Tracking cash

spocku

My question is the same as in the discussion in this link except that I do want to track how I spend the cash given to me. What would be the best way to do this?

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7915768/how-do-i-record-the-cash-that-i-received-for-charging-my-credit-card-for-friends

NotACPA

Why are the replies/suggestions in that thread not working for you? What else would you want?

Since CASH is an offline account, the fact that the thread you reference is for QWin, and you're running QMac, is immaterial.

spocku

In that response as far as I understood it - it said to put the cash in a different category. However, I want to track the spending of that cash. So, if I was given $50 (from a friend as part of a meal that I paid for) I want to track what I use that $50 for in the future. Not sure how that would work if it was in a separate category.

volvogirl

You can either make a new category or a new account. Probably make a new account like Cash or Cash Received and then when you spend it you enter it as a expense in the Cash Account. Like if you paid $120 on your credit card for dinning expense. Then enter the $50 you got into the Cash Account and categorize it to Dinning which will offset the dinning expense. Then you will have a +$50 sitting in the Cash account which you can use for anything. So when you spend it you enter an expense into the Cash Account. Like if you spent $40 for gas you enter $40 in the Cash Account to Auto fuel. And you will still have $10 left to spend.

jacobs

So, if I was given $50 (from a friend as part of a meal that I paid for) I want to track what I use that $50 for in the future.

As mentioned above, you should have a separate Quicken account for tracking cash. And if you're also wanting to track money you spent on others and money they gave back to you, you might want two Quicken accounts: one for your actual cash on hand, the other for "Exchange" (that's what I call it; you can call it whatever you want) to track money owed to of due from others.

In your example, you paid for a meal which included your share and a share for one or more other people. So I would record that purchase transaction in my Cash account or my Credit card account as a split: the first split line would be my share of the meal cost, categorized with my dining out category, and the second split line would be what I spend on others, as a Transfer to my Exchange account. In the Memo field, I'd record what happened (e.g. "Paid for Michael's dinner"). This keeps your actual dining expense reflecting what you spent on yourself and not others, and your Exchange account shows you are owed $50. When you receive the $50 in cash, enter that as a deposit in your Cash account, as a Transfer to the Exchange account, with a memo ("Michael repaid me for dinner on 7/10"). Now your Cash account reflected the $50 in your wallet, and your Exchange account is zeroed out. What you use that $50 for in the future will be tracked as you enter transactions for spending from your Cash account going forward.

I often use this methodology if I purchase concert/theater tickets for others for which they'll pay me back, or for shared expenses on dinner or a trip.