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Weekly Journal #8 | Starting the Practice of Double-entry Bookkeeping

Since I decided to start keeping accounts in July, I have persisted for almost four months. However, my records have mostly been simple logs. Recently, I came across a series on double-entry bookkeeping, which has been very enlightening and truly aligns with my actual needs. Therefore, I spent a lot of time over the weekend transforming my existing accounting system according to the double-entry bookkeeping method.

I was previously using Excel for accounting, so the flexibility is quite high, and the transformation isn't too difficult. The blog I mentioned also introduced a seemingly complex professional tool called Beancount, but I want to start with Excel and use it according to my own ideas for a while before deciding further.

The most challenging part of reconstructing the accounting system is that I want to add specialized independent expense statistics based on double-entry bookkeeping. This is because when setting a budget, it is not entirely calculated on a monthly basis; there are also needs to calculate by project. For example, there is an independent budget for social expenses throughout the year, and mixing these expenses with other daily expenses only increases the complexity of understanding the spreadsheet. Additionally, I want to take this opportunity to do accounting for all my fiat currencies and crypto... this is indeed a significant project. Although I don't have much money, I have too many fragmented accounts. While doing the accounting, I encourage myself that this work only needs to be done once; in the future, I will just need to record transactions and reconcile at the end of the month, making it much simpler.

However, the above description only covers the actual technical difficulties; perhaps the more challenging aspect is the psychological level. During the accounting process, it is hard to face oneself honestly, as if not looking at the bills means not confronting one's own foolishness, desires, and greed. I must constantly remind myself that what I already have is the best and that there is no need to compare with others. But this is something my rational mind knows I need to overcome. I have also been confused about money for a long time. Three years ago, I wrote an article about what I was anxious about when I was worried about money, but now I understand better what I need.

I need to establish a more reasonable concept of money. I need to know exactly how much money I have and then spend it more calmly and reasonably, without regret or anxiety. I hate fear. The use of money is always about exchanging resources, and I hope to better understand whether this exchange is reasonable for me when spending every penny. I want to have the ability to make decisions regarding money. Although I enjoy uncertainty, I ultimately am not as strong as I think. A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall; I already know my smallness and fragility. When reading the distorted and dark words in past diaries as if in amnesia, I realize that some consequences are unbearable for me, so I must plan reasonable ways to avoid them as early as possible. This world is dangerous, and I want to face it more powerfully.

I am not seeking significant wealth growth because I cannot achieve this through active pursuit; wealth and poverty are all determined by fate. I can only seize opportunities when they arise. The premise of this is precisely having a reasonable concept of money.

As for how I specifically keep records, I plan to practice according to the current system for a while before summarizing a set of methodologies.

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