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GnuCash 5.9

gnucash.org

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Re: GnuCash 5.9

#31

Post by dagurp »

candiddevmike wrote: post #28
blacklion wrote: post #18

I've tried many personal accounting software and all of them (but old Pcoket Money for PalmOS!) are very unhelpful in filling in expenses. If you need to record whole shop visit as one transaction (like "Food at Lidl") it is tolerable, but as soon as you want to enter each line in your receipt as separate part of split transaction (like, food:milk = 2 euro, food:bread = 1 euro, food:eggs = 3 euro, food:meat:pork = 8…

You're basically describing envelope budgeting, I think, where the money is (like checking) or isn't (like credit cards) doesn't matter. You have money inside of physical or virtual "envelopes" that represent what money you really have available for X or Y. It's kind of like an abstraction on top of all your money sources.

For this I recommend https://actualbudget.com/ . It is in many ways like You Need A Budget but you can host it yourself for free.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#32

Post by badsectoracula »

trollied wrote: post #16
bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #2

GnuCash is solid. One thing that I love: I have full control over my data, and its stored as a simple xml (also supports SQLite, but why use more complex when simpler works just as well?) I have a few (comparatively minor) complaints about GnuCash, but they're around UI. Things like: it would be nice to assign all matching (eg Regen) transactions to a selected account, and stuff like that. But overall, having somethi…

[flagged]

It is not weird at all if you think of it from an implementation perspective: it is much easier and simpler to write an XML parser than it is to write a loader for SQLite databases, even if you do not write an SQL parser for it.

After all there are way more independent XML parsers implemented in a variety of programming languages than there are SQLite implementations :-P.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#33

Post by DaoVeles »

misnome wrote: post #23

I don't like the GNUcash model very much, it is a bit fiddly to use, and is pretty hard to get the right stats I want out of it. I've used and settled on several other packages in the past. But GNUCash existed when I first got a job decades ago. GNUCash exists today. I don't think any other package really matches the endurance.

It is charming in that it has that mid 90s utility design.

It is absolutely frustrating because it has that mid 90s utility design.

I don't think I have seen any other utility hasnt really progressed on interface design like GNUcash. Like they built a prototype went "Nailed it!" And then moved onto back end stuff while ignoring all input from users.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#34

Post by DaoVeles »

lloydatkinson wrote: post #26

I’ve still yet to find anything that matched the usefulness and straightforwardness of Microsoft Money.

This is the only reason I have any experience with these apps. When MS sunset Money and compatibility started to get wonky, my in-laws were at a loss at what to do. We never did find an alternative. They do however have a seperate Win 7 PC just for Money, which at there age isnt a huge problem but for others that is not viable long term.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#35

Post by rnadomvirlabe »

I used GnuCash for a while, but I ended up spending too much time making the online sync settings work. For accounts where I had to manually download and import, I would end up putting off importing them due to the friction. I now pay for Quicken Classic and it's some of the best money I spend each year. The online account connections consistently work as expected, and it gets the job done for much less of a headache overall.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#36

Post by cromka »

stouset wrote: post #24
blacklion wrote: post #18

I've tried many personal accounting software and all of them (but old Pcoket Money for PalmOS!) are very unhelpful in filling in expenses. If you need to record whole shop visit as one transaction (like "Food at Lidl") it is tolerable, but as soon as you want to enter each line in your receipt as separate part of split transaction (like, food:milk = 2 euro, food:bread = 1 euro, food:eggs = 3 euro, food:meat:pork = 8…

Is it actually all that useful to you to track each receipt line-item? For a few specific types of purchases, maybe, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest you might be taking on needless work that doesn't create value for you anywhere near that level of effort.

I’m with you on that one. Been tracking my personal finances since 2011 and I have yet found a need to go deeper with analysis. Although I can imagine it could be interesting to go extra deep, e.g. to observe changes in my nutritional habits based on my grocery receipts juxtaposed with, say, my bloodwork. But even then it’d be a gimmick as I could not potentially rely on any correlation noticed. I’m sure someone could come up with a better example.

In any case, unless tracking gets super easy, with digital receipts saved directly onto our mobile devices and standardized for processing, I just couldn’t be bothered to break down paper receipts.

That BTW makes me wonder why have we not seen e-receipts standardized yet. We can pay wirelessly with devices, so why not save some more meta data about the transaction, including the receipt itself? Seems like a low hanging fruit, also saving tons of paper.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#37

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

trollied wrote: post #16
bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #2

GnuCash is solid. One thing that I love: I have full control over my data, and its stored as a simple xml (also supports SQLite, but why use more complex when simpler works just as well?) I have a few (comparatively minor) complaints about GnuCash, but they're around UI. Things like: it would be nice to assign all matching (eg Regen) transactions to a selected account, and stuff like that. But overall, having somethi…

[flagged]

How is SQLite DB simpler than a human readable markup language?!

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#38

Post by bigstrat2003 »

trollied wrote: post #16
bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #2

GnuCash is solid. One thing that I love: I have full control over my data, and its stored as a simple xml (also supports SQLite, but why use more complex when simpler works just as well?) I have a few (comparatively minor) complaints about GnuCash, but they're around UI. Things like: it would be nice to assign all matching (eg Regen) transactions to a selected account, and stuff like that. But overall, having somethi…

[flagged]

I agree with bdjsiqoocwk that XML is way simpler than SQLite. In the case where I'm making changes by hand, it's much easier to open an XML file in a text editor and edit it, than it is to figure out an SQL query to do the same thing. In the case where I'm making changes programmatically, libraries will handle the complexity of XML for me, but I will still have to struggle through figuring out an SQL query if I'm trying to connect to SQLite.

SQLite is easier if you're comfortable with SQL to the extent that it's little to no effort for you to write queries. But most people aren't that comfortable, and XML offers them significant advantages. I certainly prefer XML at any rate.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#39

Post by fullspectrumdev »

candiddevmike wrote: post #28
blacklion wrote: post #18

I've tried many personal accounting software and all of them (but old Pcoket Money for PalmOS!) are very unhelpful in filling in expenses. If you need to record whole shop visit as one transaction (like "Food at Lidl") it is tolerable, but as soon as you want to enter each line in your receipt as separate part of split transaction (like, food:milk = 2 euro, food:bread = 1 euro, food:eggs = 3 euro, food:meat:pork = 8…

You're basically describing envelope budgeting, I think, where the money is (like checking) or isn't (like credit cards) doesn't matter. You have money inside of physical or virtual "envelopes" that represent what money you really have available for X or Y. It's kind of like an abstraction on top of all your money sources.

Envelope budgeting works really well, tbh. Especially for saving.

Due to a colossal screw up my bank had after I moved back to my home country, it took me several months to get a new debit card. So I got used to just taking out X cash per month, and dividing it.

I’ve tried a few financial tracking things since getting back on the card wagon, and found none of them actually have the same result (spending less) as just dividing cash into physical buckets.

Re: GnuCash 5.9

#40

Post by Karrot_Kream »

DaoVeles wrote: post #34
lloydatkinson wrote: post #26

I’ve still yet to find anything that matched the usefulness and straightforwardness of Microsoft Money.

This is the only reason I have any experience with these apps. When MS sunset Money and compatibility started to get wonky, my in-laws were at a loss at what to do. We never did find an alternative. They do however have a seperate Win 7 PC just for Money, which at there age isnt a huge problem but for others that is not viable long term.

Why not just setup a VM for Money specifically?
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