Personal-Finance on Shared Bits

Spreadsheet Grocery Budget Management

Fri, 07 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-14

The process of using a spreadsheet to manage my grocery budget began in 2018 when I put together a LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet workbook (file of multiple spreadsheets), titled price–history, to track prices of purchased items. I wanted to keep track of prices so that I could recognize price increases, both obvious or phantom; e.g. quantity reductions for the same price. I mainly use receipts from my shopping trips to populate the spreadsheet, but I sometimes go from memory and I’ve also taken pictures of shelf prices using my smartphone.

Short Bits 2021

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-18

1 - Burned Three Times on Amazon Purchases (2021-02-08)

Image courtesy of Peter Ziegler at Pixabay

I’ve been burned three times within a four month period on purchases I’ve made on Amazon. The first incident occurred in September 2020. I purchased a 3-pack of Champion boxer style underwear. I didn’t notice that they were size medium and I usually wear a size large. The underwear were sold by a third party vendor in New York city.

Manage Separate Pots of Money in GnuCash

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Updated 2026-09-04

1. Introduction

In this post, I will talk about how to manage separate pots of money in GnuCash . If you would like a bit more detail about GnuCash, please refer to my prior post on managing medical costs using GnuCash.

Why would you want to have separate pots of money? Having separate pots of money can prevent unpleasant financial surprises, can lessen the impact of large bills, and can help you achieve future financial goals. For example, on a monthly basis I used to set aside a set amount of money for automobile insurance, which I paid on a bi-annual basis. Other uses could be to setup: an emergency fund, a future automobile purchase fund, a vacation fund, etc.

Manage Personal Medical Costs With GnuCash

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-04

Introduction

In early 2017, I experienced a recurrence of lumbar (lower) spine issues. Toward the latter part of 2017, I also began experiencing pain in the thoracic (middle) area of my spine. After doing some research about spine issues, I determined that I needed to see someone before my issues became worse and as a result, possibly became permanently debilitating.

I saw a number of medical providers for diagnosis, imaging, and procedures. I initially used a LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet workbook in an attempt to manage all of the medical bills from the different providers. Using a spreadsheet workbook to manage my medical costs worked, but I found it somewhat cumbersome to manage.

Credit Card Fraud: Something Needs to Change

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2021-08-12

I have one of my credit cards tied to my PayPal account specifically for making purchases and donations. I recently made a purchase and opted to pay for the purchase using my PayPal account. I never received the product and never received a response from the vendor after sending two separate emails to their customer service department, nor did they respond when I filed a complaint with PayPal. The company has yet to respond after escalating the issue with PayPal in the form of a claim.