> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.budgetbandit.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Spending reports

> See where your money went by category and by payee, so you can spot the line items that move your budget the most.

Two reports answer "where did my money go." **Spending** groups your outflows by category. **Spending by Payee** groups them by merchant. Both read your real transactions for the date range you pick.

## Spending by category

Open **Reports**, then **Spending**. The report breaks your outflows into categories for the selected date range and ranks them largest first.

Use it to:

* Find the category that took the biggest share this month.
* Compare a category across the last 3 or 6 months by changing the date range.
* Confirm a category is tracking where you expected before it overspends.

<Tip>
  Spending counts categorized outflows. If a chunk of money is missing from the chart, you likely have uncategorized transactions waiting in [To review](/transactions/to-review).
</Tip>

## Spending by payee

Open **Reports**, then **Spending by Payee**. Same data, grouped by merchant instead of category. This is the view for "which places am I actually spending at."

Use it to:

* Spot a single merchant that quietly adds up across the month.
* Decide whether a recurring charge is worth a [schedule](/scheduled/create-a-schedule).
* Catch a payee you meant to cancel.

<Note>
  Payee totals are only as clean as your payee names. If the same store shows up under three slightly different names, [merge the payees](/transactions/payees) and the report consolidates them.
</Note>

## If the numbers look off

* A category or payee looks too low — check for [uncategorized transactions](/transactions/to-review) or [splits](/transactions/splits) that landed in a different category.
* A transfer is showing as spending — transfers between your own accounts should not count; see [Transfers](/transactions/transfers).
* Still wrong — see [Budgeting troubleshooting](/troubleshooting/budgeting).

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Budget vs Actual" icon="bullseye" href="/reports/budget-vs-actual">
    Compare spending against what you allocated.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filtering reports" icon="filter" href="/reports/filtering">
    Narrow by date, account, or category.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>