Account manipulation question

Jason jason at cougarcorp.net
Thu Sep 14 06:57:46 EDT 2006


This is actually a question half about accounting, half about how to do
it with GNU Cash.

I rent and I have a roommate. We split all the common bills 50/50. This
includes groceries, etc...

What happens typically is:
1) Items will be bought or bills will be paid. One of us will pay for
it. Distribution is fairly random.
2) Rent comes due. One of us will pay it.
3) I take all the bills for the month, calculate the difference between
what he paid/what I paid, and come up with a 0 balance number.
4) The one who did not pay the rent writes a cheque to the other for the
value I calculate.

The brings our household account to 0 every month.

Now, one option is to keep doing this above and separate from my
personal book keeping. That is, record the bills we bring in at 50% in
my personal record and don't bother with his portion in GNUCash, keep
doing it with my spreadsheet.

But I figure there has to be a decent way to work this scenario in
GNUCash with the porper use of expense, asset, and liability accounts. I
just can't seem to piece it together.

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks

Jason


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