tracking cash

[James LewisMoss]

>>>>> On Wed, 4 Apr 2001 22:45:24 -0400, "Michael P. Soulier" <msoulier@storm.ca> said:

 Michael> On Wed, Apr 04, 2001 at 10:25:17PM -0400, James LewisMoss
 Michael> wrote:
 >> Every once in a while I go "I probably spent about 80% of this on
 >> lunches and some percent on something else and some percent on
 >> something else" and I make up fake transactions transferring 80%
 >> of the money in the cash account to Expenses:Food:Dining-Out and
 >> the same for the rest.

 Michael>     So, how do you know if those transactions balance? You
 Michael>     can reconcile a
 Michael> bank account with your statement, but how do you know the
 Michael> other accounts balance?

Since the other accounts I'm transferring to are expense accounts I
don't worry about a "balance".  I'm more worried about having a
decently accurate knowledge of the amount of money I spent dining out
or on book or whatever.  So I know my transfers to the expenses aren't
totally accurate they are more so (at least I hope) than just dumping
the unaccounted for cash into a CASHBLOWN or Expenses:Misc category.

 Michael>     I realize that this is a basic gnucash question, but I
 Michael>     don't think I've
 Michael> quite "gotten it" yet.

I worry about my bank accounts being accurate.  The rest is used for
reporting as far as I'm concerned.  And for that case I want to know I
dumped a bunch of my cash on dining out so I can see how much more I
should eat at home. :)

Jim

-- 
@James LewisMoss <dres@debian.org>      |  Blessed Be!
@    http://jimdres.home.mindspring.com |  Linux is kewl!
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