Using Calibre for personal budgets

[Rellwood]

I know Calibre is for Books, but as I was looking over my Mint.com transactions and the .csv export, it occured to me that I could somehow apply it to Calibre.

Mint is leaving and i have over 10 years of transactions I need to clean up because I am filing for BK and really want to be able to understand where my spending went.

There are the accounts, the transactions, the budgeting catagories and subcatagories, the notes and other things.

Is it possible to do this? Can I somehow import my .Mint transactions into a Calibre library and make a decent report out of what is going on?

I am attempting to do this so I can manage the catagories and subcatagories and see everythign nicely, and I am not versed as well in Excell to do this, but I am pretty proficiant in Calibre.

I guess the Accounts would be the Authors, the transaction would be the title, tags would be the catagories and subcatagories and notes would be the comments. I could create icons and rules. The dates would be the same, somehow I would need to figure out how the charges (debits and credits) could be entered so that it could work,but at the very least I could clean up the catagories.

Any reasons why I can't do this?

[slm]

I don't know whether you can do this in Calibre, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't--it will be a lot of work and not work well for lots of purposes.

Export to Excel is pretty straightforward--google can find instructions for you. Once the data is in Excel, I think you'll find that a few minutes learning about Excel's sort functions will get you most of the way to where you want to be.

Excel is immense and has lots and lots of abilities, but at its most basic, its just a sortable and searchable table, the same way the main Calibre view is.

[ownedbycats]

Theoretically? Maybe. Less so in practice. You'd likely be better with something a bit more purpose-built.

HomeBank and MoneyManager Ex are both free (open-source) options.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by slm

I don't know whether you can do this in Calibre, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't--it will be a lot of work and not work well for lots of purposes.

Export to Excel is pretty straightforward--google can find instructions for you. Once the data is in Excel, I think you'll find that a few minutes learning about Excel's sort functions will get you most of the way to where you want to be.

Excel is immense and has lots and lots of abilities, but at its most basic, its just a sortable and searchable table, the same way the main Calibre view is.

All true. Also for this the free (Mac, Windows & Linux) Libre Office Calc will work just as well. It has one or two Excel features missing (most people don't use them) and other features are easier to use.

With eiither: Open the spreadsheet program, File -> Browse for the CSV file and open it. Use "wizard" to ensure columns are correct and if there is a heading or not.
Done. Save as mymint1.xls

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Theoretically? Maybe. Less so in practice. You'd likely be better with something a bit more purpose-built.

HomeBank and MoneyManager Ex are both free (open-source) options.

Yes.

Not everything is a nail for the Calibre "hammer".

[DNSB]

I would agree with using a spreadsheet program for your budget import. LibreOffice Calc or Microsoft Office Excel running locally or any of the web based Google, Microsoft, etc. equivalents will be a lot easier than attempting to read a .csv file imported into calibre.


“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six , result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”―Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

[Rellwood]

Thanks! I tried it, and it kind of works, but it's kind of weird. I think I will look into those other programs listed. I used the mobile Calibre to try it, I can use it, but its more work than I realized. I just need to try another program.