Using Payee Rules
Stop cleaning up the same messy bank descriptions by hand. Teach Daily Bread to do it once, automatically, forever.
The Problem: Your Bank Doesn't Speak Human
You bought a coffee. You know it was Starbucks. Your bank thinks it was "STARBUCKS STORE #12345 AUSTIN TX 78701."
Every bank does this. Transaction descriptions are full of store numbers, city codes, and cryptic abbreviations. And every time one comes in, you'd have to manually clean it up and assign a category. That's tedious the first time, and pointless the twentieth.
Payee rules fix this permanently.
- -STARBUCKS STORE #12345 AUSTIN TX 78701
- -WHOLEFDS MKT 10032 AUSTIN TX
- -AMZN MKTP US*2K1ABC123
- -Every transaction needs manual cleanup
- +Starbucks → Dining Out
- +Whole Foods → Groceries
- +Amazon → Shopping
- +Auto-categorized and ready to import
You tell Daily Bread: "Anything with 'starbucks' in the name — call it 'Starbucks' and file it under Dining Out." From that point on, every Starbucks transaction is handled automatically. The import queue shows clean names and suggested categories, ready for a quick review.
Creating Your First Rule
Spot a messy transaction
You'll usually create rules from the import review panel. When you see an ugly bank description, that's your cue.
Set the pattern
Pick how the rule should match. Contains is the most common — it matches anywhere in the description, and it's case-insensitive. "starbucks" catches "STARBUCKS STORE #123", "Starbucks Coffee", all of it.
Name it properly
Enter the clean name you want to see: "Starbucks", "Whole Foods", "Netflix" — whatever makes sense to you at a glance.
Assign a category (optional)
Pick a budget category and the transaction will be pre-categorized on import. This is where the real time savings happen — most transactions won't need any manual work at all.
Tip
After you create a rule, Daily Bread automatically reprocesses any pending imports that match. You don't need to go back and fix things — it's retroactive.
Pattern Types
Most of the time, Contains is all you need. But for edge cases:
| Type | Example Pattern | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| Contains | "starbucks" | "STARBUCKS STORE #123", "Starbucks Coffee" |
| Starts with | "AMZN" | "AMZN Mktp US", "AMZN Digital" |
| Ends with | "NETFLIX.COM" | "NETFLIX.COM", "WWW.NETFLIX.COM" |
| Exact | "SPOTIFY USA" | Only "SPOTIFY USA" — nothing else |
When You Need More Control
Priority ordering
When two rules could match the same transaction, the higher-priority rule wins. This lets you layer general rules with specific overrides:
- Priority 1: "AMAZON" → "Amazon" → Shopping
- Priority 2: "AMAZON PRIME" → "Amazon Prime" → Subscriptions
The Prime rule fires first, so your monthly subscription doesn't end up in Shopping.
Account-specific rules
Same payee, different purpose? You can limit a rule to a specific account. A transfer to your savings account looks different from a payment to your landlord, even if the bank description is similar.
Split rules
Some transactions need to go to multiple categories. A paycheck might be 80% to Checking and 20% to Savings. A Costco run might be part groceries, part household supplies. Split rules handle this with percentage or fixed-amount splits.
Transfer rules
When money moves between your own accounts, you don't want it counted as spending. Mark a payee as a transfer and Daily Bread handles the double-entry correctly.
Category Mappings: The Lazy Alternative
If you don't want to create individual payee rules, Daily Bread also supports category mappings. Banks tag transactions with their own categories — "Food & Drink", "Transportation", etc. You can map those directly to your budget categories.
For example: map the bank's "Food & Drink" to your "Dining Out" category. Any matching import gets the suggestion automatically.
Note
Category mappings are suggestions, not hard assignments. Payee rules always take priority when both match. Think of mappings as the safety net — they catch what your rules don't.
Getting the Most Out of Rules
- Start with your top 10 merchants. Coffee shop, grocery store, gas station, streaming services — these cover most of your transactions.
- Build rules as you go. Don't try to create them all upfront. Add one each time you see a messy import. After a month, most transactions will be handled.
- Use Contains unless you have a reason not to. It's the most forgiving and handles the most variation.
- Check for conflicts. If a transaction keeps getting the wrong category, you probably have two rules competing. Check priorities.
Once your rules are set up, the import review process goes from "fix everything manually" to "glance and approve." That's the difference between budgeting that feels like a chore and budgeting you'll actually keep doing.