Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Day 1: The Introduction

Well, I'm ready to start this thing off with a bang. On the right side of the screen I will post many useful spreadsheets. Generally these are financial based, but sometimes I get a wild hair and try something different. The current project is to integrate my expense tracking report with the well known budgeting program: PearBudget. (which I highly recommend and so do a few other people) However, one of the limits of PearBudget is that you cannot separate multiple expenses from a single day, it is a macro view of your finances. ProjectRuby is a micro view that allows the user to look at his/her finances under a microscope. Plus, it is VERY customizable. Please keep-in-mind that this is a constant work-in-progress but hopefully it will benefit someone besides myself.

Here is the story: the semester after my first accounting (2003) class I got this idea in my brain about managing myself like a business and tried to develop a system that was (1) free and (2) able to change with my progress through college. Version 1 wasn't so hot, while version 3.0 started to act like it was suppose to and it has been growing ever since.


Give it a shot! I've been tracking my expenses for the past 2.5 years and it has become... dare a say, a small hobby. Plus, it acts as a financial journal. I know what I was doing a year ago today! (buying a scantron for my international accounting exam and I purchased 2 songs off of iTunes for my finance, then girlfriend)

Try it for a month, you will not be disappointed.

C$