Budgeting/pre-allocation procedure?

[Robert Uhl]

What I do is have an account Ready Money (as opposed to stocks, bonds
&c.), within which are my chequing, cash, credit card and a few other
accounts.  Beneath Ready Money:Chequing I have various budget accounts
(e.g. Loan Repayment Budget, Personal Budget, Charity Budget &c.).  When
I receive a paycheque, that money is deposited into Ready Money:Chequing
(via direct deposit from my employer); I then have a single budgeting
transaction which moves money from Ready Money:Chequing and into the
budgeting accounts therebeneath.  When I spend money from a budget
account, I move funds from the budget account into the appropriate
expense account (if paying via cheque) or from the budget back to
chequing, and from a credit card account and into the expense account
(if paying by credit card).

The advantages are these: first, that the balance of my chequing account
is always correct; second, that I always have enough cash in my chequing
account to pay my credit card bills; third, that my budgets are always
accurate, and can go into the red if need be.  The disadvantage is that
since I almost always use a credit card (due to certain financial
advantages) every single transaction is a split.  If I went back to
using a debit card drawing from my chequing account, transactions would
be simple.

-- 
Robert Uhl <http://public.xdi.org/=ruhl>
Liberals think conservatives are evil; conservatives think liberals are stupid.