this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023

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DAE use GnuCash for personal finances? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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At the end of 2022, I discovered this software that I've been using all year. I'd like to hear your thoughts or experiences with GnuCash, or whatever system/program you use to track your personal finances!

For the ones unfamiliar, it's based on a double-entry accounting system; every transaction always has at least two accounts involved. Example: if I spend 200 SEK on a restaurant, it goes from Assets:Cash to Expenses:Food.

Starting by creating my own accounts, it helped me immensely to have an overview of my general financial situation.

Around March, I found enlightening to re-define what expenses needed their own category from what I was unconsciously lumping into 'others'. Having it all already logged, made it quite easy . The caveat is that all the entries are manual, but my finances are not as complex, so with 30-45 minutes a week I have it updated.

You can even create diagrams for your monthly expenses, or general balance, among other reports that come quite handy if you want to run a query.

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[–] namelivia 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've been using Homebank for this, I may easily have every transaction for the last like 10 years

[–] FaceButt9000 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I tried gnucash but also went to homebank. It isn't perfect, but I found it worked a lot better for my purposes than gnucash.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hadn't heard this name! What made it a better fit for you?

[–] FaceButt9000 1 points 10 months ago

I don't remember anything specific. I think homebank just felt simpler. I'm just using it to track personal finances across a few bank accounts and a couple of credit cards, so I didn't need anything special.

[–] JackLSauce 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I've tried several times times but found it difficult to integrate with actual accounts like Mint and today simply use a spreadsheet in LibreOffice updated weekly to track debts (this includes CCs so spending is in there, too)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I'm the same way. I want to use GNUCash, but I have a bunch of accounts and haven't found a good way to import them. So I stopped using it after trying for about a month.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Started with a good ol' spreadsheet, but I didn't have a consistent enough system to have an actual understanding of my transaction patterns.

The one you use, do you track spending in a double-entry system or writing down general balances?

[–] JackLSauce 2 points 10 months ago

General balances. It's a very basic system

[–] abominable_panda 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Been using gnucash for ≈7 years and havent found anything better. It has its quirks but once you get used to it its pretty straightforward and easy for the basics

I just wish reports were more customizable/ easier to create custom ones without learning a language i've never heard of before

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The learning curve wasn't as steep as I initially thought. For my basic transactions, that is; I haven't figured out how to deal with stocks though.

Totally agree with the customization. I only toyed around with the options given, but didn't know you could change them programatically! Is it a language solely for GnuCash?

[–] abominable_panda 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Stocks and shares and investments docs are here, but let me know if you get stuck and ill try and help out as I also track stocks

I dont know, about the language. Its written in Scheme and Guile. Id never heard of them until Gnucash. That said the built in reports and options are enough for what i want. A multiplot custom chart option would be useful but i just export to spreadsheet at that point and plot there

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I do!

Been using it for years. It's the only double entry system I've found that I like.

As others have noted, the reports kind of suck, however, the one feature I love is the tax report functionality.

Tag any number of accounts as tax related, and then, at least for the US, the tax form and line/box number, and you can run the tax report that will, hopefully, give you a report for the selected period with stuff like "Form 1040 Box 32: $32,839.09" etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Used Gnucash many years ago. I'm comfortable with double entry bookkeeping, but the charts and reports were disappointing.

I switched to Ynab and then Moneydance, which is okay. If the charts and UI has improved I'll take another look at Gnucash.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm unsure how the interface has changed in recent years. What'd be some more decent visuals you'd like to see?

By the way, what drove you to Moneydance, any feature you'd highlight?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Charts in Ynab4 were fairly sophisticated. For example, I could easily drill down into categories on monthly income/expenses. They also looked great since the devs put a lot of thought into the UX.

I switched to Moneydance after nYnab came out and Ynab4 was killed off. I'm not an adherent to Ynab's budgeting philosophy and I didn't see the worth in the monthly fee.

Like Ynab4, Moneydance is a standalone product. It's manual accounting, which I don't mind. It's quick to enter transactions, has a nice summary view, and can backup to separate locations. When I decide to migrate, I can export my data to QIF or other formats.

[–] nukeworker10 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I switched from Moneydance to Moneyspire a couple years ago. Similar functionality, and I think it looks better.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I'll check it out, thanks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I've tried it many times, but every time I just end up hating it. I'm probably biased by the fact that I'm a DEVELOPER of accounting software, and I'm too used to how our accounting is done in our own ecosystem.

[–] LuckyBoy 2 points 10 months ago

Used for many years, gave up because I dont have time to update manually or import files from banking and correct all the incorrect data. Reports are kind of dissapointing too.

Now I use wallet by budgetbakers and hope they dont sell my financial data... Or get hacked. Or both.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

You spend a lot on salad

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I use it. It's not perfect, but it's the best free one out of all I tried. Been using it for a few years now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

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