Future Liabilities

[Mike or Penny Novack]

Alan Milnes wrote:

>
>Anyway my question is this - when I get paid I want to set some money 
>aside for certain expenses I know i will incur e.g. Food, Entertainment. 
>I need to allocate this on payday and then effectively "draw against" it 
>during the month, whilst being able to track my real current (checking) 
>account balance i.e. take into account any unspent money in these 
>categories.
>
>I thought of something like this but it seems very long winded and I'm 
>not sure how to then report my true available funds:-
>
>On payday
>Expenses:Food -150
>FutureSpend:Food +150
>
>When spent
>CurrentAccount -150
>FutureSpend:Food -150
>Expenses:Food +300
>
>Thanks for any hints or pointers.
>
>  
>
I'd do it this way. Change your current account so that it contains two 
sub accounts. One for "future expenses" and one for uncommitted. The 
parent account will show the correct balance (the sum of the balances of 
the two sub accounts). When you actually buy the food is when it becomes 
an expense. You'll split your deposits between these two sub accounts 
according to how much you are "reserving". Obviously you could have more 
than two sub accounts if you feel you need to track more closely.
If at some time you discover that you have either too much or two little 
in the "reserve" you do a transfer transaction.

Michael