Simple beginner help
Paula Hendricks
paula at ph-webnet.com
Mon Oct 13 22:55:57 EDT 2014
one other thing i do do... i design books (for various orgs/ folks) and manage my apartment building -- so i set up sub-accounts into which i put expenses.... so i don't put them into my general business supplies sub-account if i'm going to expense them...
this is sort of along the lines of what you're talking about i think. then when i get the expenses paid i deduct the payment from the sub-account which i have put into each client's sub-account....
make sense?
ph
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
paula hendricks ~:~ san francisco ~:~ 415.567.2647
author ~:~ writer ~:~ photographer ~:~ book designer
paulahendricks.com ~:~ cinnabarbridge.com
On Oct 13, 2014, at 6:11 PM, Sean Clarke wrote:
> Hi Mark,
>
> Thanks for taking the time to reply.
>
> I don't really *need* to know how much I spend on milk in each store,
> although I would like to know how much I spend on milk (in a given period).
>
> For now lets assume I am not going to worry about going so granular.
>
> More important is my reason for switching to GnuCash.... I've been using
> a web based accounting tool called Wave (http://www.waveapps.com), which is
> very nice *except* they still don't have an Android app to allow mobile
> access.
>
> On my phone I've been using an app called Flowzr (it was called
> Financisto). It is brilliant for capturing taxi fares, the dinner bill
> etc and even each drink when I'm out.
>
> I just discovered that there is a Gnucash for Android, plus the author of
> Flowzr is doing a sync tool.... Hence I've installed Gnucash on all 3
> computers and I'm playing with it to learn how to best use it.
>
>
> My use case is also going to be very different as I operate my businesses
> as what I guess you'd call virtual companies. None of them are actual
> registered companies.
>
> I do IT consulting work for a number of companies globally, I run ecommerce
> stores and I have other planned income streams. So I need to track what
> I'm spending on delivering the work (paying outsourcers and paying for web
> based services such as hosting for each client), I need to bill each client
> for work and track what I'm charging them for things like hosting.
>
> I have to deal with at least 4 currencies as I have clients in Moscow (paid
> in Euro), Hong Kong and the UK, whilst I live in Bangkok so need everything
> in Thai Baht.
>
> So far from what I've seen and read Gnucash can handle everything fine.
>
> I've just done an export to the Android app and it worked fine, then re
> import back to my Desktop and it all looks good. Now I just need to
> figure out how to move years of carefully entered financial data from 2
> other programs into Gnucash!
>
>
> And to answer your question about why I don't go online and check the price
> of milk.... We don't have online ordering here in Thailand (bit behind in
> tech terms sadly)
>
>
> Appreciate your help and suggestions!
>
> Sean
>
>
>
> On 14 October 2014 07:44, Mark Phillips <mark at phillipsmarketing.biz> wrote:
>
>> Sean,
>>
>> You will end up with a massive chart of accounts....and spend a lot of
>> time allocating pennies to different buckets. You may loose site of the
>> forest as you count the needles on the pine trees.
>>
>> You could set up expenses with lots of sub accounts - organized by
>> location (restaurant, grocery store, etc) and then specific item (dinner,
>> lunch, milk, coffee, etc.). You can go as deep as you want. The advantage
>> of this method is you get a roll-up of the totals from the lower levels of
>> your massive spending tree.
>>
>> For example:
>>
>> Expenses - Groceries - Milk - Safeway, Walmart, Costco, etc.
>>
>> or
>>
>> Expenses - Groceries - Safeway - Milk, Coffee, Beans, Tuna
>>
>> Then, when you enter a Safeway receipt, just pick the Groceries - Safeway
>> - Milk account for your milk expense.
>>
>> All grocery spending rolls up to the top - Groceries, and each sub account
>> will roll up with a sub total for Safeway, then Milk.
>>
>> When you run a P&L report, make sure you tell the report configuration how
>> many levels deep you want to display.
>>
>> I would keep at least a six pack around when you enter the spending
>> information......seems very tedious. ;)
>>
>> It is none of my business, but I am curious why you want to know how much
>> you spend on milk at Safeway versus Walmart at the end of the
>> month/quarter/year. If you are looking for the best price, wouldn't it be
>> easier to check the prices on the Internet before you go shopping?
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 13, 2014 at 6:52 AM, Sean Clarke <seanchk at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I'm new to GnuCash having just installed it last night.
>>>
>>> Already I'm very confused as I can't seem to figure out how I use it.
>>>
>>> What I want to do is pretty simple (I think), I want to keep track of all
>>> my spending so for example today I had my haircut, had some lunch with a
>>> friend and then went to the grocery store and purchased a few items.
>>>
>>>
>>> How do I enter a transaction that shows not only how much I spent on lunch
>>> but where I ate, so at the end of the month (or whenever) I can see how
>>> much money I spent during the period at each different restaurant?
>>>
>>> How do I record the different items I purchased in the grocery store and
>>> which store it was so I can see how much I spend in different stores and
>>> how much (for example) I spend each month on Milk?
>>>
>>> I've managed to do very basic money in / money out transactions but I
>>> can't
>>> figure out the extra step of linking a transaction to a store (very
>>> important) or breaking down a grocery store receipt into items.
>>>
>>> Is this even possible?
>>>
>>> Thanks all,
>>>
>>> Sean
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>>
>>
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