I want to keep most of the money in my accounts unallocated. I want to use Accounts to draw from to allocate money, but most of that money wouldn’t go in envelopes, unless I guess it was in an envelope like “Savings” but that feels circular.
Would I be better off not listing my bank accounts and instead listing “Paycheck” as the account so I can just load that money to allocate? And not keep track of accounts (I’m not sure I need to)? The point is to make account for every dollar coming in, though we may have to boost from savings at times.
I’m trying to get the hang of this system but it’s a little confusing to me right now.
If I understand your question correctly, then either of the suggestions you’ve offered would work. I use Goodbudget to both allocate my spending and reconcile my accounts (I’m a little fanatical about account reconciliation!), so I have everything in here. I do have envelopes for Savings (as well as more granular savings envelopes like Travel, Renovations, Short-term, Long-term, etc.) so that the money I’ve saved doesn’t look like available funds.
If you’re not reconciling your accounts through GB, then your idea of a “paycheck” account would be great. That way you’re only allocating the money you’ve brought in and you’re not having to keep up with the other funds. If you did have to boost from savings, you’d just list it as additional income in the paycheck account and use it accordingly.