Here’s a very personal secret: how I manage my money.
Let’s face it: I never was able to manage my money, or even to know how much I have (ot not) without any helper. Since I joined Skyrock my income is quite constant. But before, it was a complete mess, since I was juggling with part-time and short-time position and freelance jobs.
Some people seriously track what’s happening to their bank account. Some people need no helper to always know what’s going on. Some people know how to spare. I never was able to do anything like that. Never.
Software like GNUcash is probably a great way to manage one’s money. I tried it multiple times, among with tons of other similar software and it was a complete failure. Way too complicated, way too lousy to keep up to date. Even software advertised as “for dummies” felt lousy and too complicated for a dummy like me that just has an income and pays regular stuff. Sounds like this kind of software is made for people with plenty of money and plenty of accounts.
About 20 years ago, I wrote a very basic (and in GfA-Basic) money tracker. 20 years later, I’m still using something similar and I’m still unable to use anything else.
It downloads (was through Minitel, now it is through the Internet) the account status from the bank, it stores that in a database and it displays bars. Hovering a bar shows details.
And that’s all. Fucking all. And it’s fucking enough to know:
- at any time, if I can afford to buy some expensive stuff or to have a break: a quick look at the shape of the curve and at the width of the bar the month before, is enough to know.
- when and why large expenses happened, and how they compare to other expenses, just by looking at the relative widths of the bars.
Prices can change, income can change, needs can change, family can change, a financial crisis can happen, no need to be a finance wizard, the tool is always accurate to appreciate whether there’s a gap for buying cool stuff, or whether every penny must have a reason to get lost. I just have to try keeping the global shape of the curve regular.
Am I an immature fucking idiot? Probably. Do I care? No.