Most people set up expense categories and then manually sort every single transaction. Forever.

Here are 5 rule patterns that will instantly automate the bulk of your categorization — regardless of which tracking app you use.

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Rule 1: The Subscription Lock

Pattern: Match exact merchant names for recurring charges.

IF merchant_name CONTAINS "Spotify" → Entertainment
IF merchant_name CONTAINS "AWS" → Software & Infrastructure  
IF merchant_name CONTAINS "Slack" → Software & Tools

Why it works: Subscriptions are the same merchant every single time. One rule = categorized forever.

Start here. Export your last 3 months, sort by merchant, and write rules for every subscription. You'll probably knock out 30-40 transactions per month in 10 minutes.

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Rule 2: The Gas Station Wildcard

Pattern: Match partial strings for merchant categories that have dozens of brand names.

IF merchant_name CONTAINS "Shell" OR "Chevron" OR "BP" OR "Exxon" OR "Mobil" OR "Speedway" → Fuel & Auto
IF merchant_category_code = 5541 → Fuel & Auto

Pro tip: If your app supports MCC (Merchant Category Code) matching, use code 5541. It catches every gas station regardless of brand.

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Rule 3: The Amount Threshold Split

Pattern: Use dollar amounts to separate business meals from personal dining.

IF category = "Restaurants" AND amount > $50 → Business Meals
IF category = "Restaurants" AND amount <= $15 → Personal Dining

This isn't perfect, but it's an 80/20 solution. Flag the $15-$50 range for manual review and you'll only touch a fraction of your restaurant transactions.

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Rule 4: The Keyword Cluster

Pattern: Group related keywords for broad categories.

IF merchant_name CONTAINS "Home Depot" OR "Lowes" OR "Menards" OR "Ace Hardware" → Home & Office Supplies
IF merchant_name CONTAINS "Staples" OR "Office Depot" OR "OfficeMax" → Office Supplies

Build these clusters once. Update them when you discover a new merchant. Over time, they become nearly comprehensive.

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Rule 5: The Fallback Safety Net

Pattern: Catch uncategorized transactions by amount tier.

IF category = "Uncategorized" AND amount > $200 → Review Queue (High Priority)
IF category = "Uncategorized" AND amount <= $200 → Review Queue (Low Priority)

Never let transactions sit in "Uncategorized." This rule ensures everything lands somewhere actionable, and you review big charges first.

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The Priority Order Matters

Set your rules in this order:

1. Exact merchant matches (subscriptions, known vendors)

2. MCC code matches (gas stations, airlines, hotels)

3. Keyword clusters (retail groups, restaurant groups)

4. Amount-based splits (meal thresholds, review queues)

5. Fallback rules (catch-all safety net)

Rules fire top-down. Put your most specific rules first so they match before broader patterns can override them.

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These 5 patterns are the foundation. If you want to go deeper — regex matching, multi-condition rules, conflict resolution, and building a maintenance system that keeps your rules accurate over time — that's exactly what we cover in the cohort.