GnuCash Budget-related question

[Mike or Penny Novack]

On 1/7/2016 3:28 PM, Alex Aycinena wrote:
>> For example, if the budget calls for $100 toward groceries, when I enter a
>> paycheck can I put $100 into groceries and spend it down to $0? OR do I
>> have to enter each debit for groceries and track it myself to ensure it
>> does not go over budget? I hope I can view this information automatically
>> without having to run a budget report every time.
  Look, PART of the problem is people getting lost in the terminology 
and report names.

What you are describing here (and this is been found useful for people 
in desperate cash flow difficulty) is called "envelope budgeting". That 
is a technique/process whether done with physical cash in physical 
envelopes as in the old days or virtual envelopes using software. But 
that does NOT mean has anything to do with the budget facility of 
gnucash << that's for a DIFFERENT meaning of the term "budget" >>

a) You can set up "envelope budgeting" using gnucash. It will NOT 
require you to have to run reports, just look at balances remaining in 
accounts.
b) You set up sub-accounts as children of your "cash" account << in 
assets >>. When your paycheck comes in, you credit income and debit each 
of these according to how you planned to split that paycheck.
c) When you spend on something, groceries, for example, you debit 
groceries <expense) and credit the groceries "envelope".
d) I am not here going to go further into details. I suggest that if you 
think this is for you, get some instructional material on "envelope 
budgeting" and it won't matter if old and discussing in terms of paper 
money in actual envelopes. AFTER you understand the process but still 
need help how to set up virtual envelopes using gnucash, then ask your 
questions.

Folks, we seem to need a USER GUIDE. That is NOT the same thing as a 
MANUAL. A manual tells you the syntax of commands, how to do things at 
that level. A user guide is instructions at a higher level, using this 
example, "envelope budgeting using gnucash"  << versus all the other 
sorts of things you might be wanting to use gnucash for, subsidiary 
ledgers, etc.

Michael