---
title: "Spending"
description: "The Spending tab sorts what you spend into categories. Review charges, see cash flow, track bills, and manage categories and merchants."
url: https://support.alooola.com/spending
docs_index: https://support.alooola.com/llms.txt
---

# Spending

> The Spending tab sorts what you spend into categories. Review charges, see cash flow, track bills, and manage categories and merchants.

Connect a bank, and the **Spending** tab shows where your money goes each month, sorted into categories.

Video: this month against last, categories and cash flow, 40 seconds, no sound. This page describes the same screens.

## How do I start?

1. **Tap the Spending tab,** then **Get Started**.
2. **Tap Connect a Bank.** Sign in to your bank through Plaid. alooola never sees your bank password.
3. **Wait while we sort your charges.** The app shows **Analyzing your spending**.
4. **Check your first charges,** then tap **Continue to Spending**.

Spending uses the same banks as the rest of the app. A checking or savings account you connect can also fund your investments.

Credit cards are for spending only. See [Link a bank](/link-your-bank).

## What's on the Spending tab?

- **Review:** a count of charges waiting for a quick check, next to the title. It only appears when there are some.
- **Insights:** this month's spending so far, next to last month. Tap last month to compare with any of the past 12.
- **Recurring:** your next two upcoming bills and subscriptions.
- **Recent Activity:** your latest charges.

## What's in Insights?

Tap **Insights** for two views:

- **Spending:** your totals for the past six months, and a breakdown for the month you tap.
- **Cash flow:** money in against money out each month, and what you saved.

On both, switch between **Category** (what you paid for) and **Merchant** (who you paid).

## How do I review charges?

Tap **Review**. You'll see one charge at a time from the last 30 days.

- **Fix anything that's wrong:** the merchant's name, the category, or whether it repeats.
- **Approve** (or swipe right) to save it. Your fixes also apply to that merchant's future charges.
- **Skip** (or swipe left) to leave it for later.

## How do I change a charge's category?

Tap the charge, then change its category. The app asks whether to apply it to that merchant's other charges. Tap **Just This One**, or **Apply to All** to include future charges too.

## How do I track bills and subscriptions?

Tap **Recurring**. A calendar shows what's due each day, with paid ones greyed out. Below it are **Upcoming** and **Completed** charges.

- **New Recurring** lists charges we think repeat. Tap one, then **Keep** or **Not Recurring**.
- **Tap any recurring charge** to see how often it repeats, the next date and its history. You can also pause it or mark it as not recurring.
- **To add one yourself,** tap **⋯**, then **Add Recurring**. Pick a recent charge, choose how often it repeats, and tap **Save**.

## How do I manage categories and merchants?

On iPhone, tap **⋯** next to the tabs at the bottom. On Android, tap the menu button there to open **Manage Spending**.

- **Categories:** hide or show the standard ones, and add, rename, move or delete your own. Deleting one moves its charges to Other Spending.
- **Merchants:** rename a merchant, merge two into one, hide one from your lists, or set its category.
- **Bank Accounts:** connect or remove banks.

Questions? Email [support@alooola.com](mailto:support@alooola.com).