Learning hledger

Here are some ideas for approaching hledger, accounting, and financial repair/growth.

Pace yourself

If you are new to bookkeeping, accounting, or plain text accounting - remember these are valuable skills, which take time to master.

Look ahead

With practice, doc reading, and maybe support/discussion, you will gradually

  • build up a set of account names best suited to you
  • learn the proper journal entries for your real-world transactions
  • learn how to produce the reports most useful for you
  • learn new workflows that you may find more convenient.

Motivation

Find things that get you in the mood and energised.

Little and often

Accounting is an ongoing activity, best done in regular small doses. The more often you do it, the easier it is, because less has happened and you can remember it. Ten minutes daily can achieve a lot. (Or less, once you get a routine going.)

Imperfection

Your bookkeeping does not have to be perfect or even completely accurate (though, you may find accurate bookkeeping satisfying and confidence-building!)

As you practice, you will naturally learn more about the tools and about double-entry accounting, such as how to organise your account categories, and how to write effective journal entries for various real-world events (transactions).

Later you can come back and improve your old journal entries if you wish. You can decide what level of accuracy you need.

Small steps

You can start using hledger in very simple ways, and get immediate benefit. Prioritise your work: a good way is to think about your most pressing needs and what kind of report would help. For example,

  • Take inventory of your debts, loans and assets; write down the names and numbers.
  • Record these as "opening balances" transactions (as in the quick start docs).
  • Make corrections until hledger shows your balances accurately.

Or:

  • Start recording changes to the cash in your wallet, starting with today's balance.
  • Then start reconciling daily (comparing the reported and actual balance, and troubleshooting any disagreements).
  • Then start tracking the balance in your checking account.
  • Then start tracking your other bank accounts.
  • Then start categorising your incomes and expenses.
  • Then find your bank transaction history and manually enter the transactions from the previous week.
  • Then manually download your bank transactions as CSV and develop CSV rules so that you can print the CSV as journal entries.
  • Then try downloading and importing this CSV into your journal daily for a while. (Only if you wish. Many people stick to manual data entry for the increased awareness it brings.)

If the task feels unclear or overwhelming, I recommend this small steps, verifiable reports approach.

If not, of course feel free to blaze away and do it all on day one. But I would still recommend establishing a frequent reconciling routine. It is surprising how quickly small events can slip through the cracks and create chaos, and it takes a little time to develop the troubleshooting skills. Reconciling often will save you time.

Fun

Find ways to make it fun. Connecting with the PTA community online can be one way. And take breaks.