I tried something similar as > 2019-06-18 "Sombody" "Shiny Toy" > Assets:Checking -20.00 USD > Expenses:Technology 20.00 USD > Assets:Virtual:Allowance -20.00 ALUSD > Expenses:Virtual:Allowance 20.00 ALUSD
but with both currencies USD. So I was actually tracking the expense twice, which looked bad in reports. I’ll try again with a “virtual” currency, thank you > On Jul 1, 2019, at 7:42 PM, Jason Chu <[email protected]> wrote: > > This has probably been written better, but I don't think you want to use an > Allowance account like that, unless you don't care about the types of things > you buy with your allowance. For example, I care if I spend my allowance (in > my case I call it discretionary money) on eating out, buying random > technology, or going out for drinks. > > What you're describing is "The Envelope Method", where you get a certain > amount of money each month that you can spending without feeling bad about it. > > I recommend using a separate set of accounts where you put ALUSD (Allowance > USD) that tracks your allowance spending without actually tracking the money. > You add the ALUSD transactions as mirrors of your actual transactions. > > Something like > > 2019-06-01 "Monthly allowance" > Assets:Checking -100 USD > Assets:Savings 100 USD > Income:Virtual:Allowance -100 ALUSD > Assets:Virtual:Allowance > > 2019-06-18 "Sombody" "Shiny Toy" > Assets:Checking -20.00 USD > Expenses:Technology 20.00 USD > Assets:Virtual:Allowance -20.00 ALUSD > Expenses:Virtual:Allowance 20.00 ALUSD > > Then you can see how much of your savings counts towards the Allowance by > looking at Assets:Virtual:Allowance and the money stays in the actual > accounts that you are tracking. > > Such a system can get a little hard to keep in sync though, so your mileage > may vary. > > On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 8:30 AM Stephan Brosinski <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm not sure how to structure my accounts for the following set of > transactions. Any help would be welcome. > I changes some account names to simplify explaining the issue. > > I have 2 asset accounts - asset:checking and asset:savings. At the beginning > of the month I transfer money > from checking to savings, easy enough: > > 2019-06-01 * "Monthly allowance" > Assets:Checking -100.00 USD > Assets:Savings 100.00 USD > > During the month I will have certain expenses which I'd like to pay with my > "allowance" from the savings account, > naturally the amount will be payed from my checking account though, because > that's were > the charge will occur, so something like this happens: > > 2019-06-18 * "Sombody" "Shiny Toy" > Assets:Checking. -20.00 USD > Expenses:Allowance 20.00 USD > > 2019-06-22 * "Sombody" "Another Shiny Toy" > Assets:Checking -10.00 USD > Expenses:Allowance 10.00 USD > > So money leaves my checking account, for an "allowance" expense. > Eventually, at the end of the month, I want to have a list of all my expenses > I consider a spending of my allowance > and then "pay back" my checking account from my savings account. So this > happens: > > 2019-06-30 * "paying myself" > Assets:Checking 30.00 USD > Assets:Savings -30.00 USD > > at this point the money actually leaves the savings account. Before that date > I only know that the expenses charged > on the "Expenses:Allowance" account will eventually leave the savings account. > > Any way to structure this better? I was thinking of treating my allowance > like a "virtual" credit card which will > have to have a balance of 0 USD by the end of the month, e.g. I keep charging > my allowance spendings on it and then > pay it off at the end of the month. > > But if I have a post like this: > > 2019-06-18 * "Sombody" "Shiny Toy" > Assets:Checking -20.00 USD > Liabilities:Allowance -20.00 USD > > it of course doesn't work because I can't make the sum 0. > > Sorry for the complicated explanation, maybe it makes sense. :) > > Thank you, > Stephan > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Beancount" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/4505ee38-b6ea-43ab-ae04-bcd0e46deb9e%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/4505ee38-b6ea-43ab-ae04-bcd0e46deb9e%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Beancount" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAFFHUgsmYvq%3DU1_-76PzorkQ5L8FMn9-eC0bOP9xBRQNaWNA2Q%40mail.gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAFFHUgsmYvq%3DU1_-76PzorkQ5L8FMn9-eC0bOP9xBRQNaWNA2Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group. 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