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Having used gnucash, I find a regular Google sheet with a Google form for entry better.

The main reason is anyone in my household whose spending can then add transactions. Further and more importantly, I can attach receipts to transactions. Given Google forms work on mobile I can literally take a photo and in a few clicks have everything added to my spreadsheet.




I used to do this for the reason you mention (anyone in the household can enter transactions), but since 2020 I’ve moved to gnu cash and the double entry accounting is the main reason. I admit I knew very little about accounting before, and gnu cash forces you to learn the basics of double entry in order to use it, so perhaps I could have done this with the sheet method, but I find it much easier to find errors this way. I “resolved” the problem for other family members by having them give me their receipts (for cash, otherwise I just get the info from the banks) and entering the transactions myself. While it does mean a bit more Work for me, we have better financial planning now so I feel it’s worth the trouble.

Another thing gnu cash helps me solve a lot easier than sheets is handling multiple currencies (I live in a country with its own currency but with part of the economy in USDs, notably cars and real estate, plus I earn in USD and some of my local purchases are done in local currency but using my US card). With gnu cash it’s dead simple to handle transactions and accounts in multiple currencies (I use 3), including having historical values available.

Not saying your method is wrong at all, of course, just wanted to offer the perspective from someone who apparently did the inverse migration you did.


Yeah I agree, I generally like gnucash but the mobile receipt upload is really critical for me.

I do keep track of incomes, expenses, and transfers. A bit complicated setup initially but not bad





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