If you want to add another alternative to the list - I've been using HomeBank ( <a href="http://homebank.free.fr/">http://homebank.free.fr/</a> ) for a couple of years for our accounts. It was a big improvement on the complex spreadsheet I was using before that. (I also briefly tried out GnuCash, but found it far too complicated for what I wanted to do).<div>
<br></div><div>Davo<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 11:29 PM, Don Parris <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:parrisdc@gmail.com">parrisdc@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
@ sjm - I tried GnuCash, and it's ok, except for splitting my paycheck<br>
- income & taxes, etc. I managed to do it successfully once, and then<br>
2 weeks later, it was like having to learn it all over again. For me,<br>
it was pretty frustrating - I didn't have the patience with it that I<br>
would have liked. Of course, I'm a little older now, and might try it<br>
again.<br>
<br>
@ Tim - When I started this spreadsheet project, the idea was to track<br>
my spending so I could establish a reasonable baseline. Over the<br>
first 2 years, I managed to improve my tracking - and, of course, my<br>
spending habits. It's been very helpful, to say the least. I like to<br>
keep it 'reasonable' and do use it to help me achieve my goals.<br>
<br>
Even so, I tend to dread manually entering the receipts, and my<br>
favorite thing here is that I can accomplish more with less effort. I<br>
only use cash in certain situations, so the ability to simply import<br>
my transactions is really helpful. Yes, I still have to categorize,<br>
but that helps me to verify the transactions.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 4/12/11, Tim Young <<a href="mailto:Tim.Young@lightsys.org">Tim.Young@lightsys.org</a>> wrote:<br>
> Of course, any time someone talks about how you can put 10 years<br>
> worth of data into any one thing, my thoughts immediately switch over<br>
> to thoughts about "backups" :)<br>
><br>
> My wife and I use a database package that we created, that does about<br>
> the same sort of thing. The end result is that we can better see how<br>
> we have spent our finances instead of giving us strict guidelines on<br>
> how to spend the finances. When we were first married, we had some<br>
> long discussions about the concept of a "budget." I was thinking<br>
> that a budget was supposed to guide your spending habits (put<br>
> limitations on spending), while my wife thought it was something that<br>
> let you observe how things are spent and give you a baseline to<br>
> compare things to. We have the world's most flexible "budget". As<br>
> missionaries, we do not have a consistent income (the amount changes<br>
> fairly regularly), and we spend about 8-months of the year driving<br>
> from one mission to the next, so our gas expense changes<br>
> dramatically. So our "budgeting" program allows us to change the<br>
> budget after the fact. We look to see where our funds were spend, we<br>
> look to see how much came in, and then we change the budget<br>
> accordingly, though the sum of all budget items never exceeds the<br>
> amount that came in that month. If we go over budget in a category<br>
> one month, we keep a negative amount in that category until we "pay<br>
> it back off" the next month or two. Originally, I thought this was<br>
> the most insane form of "budgeting", as it threw out the concept of<br>
> being a guideline to follow. But it does do what it needs to do, in<br>
> that we can see, month-by-month, how we have spent our money and make<br>
> sure we are not over-spending for our income.<br>
><br>
> All that to say, it is fun to learn new technologies, but it is<br>
> better yet to hear that you have a good budgeting system that works<br>
> for you. I think we all need to be wise stewards of our finances,<br>
> regardless of the wacky ways, technologies, or methods we use. And<br>
> it seems like you may even be having some fun while doing it. :)<br>
><br>
> - Tim Young<br>
><br>
> On 4/11/2011 7:11 PM, Don Parris wrote:<br>
>> Now you all can come along and tell me how you do it back in<br>
>> Cleveland. Or Machu Picchu or whereever.<br>
><br>
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</div></div><div class="im">--<br>
D.C. Parris, FMP LEED AP O+M<br>
Minister, Security/FM Coordinator, Free Software Advocate<br>
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