How can I do something like the "Envelope System"

Nick Hasser nick.hasser at gmail.com
Thu Jan 1 19:18:29 EST 2009


Rafferty Uy wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Does anyone know how to do something like the envelope system? Here's the
> idea:
> 
> You have a payroll account, where every month a fixed amount is deposited by
> your employer.
> You want to allocate this amount to different "envelopes", but all kept in
> your bank account.
> 
> So for example you have a bank account with a total deposit of $1000, you
> know that this $1000 is composed of $200 in savings, $300 in bills, $400 for
> daily necessities and $100 for unplanned things.
> Is there a way to do this automatically for every pay day?

If it's all in a single bank account, set up an asset account for that 
bank account (Assets:Current Assets:Checking Account).

Then create subaccounts for each envelope, such as Assets:Current 
Assets:Checking Account:Bills, Assets:Current Assets:Checking 
Account:Savings, etc.

If it's the same amount for every pay day, set it up as a scheduled 
transaction with splits going into each Bills, Savings, etc, subaccount.

Nick


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