Hi Stan,
I think your solution here may hold the most promise if I can't find
something that works better. I especially like the fact that the
checking account balance on any given date matches your actual (real)
checking account balance -- unlike R Losey's method. That's important
to me. And then you're entering future transactions in the register to
keep track of what your checking account balance will be on any given
future date as those payments become due. So that makes good sense to
me as well. The one thing that I don't like though is that GnuCash
already includes the concept of Scheduled Transactions. It seems like
there should be an easy way to tap into that feature to keep track of
how large a checking account balance will be needed -- in real time --
to pay off those upcoming credit card bills. And I'd like to be able to
do that without having to enter future transactions into the checking
account register to keep track of that. Still, I might end up going
with your method if I can't get Scheduled Transactions to work the way
I'd like them to work.
Tom
On 9/9/2025 9:14 PM, Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) wrote:
On 2025-09-09 18:39, R Losey wrote:
Sometimes you can come to a solution by looking at it another way. How
about this solution (which I use):
Create a "Credit" sub-account under the checking account. Whenever you
enter transactions (I enter them weekly, but some people enter them as they
occur, and others enter them every day or two). Anyway, after entering my
credit transactions, I then look at the current "credit" sub-account
balance, and the credit card balance, and transfer money from the checking
account to the "credit" sub-account. The amount is "Current Credit Balance"
minus "Credit sub-account balance". For example, if my "credit" sub-account
has $85, and my credit card shows a balance of $114.68, I need to transfer
$29.68 from the checking account to the credit sub-account. It will then
show $114.68, and my checking account register will be lowered by $114.68.
By doing this, you effectively move money out of the checking account
register (so it shows what you have left), and there should always be funds
in the credit account to pay the credit card.
When you pay the credit card off, you then transfer funds out of the credit
sub-account and into the checking account.
I do it a bit differently -- as the saying goes, there are many ways to
skin a cat. My practice doesn't need extra accounts or transactions that
don't reflect an actual movement of money. It took me about seven years
to come to the realization that the answer that works for me is future
transactions, as opposed to scheduled transactions.
I'm not arguing against R Losey's approach, just offering mine as an
alternative that works in a different way to accomplish the goal.
In Edit » Preferences, I have ticked Register » "Future transactions
after blank transaction" and Numbers » "Display negative amounts in red".
I'll explain my process by example. Let's suppose that my checking
balance on 10 May is $450.
On 12 May I get a credit-card statement showing a balance of $200, and
payment is due on 7 June. In my checking account register, I enter a
payment of $200 to that credit card, with a date of 2025-06-07 not
2025-05-12. In the Description field I include the date I entered this
transaction, just in case I need to go back and check anything. (Unless
it's autopay, pulled from my checking account by the credit-card
account, I also initiate a bill pay to that credit card on my bank's
website, to take place on 2025-06-07.) The transaction appears below a
blank line in both registers. I still see the current checking balance
of $450, but I also see the future balance of $250.
On 18 May another credit-card bill comes in, for $300 due on 13 June. I
enter the $300 payment with a date of 2025-06-13, the date the money
will come from my checking account. Now I see these balances in my
checking register:
2025-05-10 (present) $450
2025-06-07 (future) $250
2025-06-13 (future, in red) ($50)
At a glance, I see that I need to transfer at least $50 from savings to
checking by 06-13. So I schedule a $60 transfer with my bank for 06-12,
to keep at least $10 in checking. Now my checking balances are
2025-05-10 (present) $450
2025-06-07 (future) $250
2025-06-12 (future) $310
2025-06-13 (future, in black) ($10)
The only scheduled transactions are my Social Security benefit (changes
only every 12 months) and my annuity (never changes). The SX are dated
the dates payment will be received, but I have the transactions set to
fire well in advance, so that those payments are also visible in the
future section of my checking account. Thus I don't arrange for
unnecessary transfers from savings, if incoming payments will cover the
future outgoings. (If I were still working I'd do the same thing with
salary payments.)
I've been doing things this way since late last year, and compared to my
old method it gives me much greater confidence that I'm not going to
overdraw my account or transfer money from savings when I don't actually
need to.
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