I use GB for all of myvsavings, checking and credit card accounts but while zi have an account for my savings account I only use envelopes for my checking account.
Each month my bank drops various Cash Rewards into my savings account, this has just been changed from my Checking account where I have an envelope for unassigned funds which the savings account doesn’t have.
My envelopes total my checking account and that is where all of my outflows are. How do I add this transaction while still keeping the integrity of both my checking and savings account?
I have run across this same type of obstacle before when transferring funds from/to an account that doesn’t use envelopes and my checking account which does. In order to balance debits and credits I added an envelope for those accounts and those transactions but I think that all I accomplished was to mess myself up.
Hi @Dcntruman - Thanks for your post! If you have Envelopes that total your Checking Account, then it sounds like you might have a set of Envelopes that total your Savings Account. If so, when you receive your Cash Rewards to your Savings Account, you’d record that in two steps:
Income to your Savings Account: Click Add Transaction > Income
Envelope Transfer from Available to Savings Envelope: Click Add Transaction > Transfer
This will keep your Savings Account accurate to real life, and keep your Savings Envelope aligned with your GB Savings Account. Further, your Checking Envelopes and Account will not be able to use the funds that are funneled into your Savings.
Thank you Karisa. So simple. But, as noted all of my envelopes are for my checking account. If I was to add some envelopes for my savings account how would I keep them separate from those for my checking account so they don’t get in totals and/or lists etc.? In other words so funds can’t be mixed. And can I add envelopes for other exterior accounts too (like another stand alone savings account) that will remain separate from my checking and savings as well? Also is the Available one big available meaning the total of all my accounts?
I have no clue as to how to accomplish this in GB but would be a game changer for me instead of the work around that I have been doing. Trying to keep my debits and credits in balance.
hi! To answer the last question in the first paragraph firstly will be helpful I think. The Available funds is kind of like a leftovers envelope, all the monies unassigned to an envelope. If all your current envelopes add up to your checking account balance, then all your other accounts totaled together must be the same number as your Available; would that be accurate?
Assuming so, I would suggest creating 1 new envelope for each 1 of the saving accounts you have. You can create them as a different envelope period type, for instance if your checking envelopes are all weekly type, you could assign the savings envelopes as type Monthly, Annual, or even Goal. You’ll then have a total of the monies in just your checking envelopes next to the name of the period type they’re assigned to, and a total of the savings envelopes next to the period type they’re in. This will make it simple to record a cash reward; either do a new Income and assign that money directly to the savings envelope that matches that savings account, or even more simply you can just add a new Expense/Transaction to that envelope and account (just make sure to type a negative dollar amount for the Expense, to turn it into a Credit).
Kuhns, I will certainly welcome you. Your suggestions made a lot of sense and taught me some new twists in GB. Hadn’t considered the different envelope types (weekly, monthly, annual, etc.) or how they could keep my batches of envelopes separate.
In going along with your idea, I would appreciate it if you would check my logic below. Anyone else is free to jump in with their ideas or observations also:.
GIVENS:
Checking Account is the only account which uses envelopes.
Available minus checking account equals all other exterior savings and checking accounts.
PROBLEM:
How do I transfer funds from/to a non-envelope account to my envelope checking account and enter a transaction which keeps debits and credits in balance and the integrity and accuracy of each account?
MY PROJECTED PROCESSES:
For Income to any account:
Enter the income for that account (Total Available is increased and if checking account with envelopes a fill envelope transaction. (I do a monthly fill envelope disbursement once a month after all budgeted incomes have been received for the total of all budgeted incomes for 1 month. I set this up as a scheduled transaction on a date that is after the date of my last income receipt as I can always change the date at the time by clicking NOW and my income does not vary much from month to month. (I use Microsoft Excel to create and service my budget. The budget expense line items are the same as my GB envelopes and in the same order so it is easy to copy data to edit my budget in GB. The monthly total added to all budgeted expenses equals the monthly total of all budgeted monthly incomes thus all monies are accounted for so the total of all budgeted incomes equals the total of all budgeted expenses for the month. Any income outside of the budgeted envelopes (i.e. interest received on accounts, cashback bonuses etc.) is treated as unique and handled individually at that time (placed in unassigned envelope available for use wherever needed or desired).
For transfers to my checking account from other checking and savings accounts:
I would do an account transfer from the other account to checking which would change the account totals, then do a fill envelope from Available to the individual checking account envelope. OR after the account transfer do an envelope transfer from the new setup envelope from my Annual list to the individual checking account envelope. {I don’t know if I need this option because it seems cleaner just doing the fill envelope.}
For transfers from my checking account to other checking and savings accounts.
I would do an account transfer from my checking account to the other account which would change the account totals, then do a fill envelope from Available to the individual checking account envelope using a minus sign in front of the total (I don’t know if this would work). OR after the account transfer do an envelope transfer from individual checking account envelope to my new setup envelope on my Annual list. {If I don’t use this newly set up envelope from my Annual list in either case, do I need it at all??}
I have laid out my problem and my ideas for solving it, I hope detailed enough, so you have an idea of my thinking so any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.
My wife and I have been using an “Envelope Budget System” since the early 1980s and can really vouch for its use as a system that has helped us financially for many years. We started out with a checkbook and paper system, then a computer basic program on an Apple II which I wrote myself and then jumped to GB when I found it several years ago. We really appreciate that both of us can access and see what is going on and make changes (it reduces fights). We are both many years into our retirement so sometimes not as sharp as we once were (just part of getting old and not the only surprise). So I really appreciate hearing ideas from the other members of this forum as well, who have helped me out tremendously over the past several years. I sometimes think that maybe I am asking GB to do more than it was designed to do, but so far have been able to find work arounds that work for us.
Unfortunately I think your Given #2 is not accurate. Available only contains monies that aren’t in any envelope. So Available should also be equal to the amount of money that’s in any/all of your “non-envelope” accounts. You can think of Available as a special envelope that automatically contains every dollar not enveloped.
For #2 to be accurate, it would be “Total minus checking account equals all other exterior savings and checking accounts”.
If you’re content having all your other exterior savings and checking accounts not budgeted/divvied into any envelopes but just lumped together into one big number, aka Available, then just use option A (before the “OR”) for both 1. your transfers to, and 2. your transfers from your main checking account.
I just tried and can confirm that using negative number(s) for a Fill does work, that’s kind of neat, like an un-Fill, to take monies out of envelope(s) and put that money back into Available.
But if you happen to be only filling or unfilling 1 envelope with a certain money transfer, it’s probably just easier to do an Envelope Transfer from that envelope to Available, or vice versa, than to mess with the Fill screen.
So I would say there’s not really a reason to keep the newly set up Annual envelope, if it’s just 1 envelope for all your savings and exterior checking accounts; you may as well just stick with your original setup, using Available for all those monies.
