Say that my brother and I each pay $10 toward our shared $20 Netflix subscription, but we use my credit card for the transaction (he gives me his $10 share). I’ve set my Netflix budget amount to $10 since that’s what I’m planning on spending, but when Goodbudget pulls the CC transaction from Netflix it sees that I paid $20 (not accounting for what my brother gave me) and then puts my budget in the red, as it interprets that I’m $10 over. How do I correct this?
Go ahead and budget $20 for the entire cost of the Netflix subscription. Add that as a recurring charge because in actuality you ARE paying $20. Add a second transaction as a $10 credit, also recurring, and post that when you receive the money from your brother. For a short while your budget will show that you’re over by $10, but when he pays you back everything will zero out and you you’ll be back where you expected to be.
Still a bit confused here… If I go ahead and budget $20 instead of $10 (since, like you pointed out, I am in fact making the full payment with my card), why would my budget still show that I’m over by $10 for a short while? Wouldn’t my payment match the full budget amount in that scenario?
Also, as far as adding a second transaction as a $10 credit, do I do that just like adding income? And how do I make the budget reflect that credit since I don’t see a way to link income transactions to an envelope?
Sorry, I misspoke. I meant to plan the $20 payment, but you’re right that the budget should remain at $10.
For the credit, rather than adding income you can add a regular transaction of minus $10 (-$10) on the web or change the transaction from payment to credit in the app. Otherwise it works like a regular transaction, but adds money instead of decrementing it.
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I personally would just set the budget to $20 because the $10 from your brother is ultimately income which can get tracked separately. I know I will be paying $20 to Netflix and I know I should receive $10 every month so it works out. The alternative is to go in the red under $10 every month and then transfer money back into the envelope, but that feels more roundabout and confusing honestly.
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