Update

EEBA is now Goodbudget! Goodbudget has all the great features of EEBA (and more!) in a new and updated interface. Check out our updated article on this topic, and check out the Goodbudget Help Center for the most recent help content.

Here’s a simple example of how to account for credit card purchases, in this case a Recurring Expense. It assumes that you have the following:

• A “BofA Mastercard” credit card type Account
• A “Citibank Checking” checking Account
• The Accounts feature on EEBA turned on (Plus and Premium plans)

The basic idea is that you pay the expense from the Envelope AND your credit card. And then when your credit card bill comes due, you make a transfer from your checking account to pay off (hopefully!) your credit card. Here are the steps:

1. You’ve set up a Utilities: Phone envelope.
2. You have a Recurring Expense setup to pay Verizon Wireless $85.00 a month on 8/1. In this case, it should be set up to pay from your BofA Mastercard and from the Utilities:Phone envelope.
3. When this recurring expense hits, it will add to your BofA Mastercard balance and deduct from the available money in the Utilities:Phone envelope.
4. Now, when you pay off your BofA Mastercard from your Citbank Checking, you should do an Accounts…Transfer Between Accounts for the balance of the Mastercard (or whatever amount you’re paying off).
5. This will reduce the balance on your Mastercard and also reduce the balance in your Citibank Checking by the appropriate amount. It will *not* affect the balance on your Utilities: Phone envelope, because that has already previously been deducted.