Quick question re splitting bills and borrowing/lending money

Derek Atkins warlord at MIT.EDU
Mon Jul 7 12:28:09 CDT 2003


y7anect001 at sneakemail.com writes:

> I've gotten reasonably familiar with gnucash and understand split transactions (at least as far as salaries).  I'm not sure how to deal with expenses shared with my fiancee, however...
> 
> At first I thought it'd be pretty straightforward -- I figured I'd create an entry for her under Liabilities, treating our situation like a short-term loan, and just throw everything related in there.  Things are seeming more complicated though, and I'm  not sure how to handle them.

Well, honestly, the best way (from a relationship standpoint) is "don't"..
However....  (note, I'm assuming you are only keeping track of YOUR half
of the finances here)....

> Any suggestions will be a huge help.  Consider the following cases:
> 
> 1) My fiancee writes me a cheque and I cash it for her.  This seems
> fairly straightforward.  I set up two transfers, one to and one from
> her account.

Yep.

> 2) My fiancee and I have dinner, and it goes on her credit card.  I
> expect to pay half.  Here's my first stumbling block -- how do I
> treat this?

Your half is a liability.  You create a txn from Liability:Fiance
(L:F) to Expenses:Dinner (E:D) for your half of the meal.  When you
pay her, you create a txn from Cash (or Bank:Checking) to L:F to
pay off the liability.

> 3) My fiancee and I have dinner, and it goes on my credit card.
> She'll pay half later.  I'm not sure how to handle this one either.

In this case you need a split txn...  your half of the dinner is an
expense, and her half is an asset, Assets:Fiance (A:F).  So, create a
split txn (assuming a $100 dinner, split 50/50):

Credit Card                     100
A:F                     50
E:D                     50

Then, when she pays you, create a txn from A:F to Cash.

> 4) Similarly, I'm unsure how to handle a case where my fiancee or I
> pay 100% of a bill for the other, with the expectation that the
> money will be paid back entirely.

Then instead of a split txn it's a normal txn to the A:F or L:F
account depending which way the money is flowing.

> 5) Finally: We go out for lunch, spending $z, and both pay $x and $y
> dollars respectively ($x + $y = $z; $x != $y).  How should this be
> treated?

The same way...

> My apologies if this has been covered elsewhere,
> 
> Many thanks,
> 
> Cael

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available


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