How to setup to track purchases
JDanW
Quicken Windows Other Member
I'm going to try to explain this good enough to avoid questions (good luck, right?). It's real world, that I am actually doing, so hopefully it'll be clear.
I am rehabbing house and want to track expenses and how the purchases were made. So, objectives:
1) categorize expenses to track where the money went and if we hit or missed budget
2) track what funds were used to pay for the expenses and reimburse personal spending from the rehab loan (i.e. I don't have the loan check book, so pay with a personal credit card and then need to be reimbursed from the loan account).
So, when we buy materials, we will have multiple categories on a receipt and might pay with multiple forms of funds. An example, we go to Menards, buy some cabinets and paint (2 categories to track as expenses) and pay with a rebate receipt we received from an earlier purchase, then use the Menards BIG CAR to charge close to our limit, say $1000 (to get 2% rebate to start the cycle over again) and the remainder with a check from the rehab loan, or personal payment (cash, check or CC).
So on this one receipt, I need to split the categories for expenses; easy enough as Quicken allows split. But, how do I track which accounts pay for the expenses? I am amenable to setting up a swap account or similar strictly for tracking, so I don't have to do some crazy math and put portions of the receipt into multiple payment account, such as, 3 and 1/2 cabinets were paid for with the rebate (in a rebate asset account-like cash) and then 10 cabinets and 2 1/2 gallons of paint were paid for from the Menards card and the remaining 5.5 gallons of paint with the other payment (as mentioned the thinking here is a separate account for each form of payment-asset account or similar).
Also, if a personal form of payment was used, I'd have an account for myself that will then be paid for with the loan, so I guess I would be like a credit card, which gets paid? Am I thinking right there?
Am I trying to do too much in Quicken? Should I just do the purchases strictly by where the money came from and amount and forget categories in quicken and track expenses in Excel?
I don't want to do that. If I was going to maintain separate files/spreadsheets, I wouldn't buy Quicken.
SO, can any geniuses out there suggest a way (is a swap account the way to go, I'm thinking as I work through it) or is there another and/or better way to go?
TIA for all who read and respond.
I am rehabbing house and want to track expenses and how the purchases were made. So, objectives:
1) categorize expenses to track where the money went and if we hit or missed budget
2) track what funds were used to pay for the expenses and reimburse personal spending from the rehab loan (i.e. I don't have the loan check book, so pay with a personal credit card and then need to be reimbursed from the loan account).
So, when we buy materials, we will have multiple categories on a receipt and might pay with multiple forms of funds. An example, we go to Menards, buy some cabinets and paint (2 categories to track as expenses) and pay with a rebate receipt we received from an earlier purchase, then use the Menards BIG CAR to charge close to our limit, say $1000 (to get 2% rebate to start the cycle over again) and the remainder with a check from the rehab loan, or personal payment (cash, check or CC).
So on this one receipt, I need to split the categories for expenses; easy enough as Quicken allows split. But, how do I track which accounts pay for the expenses? I am amenable to setting up a swap account or similar strictly for tracking, so I don't have to do some crazy math and put portions of the receipt into multiple payment account, such as, 3 and 1/2 cabinets were paid for with the rebate (in a rebate asset account-like cash) and then 10 cabinets and 2 1/2 gallons of paint were paid for from the Menards card and the remaining 5.5 gallons of paint with the other payment (as mentioned the thinking here is a separate account for each form of payment-asset account or similar).
Also, if a personal form of payment was used, I'd have an account for myself that will then be paid for with the loan, so I guess I would be like a credit card, which gets paid? Am I thinking right there?
Am I trying to do too much in Quicken? Should I just do the purchases strictly by where the money came from and amount and forget categories in quicken and track expenses in Excel?
I don't want to do that. If I was going to maintain separate files/spreadsheets, I wouldn't buy Quicken.
SO, can any geniuses out there suggest a way (is a swap account the way to go, I'm thinking as I work through it) or is there another and/or better way to go?
TIA for all who read and respond.
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Best Answer
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I suggest you consider using tags: https://www.quicken.com/support/create-and-use-tags-quicken5
Answers
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I suggest you consider using tags: https://www.quicken.com/support/create-and-use-tags-quicken5
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