nightdog_barks | Thursday

I am diligently working on Tax Crap Part Two: Son of Tax Crap, in which our plucky leading lady realizes that Something Must Be Done about her utter lack of income/expense tracking. But when the very word "spreadsheet" makes her break out in hives, what's a starving artist to do?

Buy some hydrocortisone and learn to deal with it, apparently. And possibly send a nice present to her accountant.

You don't have to use a spreadsheet. Do you? I mean, you could write things down in a ledger-type book, and total stuff up at the end of every month. It would be a little less accountant-friendly, but it wouldn't have that icky spreadsheet feel to it. *g*

I hate spreadsheets too. Don't even ask me about Excel. Urgh.

*looks innocent*

What about Excel?

*runs away*

I SAID NOT TO ASK ME ABOUT EXCEL!!!!!

Heh. I just find all that stuff very awkward to use. I don't know. Maybe it's part and parcel of my lifelong aversion to ~~arithmetic~~ math.

YOU KNOW I COULD NOT RESIST! *g*

Well, I have Excel for Mac, so it's one option and the good thing is: no additional expense.

Well, except for the manual I'd need to buy to learn to use it.

I've attempted the write-everything-down-in-book thing, but there are so MANY things, and I just don't keep doing it. Because then I'd have to separately total all the categories, and ... I just don't. I've heard good and bad stuff about Quickbooks for Mac, so may look into that; my prior (years ago) attempt at diligently using Quicken? Was a dismal failure, largely due to the software being IMO pretty crappy and difficult to use. I'm a little traumatized from that very frustrating experience. But learning Excel might not be such a bad thing. Maybe.

ETA that I am going to have to develop some means of tracking all my PayPal transactions. What each one is for.

And I still have no idea how to file state income taxes. *facepalm*

Edited 2010-05-27 17:50 (UTC)

You don't necessarily HAVE to buy a manual, as you *do* have some f-listers who have some experience with spreadsheets and Excel and can *perhaps* get you to a point where it's easier to use...

(I mean, I do my gradebooking in Excel, so I might have enough of the basics to help you along...)

Manuals are good for reference, and generally can be had for cheap on, say, Amazon. So I'll likely get one.

What do you use for general budgeting and records?

I use MS Money 2000 for budgeting/records. The interface looks like a checkbook register, and it's easy to input stuff and get reports on particular expense categories (although I don't know if it will include multiple accounts in the reports, offhand. Hm.). I don't know what newer versions look like and have wondered if we should upgrade, but it does what we need it to do. One thing I do like about it is that we can split up a transaction--so the paycheck lets us enter the gross pay, the different taxes, etc, and that way we can keep track of it. That's also how I separate out purchases from the cash-back I get (because that's almost always how I get cash, and we NEED to keep track of how much cash we go through, because that stuff is so frighteningly easy to spend!).

...and it looks like Microsoft is discontinuing Money, so you're back to Quicken for software like that. Um. Sorry?

Edited 2010-05-27 18:12 (UTC)

Well, as I understand it, Quicken =/= Quickbooks, and the group of people I heard talking about it all vastly preferred Quickbooks. Many of them had the same issues I'd had with Quicken -- like, when I had recurring expenses, it wouldn't show them and I'd end up with them entered twice.

And things wouldn't balance no matter how hard I tried; I spent HOURS trying to make that program work for me and it just wouldn't. And I could never figure out why the hell not, since I was doing everything "right." I finally gave up, and it's weird how emotional I still get just remembering the frustration and the feeling of U FAIL SO HARD it all brought on. 'Cause, this was like ... 2004? Maybe 2005? You'd think I'd be over it by now, but I'm not; the sense of failure has not diminished much. I am, however, ready to stop blaming myself and just look for something that works better.

Yes, don't blame yourself! I have experienced the same utter frustration with software, and I understand.

I very much hope that you'll have better luck this time around. :)

I'm going to do some asking around. Maybe at Springboard. At the time, I thought the software must be fine and I must be the problem, and I haven't wanted to pay good money to go through the same pain again. But learning that others had the same issues really helped me see that in fact it was Quicken that sucked.

I went looking at the reviews for Quickbooks for Mac, though, and ... it gave me serious pause. Although a lot of the issues people were having with it were issues that wouldn't apply to me, as they had to do with payroll functions and importing things from Windows machines.

Whatever I do, I have to get my new LaCie backup drive finally up and running first. I'm afraid to install anything new on my crashy current drive, which is fine -- just as long as I don't let it go into sleep mode, or turn it off.

Corgiguy has the latest version of Quicken for Mac and he loves it because it synchs with our online banking and Turbo Tax. But he is better that sort of thing than most people (he designs and writes software for a living).

I don't have many Excel skills and mainly use it at work for doing very simple stuff like creating a database of contributors and then adding up the total at the bottom. That's very easy to learn to do and anything more complicated I can usually Google and find out how to do.

Yes, but the latest version of Quicken would require me to have an Intel Mac; I have an older PowerPC.

I've found a VERY promising alternative, though, that will run on my machine and will cost about $150. Something called AccountEdge 2009. Looks much better to me so far, and while it gets fewer reviews overall, MacWorld and the users are both giving it higher marks than Quicken/Quickbooks products.

That does look like a good program. That they offer a free trial, training and a money-back guarantee are all very positive signs.

Yup. So I think my plan is:

1. Set up new LaCie hard drive

2. Download free trial of AccountEdge (um, if that's still possible for me, with my older Mac)

3. ???

4. PROFIT!

*passes coffee*

Hi Mare!

I am cheering for you, as I have yet to get to the 'diligently' part of my working. :) But your inspiration and my barbeque chicken with rice will go a long way toward getting my go going.

..oh, man, wouldn't a soda be MARVELOUS with this? *contemplates*

I'm trying to get back on track of my task of transcribing a poem list after throwing a boatload of book and author recs on Perspi's journal while also fantasizing about fic I might or might not write.

Oh, and this morning I found a five-leaf clover.

I've not replied to you directly, because I was so pleased with all the recs but then I didn't want to prevent you from editing and adding more! :)

And a five-leaf clover is awesome. *g*

I think I'm done with the book recs themselves - oh, right, if you can find a copy of Goodyear the City Cat you'll love it, and Ursula K. Le Guin - and just remind you to use Powell's and local bookstores if you can.

Most of these are going on the library-books list, as the Mr takes Z to the library most Saturday mornings, and they come home with a pile of books. :)

Even better! Remember, kids, public libraries are why you should pay your taxes.

I have been doing some minor fic-fantasizing too, but nothing has come together yet. *g*

Oh, and this morning I found a five-leaf clover.

COOL!

It's the second one I've ever found - I should leave the library soon to get some heavy clear tape to preserve the specimen.

HI NIGHTDOG! I'm glad the mister is back home.

We are being kind of lazy today (walked too much in the heat yesterday), but did go to a museum down the block. It's filled with the collection of furniture, decorative items, and musical instruments amassed by an eccentric Chicagoan. We had a great time wandering around for several hours. I'll be glad to get back home tomorrow to see the critters and my boy, but this sure has been fun and relaxing.

I found the boy a t-shirt today that says "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition." :D

HI CORGIGIRL!!!!!

I was going to run a couple of errands, but it's pretty warm outside and so I refilled one of the bird feeders instead. *g* I took some baby back ribs out of the freezer for dinner, and Mr. N is still working away.

That museum sounds like the Potato Museum (http://www.peipotatomuseum.com/site/index.htm) in Prince Edward Island -- besides the potatoes (heh) they've got a whole section devoted to memorabilia from island people.

Baby back ribs sound wonderful! We've been enjoying a lot of fresh seafood, and I've been delighted to find that everybody here makes wonderful grits and coleslaw, two things I love but rarely make because no one in the house but me eats them.

The place we went to is The Lightner Museum (http://www.lightnermuseum.org/main_lightner.html), which has a lot of very beautiful things in it and then bunches of delightfully mundane things like a collection of toasters and another of buttons.

Edited 2010-05-27 20:53 (UTC)

That is absolutely one of the best parts of going to the coast -- the fresh shrimp and oysters and fish. MMMMMMMM.

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