How do I do this?

[Dave Peticolas]

David Keegan writes:
> Hi,
> 
> I am considering using gnucash to track family finances. Apart from
> the usual things, I need to record money owed by me to my wife and
> vice versa.
> 
> If for example my wife buys some food, the transaction should hit her
> bank account and the food expenses account in the normal way, but as I
> am responsible for food expenses, I want at the same time to record
> the fact that I now owe her the amount she spent on food.
> 
> Obviously I can use another account to represent the money I owe my
> wife, and enter a second transaction which hits this account and some
> other "balancing" account. This is a bit cumbersome as it involves
> entering two transactions instead of one.
> 
> Is there a more streamlined way I can do this?

What about this. Have a special subaccount of food expenses
for the stuff your wife buys:

expenses:food:wife

Then, the expenses will automatically show up in the right place
in the hierarchy.

When you want to pay your wife, reconcile that account.
Then 'ending balance' (i.e., the difference between the
balance and the reconciled balance) is how much you owe
your wife. Mark all the expenses you paid for as reconciled.
The next time you need to pay your wife, do the same thing.
Only the non-reconciled (i.e., the ones you haven't paid
her back for yet) will show up.

dave