Hi All,


Harry, nice instructions for keeping a ledger in Word pad. I used to do 
something similar by creating a table in a Word document and doing the 
math myself.


I think the question of how to keep track of one's money is tricky.


I manage my personal checking account in braille, each transaction on a 
different note card. This is the quickest and easiest way for me to 
record, organize, and consult, but I get sloppy about random ATM 
withdrawals.


I manage my business in Excel. This is for anything my accountant needs 
to see, like my invoices and expenses. since I'm not good with Excel, my 
spreadsheet is very basic. This method is also pretty quick and simple, 
because I enter each transaction as it happens, so I'm not bogged down 
with a whole lot and mostly I just print out the spreadsheet at the end 
of the year.


Lately, I've discovered two great checkbook apps for Android. Well, one 
is great. The other is equally accessible, but I'm still experimenting 
with it. In both, you just start a new transaction and enter its 
details. The app does the math for you and shows you a tidy list. Both 
also generate reports. In one case, you can export the report to Google 
Sheets or as an Excel file. The other app appears to have this feature, 
but I haven't tested it yet. Anyway, the apps are really easy to use, 
and for the first time, I feel what sighted people must in that my 
checking and savings book are always handy for me to check or add a 
transaction. They have the added benefit of not creating lots of 
transcription work for me to do.


Ciao


On 10/23/2016 2:11 AM, Harry Brown wrote:
> Hi all,
> As you know, I'm digitizing everything in my apartment, and that 
> includes, my checking account ledger, which I use to do, until this 
> month, in hard copy braille, but now, I'm using word pad to do it, and 
> love it!
> So, I typed out how I created the ledger, and how I use it.
> I'd like to know 2 things from everybody:
> 1. Does this help anyone?
> 2. Maybe, you do it a different way, using your word processor, or, 
> maybe using another finance program, etc. If this way that I've done 
> it is too complicated, please tell me how to make the process simpler.
> thanks much, and I've pasted it in below.
> Harry
> how to create and store your current monthly checking acount ledger
> 1. Launch your favorite word processor of choice
> 2. Title the file the name of the month, and the number of the year, 
> for example
> October 2016
> 3. Then, come down a line, and type the first deposit into the account 
> for example
> deposit on October 3, 2016, in the amount of $5
> 4. Now, copy that $5 figure to the clipboard with control c, because 
> we're going to add that deposit to what you have left over from 
> September.
> 5. Now, come down another line, and paste in the $5 and then type a 
> space, then, type the + sign, which is the shift of the equals sign, 
> which is the key to the left of the back space key on a windows 
> keyboard, then type in the amount you have left over from September, 
> which will say is, $400, then, type the equals sign, then a space, 
> then, type your answer, which is $405, so it would look like this
> $5 plus $400 = $405.
> 6. Now, we're going to do our first entry in the ledger, so, come down 
> a line, and type if it's a deposit, transfer of funds, a credit, or, 
> if it's a check, or, if it is a debbit, or if it is a withdrawal, 
> then, who it is to, then, the date, which is month, date, and year, 
> and then, type how much it is, for example
> transfer from my checking acount to my loan, on October 3, 2016 in the 
> amount of $200
> 7. Now, come down a line, and do your subtraction, for example
> $405, minus $200 = $205
> So, that is how I do it. By the way, those examples and numbers are 
> just made up.
> 8. After you're done, save the file, and it will probably be saved to 
> the my documents folder, also called documents folder.
> Now when I want to do any banking, using this ledger, I want to be 
> able to open this file as soon as my computer is turned on, and I 
> don't want to have to go into a folder, then, click on the file to 
> work with it, but first, I have to create a folder for all my monthly 
> checking account ledgers to be put into. So I will:
> 9. I'm going to go into my hard drive, (also called local disc c), and 
> create the folder, and I'm going to call it Harrys finances folder.
> 11. After I have created the folder, I'm going to get the file titled 
> current monthly checking account ledger, so, what I'm going to do is, 
> I'm going to find the file, in the folder where it was saved to.
> 12. then, instead of opening it, I'm going to press control c to copy 
> the file to the clipboard.
> 13. Then, I'm going to go back to the Harrys finances folder, and open 
> the folder with enter.
> 14. Now, I'm going to press control v to paste in the current monthly 
> checking account ledger file, so it will always be in that Harrys 
> finances folder.
> 15. Now, after I have done that, I'm going to use the down and up 
> arrow to find that current monthly checking account ledger, file, and 
> I'm going to press shift f10 to go to the context menu.
> 16. Then, I'm going to down arrow to send to submenu, and right arrow 
> 1 time, to open that submenu.
> 17. Now, I'm going to down arrow to desktop create shortcut, and press 
> enter.
> Now, the shortcut for current monthly checking account ledger, is 
> sitting right on my desktop.
> 18. Now, I'm going to go back to the desktop, and find the current 
> monthly checking account ledger - shortcut icon, and instead of 
> opening it, I'm going to create a hot key for opening this file by 
> pressing shift f10 to go to the context menu.
> 19. Now, I'm going to up arrow to properties and press enter.
> 20. Now, I'm going to press shift tab to get to the list of pages, and 
> I want shortcut tab.
> 21. When I find that tab, I now will tab down to hot key field, and 
> I'm going to press control alt 1 for my hot key.
> 22. Now, I will tab down to apply, and press enter.
> 23. Now, I'll tab down to ok and press enter, and my hot key to open 
> the file has been created!
> any time something posts to the account, such as a deposit, a transfer 
> of funds, a check cleared, a credit, a debbit, or, a withdrawal, I will:
> 24. open that file with a hot key, and I will type an askterisk, also 
> called a star, which is the shift of the 8, before the first letter of 
> the entry.
> For example
> *deposit on October 3, 2016, in the amount of $5
> because it posted to the account.
> 25. Now, when I'm done with that month, I still need to keep that 
> filename, because that filename will never change, because it will 
> always be my current monthly checking account ledger, so what to do 
> with the October file? I'm going to open the file with my hot key I 
> created.
> 26. Then, I'm going to select all the text from October that is in 
> that current monthly checking account ledger file, and cut it to the 
> clipboard with control x
> 27. Then, I'm in it's place, going to type November, 2016 on the top 
> line of the file.
> 28. Now, I'll save that file.
> 29. Now, I'm going to open my word processer, and paste in the text of 
> the October 2016 file.
> 30. Now, I'm going to save this new file, and title it October 2016
> 31. Now, I'm going to find the October 2016 file, it's probably in my 
> documents folder, or, documents folder, and copy the file to the 
> clipboard, not open it, just copy it to the clipboard.
> 32. Now, I'll go back to the Harrys finances folder, and paste in the 
> October 2016 file into that folder, for future reference if I need it.
>
>
>    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
> Archived on the World Wide Web at
>    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
>    Signoff: [log in to unmask]
>    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]
>


    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
    Signoff: [log in to unmask]
    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]