I don't know if many here use YNAB, the budgeting software, but I have become a big fan in the last couple months. One unexpected benefit is that it I can use it to keep track of how much money is owed back to me on reimbursements and returns. DH travels a lot for his job, and we can be out thousands for weeks or months on end. Sometimes it's because they are slow to cut checks, sometimes because he gets so busy he forgets to file his claims. Now I know what's eventually going to come in and when to remind him to do the paperwork. Once I figured out how to use it for that, I realized I could set up a separate category for my shopping returns, LOL.
If you are a YNAB user, here's how I did it. I'm sure there are other ways, but this works for me: I created a new top level category called reimbursements, and three subcategories: his work, shopping, other (we do some bulk buying with friends). When I buy clothes, I put it in the clothes category, but if I return it, I change the category to shopping. It shows as negative budget. If I buy two sizes and expect to return one, I split the transaction when I first enter it.When the credit comes in, I also categorize it as shopping and that zeros out the line. I set up the category to carry over from month to month, and ignore that amount if my overall budget is negative. So far, it's working well for us.
Results: more marital harmony and financial peace. Hope that helps someone.
