Budget Details

[mdclermont]

I'm curious what other users do to track items, if at all, for which you are reimbursed. A couple of examples:

• My kid orders a special piece of clothing on Amazon which is charged to my card and he brings me the cash right then. Normally we would book the purchase against the kids' clothing category.
• My wife spends $500 this month on work expenses on our personal card for which we are reimbursed next month (we won't accrue any interest).

I use Quicken to keep track of our accounts, including cash in my wallet and my wife's purse. I do not like Quicken's budget feature so I use EveryDollar Plus for budgeting.

I can elaborate on how I currently handle it if it helps but I think I'm going about it wrong so I will defer unless asked.

Thanks,
Matt

[Milly]

I use an excel spreadsheet to track every penny (download). When the money goes out as either credit or cash (I treat the same since I autopay monthly), I enter it into the spreadsheet. When I get reimbursed, I subtract it. For example, I bought gas for my brother in law's truck and entered the following:
Price: $42
Item: NAME gas
Category: Gift
Store: Chevron

After reimbursement, I change the "Price" to =$42-$42, so I can still see it on the spreadsheet, but the total doesn't add to mine. This avoids confusion when I go back and check bank statements and see the $42 charge at Chevron.

[AnnieG]

I also use an excel spreadsheet. I have two columns for each budget item: - and +. Most items just have a value in the - column, but returns, refunds, reimbursements, repayments, and off budget amounts go into the + column. I changed to this so the negative column would match the CC or checking account amount which makes it easier to reconcile.

[mdclermont]

Thank you both for your input.

I'm wondering if I should just ignore the items in my budget since I don't use it for reconciling my accounts. I can just keep track of the flow of funds in Quicken and will have it for reconciliation purposes. After all, my budget doesn't technically care (even though I care) about how funds are spent for which I am getting paid back as long as it is zero-sum. Any holes in my thinking here?

[AnnieG]

Thank you both for your input.

I'm wondering if I should just ignore the items in my budget since I don't use it for reconciling my accounts. I can just keep track of the flow of funds in Quicken and will have it for reconciliation purposes. After all, my budget doesn't technically care (even though I care) about how funds are spent for which I am getting paid back as long as it is zero-sum. Any holes in my thinking here?

Does your budget add up what you spend in a category? And have max amounts for these categories?

Because then it would have the wrong totals if the item was reimbursed, etc.

Or am I completely off base?