories let you keep a side gig separate from your usual household spending and salary. You can use one income category for the whole gig, or separate different kinds of work.
An example: weekend photography
| What happened | Category | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| A client pays $600 for a shoot. | Photography income, created inside the Income group. | Income activity shows the payment and your category name. |
| You buy $80 of supplies. | Photography supplies, created in an expense group. | Transactions and the category’s spending in Spend. |
| You pay $20 for editing software. | Photography software, kept separately from your household subscriptions. | Transactions and the category’s spending in Spend. |
For those three transactions, $600 came in and $100 went out, leaving $500. You can compare the income payments with the expense categories; Vylo doesn’t create a separate business profit report from them.
Choosing your categories
- Put earnings under Income. Names such as Tutoring, Freelance writing, or Market sales describe where the money came from. Putting a category in an expense group won’t make it an income category.
- Give costs their own expense categories. You can start with one, such as Side-gig expenses, or create a group with Supplies, Software, and Travel underneath it.
- Assign existing transactions. New categories start empty. Correct earlier payments and purchases you want included in the breakdown.
- Remember a merchant only when the choice fits future purchases. A dedicated software provider may always be a work expense. A shop you use for both home and work may need a separate decision each time.
The add-a-category guide shows the web and iPhone steps. Choose Income for earnings and an expense group for costs. The transaction category guide shows how to assign each payment or purchase.
Where does the income appear?
Open Income from Dashboard on the web or Home on iPhone. The month’s Income activity shows your custom category beside each payment. On iPhone, choose Total to include all income types in the list. See the income guide.
Income categories don’t each create their own summary card. Use the activity list to check the individual payments and category names.
Cash payments and payouts after fees
If a customer pays in cash and the payment won’t be imported from a bank, add it manually using your income category. Don’t add a second entry for a payment that’s already been imported.
If a platform keeps a fee before paying you, the bank transaction shows the amount you actually received. For example, a $100 sale paid out as $92 imports as $92. Vylo can’t infer the missing $8 fee from that deposit alone.
Costs someone will reimburse
A purchase your employer or client will pay back is different from a cost you’re covering yourself. You may want both the purchase and repayment outside your household budget. Read about excluded categories and reimbursements.