10 years of personal finances in plain text files
1–10 of 199 posts
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#2This seems to be, in effect, advertising for a book about how to use the underlying FOSS software to do this.
I would be okay with that as a monetization model, except that the book author despite being a self-described FOSS dev doesn't seem to have anything to do with the project (https://github.com/beancount/beancount/graphs/contributors).
Ah, not quite true. The author fixed a typo in a docstring once (https://github.com/beancount/beancount/commit/8584763b618f76...).
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#3Plain text files are appreciated.
I started storing all my notes (500+ by today) in markdown files locally. It's easy to search and navigate with grep and ag/rg. It's easy to edit in Vim or your favorite editor. It's easy to append all sorts of informations. I add some flags and properties in metadata, like last_reviewed, some tags, etc.
The versioning and sync is solved by git + a private github repo.
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#4This seems to be, in effect, advertising for a book about how to use the underlying FOSS software to do this. I would be okay with that as a monetization model, except that the book author despite being a self-described FOSS dev doesn't seem to have anything to do with the project ( https://github.com/beancount/beancount/graphs/contributors ). Ah, not quite true. The author fixed a typo in a docstring once ( https://…
If you look at their personal profile they've made a lot of content with activity and collaboration outside of the main beancount repo, related to beancount. They definitely meet the criteria for 'FOSS dev' in that it's FOSS, too.
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#5I have 14 years of personal (and 2 years of sole proprietorship) finance data in beancount. I tried all the available personal finance apps there are, from cloud/online offerings to offline apps. Eventually, I settled on beancount because it is the most versatile file format. In addition to tracking finances, I can track stocks, unvested RSU grants, vacation hours, and even personal training I have paid for but yet to use.
It's cumbersome at times, and I do miss the (G)UI of entering transactions, but with (neo)vim I got used to it and I breeze trough my finances in 15-20 minutes once a week.
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#6> 30-45 minutes every single month
That's 6–9 hours every year!
5 years: 30–45 hours
10 years: 60–90 hours
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#7> 30-45 minutes every single month That's 6–9 hours every year! 5 years: 30–45 hours 10 years: 60–90 hours
wow, a whole workday a year! People spend more time arguing on the internet in topics of no impact to their lives each year.
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#8> 30-45 minutes every single month That's 6–9 hours every year! 5 years: 30–45 hours 10 years: 60–90 hours
wow, a whole workday a year! People spend more time arguing on the internet in topics of no impact to their lives each year.
I'd still consider that toil (repetitive, manual, automatable work).
Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#9Re: 10 years of personal finances in plain text files
#10This seems to be, in effect, advertising for a book about how to use the underlying FOSS software to do this. I would be okay with that as a monetization model, except that the book author despite being a self-described FOSS dev doesn't seem to have anything to do with the project ( https://github.com/beancount/beancount/graphs/contributors ). Ah, not quite true. The author fixed a typo in a docstring once ( https://…
And only... what, Italians, can write books on the Romans?