After further reading and learning..... This post by Kevin really sparked the "ah-ha" moment in terms of which transfers should have a bucket and which should not:
http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software/msg/121c5960b5156fa8 This got me closer to being balanced but in fact, led me directly to my problem, my income bucket for 'interest earned' on both my savings and my checking was counted in the buckets total however, I was not including my savings in the accounts total (for reasons obvious). Now I just have to figure out the best practice for recording interest earned on savings accounts. txcrew On Feb 28, 1:35 pm, txcrew <[email protected]> wrote: > I have the same problem where my buckets balance does not equel my > accounts total. > > Here is what I did: > > * I have assigned my starting balances for each account on 12/31/08 > * Brought each starting balance out to the income layer by assigning > them to an income bucket (except for savings) > * Set my cashflow start date to 1/1/09 > * Set starting cashflow that totals my starting balances from 12/31/08 > > I assume this is where the problem starts: > > * Triple checked that every transaction has a bucket assignment > * Assigned one side of each transfer to a bucket on either expense or > income side (if it were a transfer from savings it would be brought > out to the income layer) > > Now when I look at my buckets total: > > There is an $84.34 difference between my accounts and buckets. This > means that I physically have $84.34 available in my accounts (not > savings) for spending that is not reflecting in my buckets. > > I have no clue how this can happen. From what I understand in this > thread, the problem is probably in with the transfers. > > I believe to have followed all the directions and tutorials > correctly. I have tried to understand the suggestions in this thread > but it's far too confusing. > > To me, only assigning one side of the transfer makes the most sense. > For example: > > * I have $100 in charges outstanding on my credit card. > * I have $200 allocated to my 'debt repayment' bucket. > * I will create a new transfer from my checking account, to my credit > card for $100. > * I will assign the checking account expense to the 'debt repayment' > bucket. > * I will make the credit card 'payment' (the other half of the > transfer) bucket optional and leave it unassigned. > > I totally understand Kevin's point about how we are only spending what > we allocate. But my totals show I have $84 left to allocate. > Maddening! > > Any further help with this would be greatly appreciated. > > TIA, > txcrew > > On Feb 26, 6:45 pm, Lucas Burke <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Thanks for the help, everyone. > > > I did end up getting them to match. I don't remember what the last > > thing that I fixed was, but it definitely included checking all > > transfers were not coming out of a bucket, making sure that the > > applicable starting balances had buckets, etc. and eventually they > > matched. I agree that you are definitely safe if you are keeping your > > spending within your allocations, but having a big mismatch between > > what you have and what you thought you have is disconcerting! > > > On Feb 20, 2:06 am, Alan Schmitt <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > On 19 févr. 09, at 19:11, Kevin Hoctor wrote: > > > > > Both sides of a transfer do not need to be assigned to a bucket (and > > > > rarely should be actually) but transfers will cause a problem if you > > > > are trying to keep your buckets total and account balances in sync. > > > > I agree, I was just trying to help in finding out where the balance > > > discrepancy came from. I personally never assign a bucket to a transfer. > > > > > The goal is to make sure that you spend only what you allocate and not > > > > to worry about matching up the totals. Behind the scenes you may be > > > > moving money between accounts to fund spending but you still will be > > > > sticking to your spending plan if you only spend what you allocate. > > > > I agree, and I find it reassuring to see that my accounts total is > > > equal to my buckets balance. > > > > Alan > > > > PGP.sig > > > < 1KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "No Thirst Software User Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
