1. Custom Categories - well, yes... the budget amount does not get split into this because we don't know what the category is and what percentage of the budget amount should go into these. The amount going into the standard categories are based on some average data and assumptions, for example - you should not spent more than 10% of your pay on housing, there are some regional exceptions, but the approximation is still valid. When you enter an amount in a Custom Category, the amount gets deducted from Savings.
2. Savings - this amount should get adjusted based on the changes you make to the other categories. So if you increase the amount in a category (including Custom Categories), the savings amount should reduce by that amount. If you reduce the amount for a category, savings amount should increase by that amount. Our idea when we created this type of budget was to design the budget around savings.
3. Expanding Categories - this is also a good idea, but not sure if we will implement this. Our long term plan is to have all entries categorize automatically, the user should not have to enter the type (more than once if at all). Also having sub types as part of the entries will mess up the default reports. Our idea was to keep things simple, but make customizations possible.
We are planning on rolling out an addition to the budgeting feature - the user will be able to define her own categories, amounts, etc. This is coming soon, well... as soon as we get our act together.
