My Zaim Household Account Book Usage Tips Part 4: How to Record Credit Card and E-money Transactions

I have been a loyal user of the Zaim household account book app for over eight years. I have recorded over 20,000 entries in total, and to ensure a sustainable system without feeling burdened, I record them on my smartphone during spare moments such as while commuting or during my lunch break after making a purchase.

Before using Zaim, I used free PC software and other Android household account book apps (I forget their names) to keep track of my finances. At that time, recording expenses made via e-money or credit cards was difficult, and I went through a lot of trial and error.

As a devoted Zaim user, I appreciate that Zaim allows me to freely add any number of accounts and register expenses or income by selecting any account with a future date. I also find the "Transfer" feature, which allows me to manage funds moving within the household that are not actual expenses, to be extremely useful for managing the household budget as a whole.

In my household, credit card and e-money spending account for a certain percentage of our expenses. In addition to all our family's bank accounts, securities accounts, mortgage debt, and cash on hand, there are several e-money accounts that we use daily, bringing the total to over 20 accounts.

I believe that increasing accuracy and maintaining sustainable management regarding these entries is one of the keys to household financial management. With that awareness of the challenges in mind, I will describe my own method for recording e-money and credit card transactions on the Zaim app.

[Basic Approach]
・For credit cards, I set them up as "deferred payment with a specified withdrawal from a designated account" on a specific date, similar to public services that are paid via bank withdrawal, and record them accordingly.

・For e-money, I treat it as one of my bank accounts, and I register charges to e-money as transfers between accounts.

・Based on these ideas, I do not use the automatic bank account linking features implemented in the Zaim app at all, and I basically perform manual registration for expenditure records and transfers.
*Although I have been using it for over eight years, I have never once implemented Zaim's automatic linking feature.

[Specific Handling]
・Charges that involve an immediate movement of cash between accounts (e.g., charging a Suica with cash, charging PayPay from a registered account) are registered as a transfer from the source account (cash on hand = account name: Wallet) to the destination account (Suica, etc.).

・E-money charged via credit card is a bit complicated. Since it makes household management cumbersome, at the time of the charge, I register it as a transfer from the credit card's withdrawal bank account to the destination account (Mobile Suica, etc.).

・In this case, a discrepancy occurs between the cash balance of the credit card's withdrawal bank account and the balance on the Zaim app, but I manage this internally as a credit card charge. -> Therefore, I charge in 10,000 yen increments as much as possible to make it easy to understand.

・Furthermore, for daily payments made with e-money, I record them on Zaim using the e-money (e.g., Mobile Suica, etc.) as the withdrawal account, just like any other expense.

・Most e-money balances can be checked on a smartphone, but for older types of e-money that require charging a physical card, the balance on Zaim will basically match the balance printed on receipts (though it may not match, just like cash, in which case I record it as an unexplained expense).

・For e-money where the balance can be checked on a smartphone, I also refer to the history on the smartphone to retroactively register any missed items and balance the books.

・Credit card expenses are entered into the bank account from which the card is withdrawn on the date of the scheduled withdrawal each time an expense is incurred (registered as an expense with a future date).

・However, since there are certain items like ETC usage fees where the exact amount is unknown at the time of use, making them difficult to register on Zaim, I also check the scheduled withdrawal amounts on the credit card's dedicated app a few times a month.

・After these checks, about once a month, I confirm the scheduled withdrawal amounts for the credit card's registered bank account for the next two months, and if necessary, I perform a fund transfer from my salary account or online bank (I currently use au Jibun Bank as my main bank because it offers free transfers several times a month).
-> Basically, since I can make transfers via smartphone with au Jibun Bank, I try to complete cash flow checks and fund transfers on my smartphone. I also make sure to record these inter-account transfers on Zaim.

・When confirming the withdrawal amounts, I also check other items scheduled for account withdrawal (such as school lunch fees and nursery school fees) and account balances, and perform transfers between accounts if necessary.
-> Therefore, I basically treat credit card payments in my household account book in the same way as public utility charges and school lunch fees that are paid via deferred account withdrawal.

That is how it feels.

In the past, I used to treat e-money charges as expenses at the time of the charge, which led to loose management as if it were a separate wallet, but after many twists and turns, I arrived at this management style. Since I started using Zaim, I have basically settled into the current form.

I previously wrote about how I handle the repayment of the principal portion of my mortgage as a transfer, and the logic is exactly the same. While using Zaim, I feel that the key to correctly practicing the overall picture of household finances and expense processing is to properly set up the bank accounts where money flows in and out, and then perform transfer processing for the movement of money between accounts.

Various blogs and books are written about household financial management. Many of them mention specific monthly P&L closing reports and monthly total asset reports on the balance sheet.

In my note, I would like to delve deeper into my own ingenuity so that we can create our own P&L/BS sustainably and accurately, and grasp the current status of our household finances appropriately and in a timely manner.

Although this is a shallow article like something scribbled on the back of a flyer, I hope it will be a reference for someone who is worried or lost about household financial management.

I feel I can still write more about this matter, so I will try to write about further practical examples on another occasion when I have time.