Managing Cash Transactions and Credit Card Payments?

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Hi Folks,

For the most part, I purchase everything using my Costco Citibank credit card. However, there are some things (very few) that I have to pay for in Cash. What have folks here found to be a best practice for tracking these cash expenses (including writing a check out to Cash)?

My next question is related to Credit Card payments. I have linked my Tiller account to my main bank for checking and savings and then to all of my credit cards. So when a credit card bill is payed in full by my checking account, I end up with two transactions in Tiller. One to pay out the credit card balance from my checking account and one to pay the credit card in a transaction from the credit card company. It obviously messes up the budget to show these transactions. Should I just hide these rows in the spreadsheet to avoid them being considered?

Thanks in advance for any and all help provided.

Roger

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The way I do it is this:

Cash. When I get cash - ATM, Check to cash - I create a manual account called cash. I use the category called Transfer to reflect where that cash came from (chking accout, check made to cash for $100, category =transfer) (manual account called Cash, deposit categorized as transfer). The stuff I pay for with that cash, get categorized appropriately. $10 lunch. etc.

Credit Card payments are kinda the same. I take money from checking (category = transfer) and make a payment to the credit card (category = transfer). The charges get categorized appropriately. $20 dinner or $80 gear and apparel, etc.

I’m sure there are other ways …

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I handle both situations the same way as @susandennis

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Thanks so much for your reply and sharing how you handle these transactions. I was really hoping that someone might chime in with their recommendations too. I wish that Tiller held workshops on best practices for using their system so I could get the most out of their product. Here’s hoping…

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Tiller holds Q&A sessions, webinars, has FAQ’s, a blog, help and this community. There’s a ton and a half of information and help as well as best practices available via this website.

Maybe a start here How to Track Cash | Tiller Help Center and then go here Understanding Transfers | Tiller Help Center

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@susandennis - Thanks so much for the links to what Tiller offers in the way of assistance. I didn’t know about these resources.

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For the credit card payments, I have 2 entries also, each one assigned to the Category called Transfer. On the Category sheet, I have Transfer marked to Hide from Reports. That may take care of your concerns about these transactions affecting your budget.

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I also have a Cash Account and do what @susandennis and @jpfieber do.

With one modification.

If I have a big cash expense, I’ll try to remember to record it as a Transaction in the Cash Account.

At the end of the month, I take a look at how much cash I have. Then I record the difference between the Amount listed in my Cash Account and the actual amount of cash I have as a Monthly Miscellaneous Cash Expense. That is an Expense Category. That way I stay in sync. I also make a note in that transaction saying something like $80 cash on hand.

Another method is to not have a Cash Account and recover ATM withdrawals as Miscellaneous Cash Expense category and then don’t bother to record how it is spent. It depends on how much cash you spend and how accurate you want your tracking to be.