Tracking Money in Savings Account

[Anthony Dardis]

Also for the record, this thread gave me exactly what I needed/wanted to  
keep track of some dedicated funds that live in a savings account with  
some other money, so this particular way of using GnuCash is genius as far  
as I'm concerned.




On Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:03:43 -0500, Derek Atkins <warlord at mit.edu> wrote:

> John,
>
> "John Layman" <john.layman at laymanandlayman.com> writes:
>
>> This thread has confirmed a timeless verity" "When your only tool is a
>> hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
>>
>> The cautionary corollary, of course, warns that if you're comfortable
>> wielding your hammer, you'd better watch that you don't keep hammering  
>> away
>> when you have some other tool in hand.
>>
>> As a former Microsoft Money user, I know that force fitting the envelope
>> concept onto its accounts-and-categories data model would be like  
>> driving
>> nails with a bench vise.   GnuCash has a more flexible data model, but  
>> it
>> would require bending and twisting the software completely out of shape  
>> to
>> force fit envelopes onto it.  The issue here is not merely one of  
>> failing to
>> understand the proper use of the tool, it's a failure to clearly think
>> through the problem to be solved.  If you insist on viewing a problem  
>> only
>> through the lens of a pre-conceived solution, you're unlikely ever to  
>> really
>> understand (or solve) the problem.
>
> Just for the record, GnuCash does have some features that encourage
> envelope-based budgeting.  In particular, the reconciliation process
> includes a "Include Subaccounts" switch, and there's also the "Open
> Subaccounts" menu option to open a register subtree.
>
> So to make it clear, you don't have to bend and twist GnuCash too hard.
>
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
> -derek