Total Activity

Just wondering if this is the expected use of 'Total Activity'.

If I have $500 in cash spending and $400 in Credit Card spending.  The 'Total Activity' displays $500.  I understand the logic on one hand, because I have yet to pay the credit card bill, however that spending activity has taken place, at least I believe we should consider it as money spent.

So I guess my question is , do people using credit cards just have understand that using a credit card is not 'activity' and that you are not supposed to use the 'Total Activity' sum as a reference to how much you have spent in a given month ?

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  • In order to see what you have spent in a given month, what you should look at instead is YNAB's Reports - check out the 'spending' report. That will show every on-budget expense you have in a given month/time period.

    Your line of credit is technically NOT money you have spent yet. When you buy something on a credit card, it doesn't take money out of your cash accounts (whether that is a checking or savings account, or any other money that you own). Technically, you're using the credit card company's money with the agreement that you'll eventually pay back the credit card company. When you pay your credit card bill, THEN the money comes out of your cash accounts.

    And at that point, if you've recorded your credit card expenses in YNAB as expenses on a credit account, you don't need to do anything else - you have already recorded and reported your expenses.

    I'm happy to answer any other questions about this :)

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  • This is great advice , Reports will show me exactly what I am looking for.

    I guess my issue is just philosophical / semantics.  Yes my line of credit is not technically money I have spent yet, it doesn't take money from my cash accounts.  But the category is  labeled 'Total Activity' , in my thinking that would include my 'Total' activity , not just my cash account activity.  I found it confusing because if I make payment for a budgeted category it shows as 'Activity' for the category, and money is removed from the 'Total Available' as it should be, but it is not reflected in 'Total Activity' ( and I understand as you have explained ).  I just feel the label 'Total' does not accurately reflect the matrix it is measuring.  It is measuring certain Account activities , and not 'Total'... but I understand it is philosophical.  I just need to think differently about the word 'Total' here  :)  

    Thank you again for taking time to lay out the reasoning and how I can obtain the numbers I was looking for !

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      • Turquoise_Storm.3
      • 4 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      My two cents Definitely hear what you're saying there. It could be more specific and say "total cash activity" for the time period, but then you'd have people who aren't used to accounting terms become confused. You've hit the nail on the head with it being a difference in framing, though. And I'll be honest, I don't much use info from the right sidebar, as reports have always given me what I needed. Glad I could help clarify!

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