Tracking Money in Savings Account

[Wayne Bird]

Derek,

Thanks for the response.  I'm definitely beginning to understand a lot better about the difference in philosophy of standard accounting and the envelope system -- it's definitely philosophical.  Now I know why I've had such a hard time trying to wrap my mind around the standard system.  My entire life I've always viewed my checking account as money that's "already spent" for specific items.  My mind has always categorized my bank balances.  The "standard" practice is a lump of unspent money waiting to be used.  Now of course a budget will help guide this lump of unspent money.  As Michael stated, "Bookkeeping is about ACTUAL transactions, not transactions that 
might or might not occur. For projected transactions (planning) we use a
 budget."

> Then again, I don't use GnuCash's Online/Import features, either.

This is an absolute necessity for me!  I won't even consider hand-entering all my transactions -- way too many!

Thanks so much for your input, it's been invaluable.

Wayne



> From: warlord at MIT.EDU
> To: wrbird at hotmail.com
> CC: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: Tracking Money in Savings Account
> Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:08:00 -0500
> 
> Wayne Bird <wrbird at hotmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Derek,
> >
> > So, since you don't use the budget feature, are you using GnuCash to just
> > track your finances, i.e., just to know where you money goes?
> 
> Pretty much, yes.
> 
> > Would you use subaccounts for yearly expenses, i.e., tax payments, insurance
> > payments, and allocate some of your weekly paycheck into those subaccounts, so
> > when the time comes you know you have enough to pay?
> 
> Well, indirectly I do.  For example, I have an escrow account with my
> mortgage to collect for insurance and tax payments.  So effectively,
> yes, I do.  Do I use subaccounts for ALL my purchases?  No, not really.
> 
> Then again, I don't use GnuCash's Online/Import features, either.
> 
> > Wayne
> 
> -derek
> 
> >> From: warlord at MIT.EDU
> >> To: wrbird at hotmail.com
> >> CC: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> >> Subject: Re: Tracking Money in Savings Account
> >> Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:15:08 -0500
> >>
> >> Wayne Bird <wrbird at hotmail.com> writes:
> >>
> >> > Derek,
> >> >
> >> >> I guess it depends how you look at it. I don't consider my regular
> >> >> monthly or weekly expenses to be "future" expenses. They are expenses
> >> >> that happy regularly, and it's easy to see whether I've spent it this
> >> >> month or not by just looking at my accounts.
> >> >
> >> > Good point, I understand!
> >> >
> >> >> To me, a future expense is one that I need to save for over multiple
> >> >> months, multiple pay periods, like buying a TV, a new Car, a vacation,
> >> >> etc.
> >> >
> >> > Yes, I understand!
> >> >
> >> > Do you use the budget feature in GnuCash?
> >>
> >> No, I do not.
> >>
> >> > Wayne
> >>
> >> -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
> >
> 
> -- 
>        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