Anything I buy as a consumption good I track as Expense. That includes, from your examples, car maintenance and parts as well as furniture. If I'm later able to sell those things I count it as Income. I only track physical assets when I can readily get pricing information and when it doesn't make my life too hard. So for example I track our house as an asset and adjust it occasionally according to Redfin or Zillow's estimates. So for example I track our cars as assets and adjust them according to KBB once in a while. Any appreciation or depreciation gets balanced into Equity because tracking appreciation/depreciation isn't necessary for our personal books.
On Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 11:21 AM Dániel Fancsali <[email protected]> wrote: > Good afternoon, > > I (think I) do understand the textbook definition of the above, but I find > myself in doubt in many cases around how I would model a certain > transaction. > > On the face of it, it is very simple: if I spend $100 painting my room, > that's clearly an expense. Buying a car is clearly turning one asset > (cash/bank balance) into another one (the car itself). > > But then, fitting new wheels to the car is an expense, but then it is also > making the car worth more, so at the same time there's an appreciation > involved. (Or is the set of wheels another asset, that happens to be fitted > to the car "temporarily"). > > Also, let's think buying furniture: it's an asset, as I either use it > long-term or perhaps sell it, when I move, and need different ones for the > new house. But it can be also seen as an expense relating to me living in > my current accommodation. (Similar to utilities.) > > First I thought, the deciding factor might be, whether I can (or whether I > expect) the thing to be re-sold. But as the above examples show, it's not > always as clear cut in advance. I might sell it, I might keep on using it, > or might sell it as part of another asset (the flat or the car). > > So, I'd be really curious, how others see this, and how they keep their > books manageable. > > Let me know your thoughts. > > Regards, > Daniel > > -- > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Ledger" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ledger-cli/CAD6oR3FCf0_XxTddBRE-H4cZOVDS2wM-8TzYNPKya2c6rH_Edg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ledger-cli/CAD6oR3FCf0_XxTddBRE-H4cZOVDS2wM-8TzYNPKya2c6rH_Edg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ledger" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ledger-cli/CAFxm1P%3Dk6uV4SCBtDJU7GmxLcjPntw%2BiLE4P1AxWqQfjwpF%2BeA%40mail.gmail.com.
