Budgeting in GnuCash

[Robert Uhl]

What I do for budgeting (and I admit that it's more than a little ugly)
is set up budgets within my main chequing account (e.g. Transportation,
Food, Drink, Computer, Charity &c.).  When I receive my paycheque I have
one split transaction which puts money in the chequing account (and in
stock, and my 401(k), and in insurance expense accounts &c.), and then I
create a second one which moves money from chequing to the budget
sub-accounts.

When I write a cheque or use my bank card to pay for something, I move
money from the appropriate sub-account to the appropriate expense
sub-account.  When I use my credit card to pay for something (the usual
case), I set up a split: money moves from the credit card to the expense
account, and from the budget sub-account to the chequing account.  This
increase in the cheque account is used to pay off the credit card each
month.

Depreciation on assets is similar: money moves from the asset to
expenses, and from that asset's budget (Household for furniture;
Computer for computers, Transportation for car or bicycle) back to the
main chequing account.

It's not the most elegant system in the world, but it suffices for my
purposes, and has enabled me to budget fairly well.

-- 
Robert Uhl <ruhl at 4dv.net>
Insofar as the police deter by their presence, they are very, very good.
Criminals take great pains not to commit a crime in front of them.
                                                 --Jeffrey Snyder