Keeping accounts is the habit I have persisted the longest, and it has been almost 4 years now.
During the period, I had interruptions, doubts, and tried many different tools. I found that using the right tools is indeed a lot easier and easier to stick to. Today, I will share with you my mental journey of keeping accounts over the years, hoping to help you who are hesitating to keep accounts.
I will first talk about how I insist on bookkeeping and the changes that bookkeeping has made to me. Finally, I will share the bookkeeping application (with video), if you just want to watch the evaluation, you can skip to the end.
1. How to start accounting
The reason why I started bookkeeping was because I found that I didn’t know where my money was going every month, so I wanted to understand my income and expenditure through bookkeeping, so that I could have better control over my life.
At the beginning, it was recorded once for each order, but it was too cumbersome and often forgotten. So I changed it to a daily fixed bookkeeping before going to bed. But in this way, I still keep forgetting, so I set a timer alarm at 10 o’clock every night, and the effect is much better. After I develop a habit, I no longer need to set an alarm clock. When I reach that point in the future, my brain will automatically remind me to keep an account. I occasionally forget it, but I slowly persevere. And because I use the punch card app, if I don’t keep the account, the record for that day will be empty. For the reason of obsessive-compulsive disorder, I will definitely make up the missing day. It went on for almost 4 years without realizing it.
But in fact, my method of memorizing every note is quite laborious, and it may not be suitable for everyone. Here are two ways to reduce the difficulty:
- Don’t memorize everything, it’s too trivial, but set a limit, and only the expenses above the limit will be recorded.
- It is to make full use of the accounting application, choose the accounting application that has the function of automatically synchronizing bills, or supports voice input, and similar apps are recommended below.
2. Reflection on accounting
So what is the result of my accounting for 4 years?
On the one hand, I have indeed avoided a lot of unnecessary expenses and saved money. Compared with some friends around me, it is more reliable to have savings, and I can also use spare money to invest in financial management.
But on the other hand, I also obviously feel that I seem to be a bit outdated… When my peers are showing off their newly bought electronic products, trendy brands, and lipstick bags, when others use money to create a fashionable and generous image, it is actually very Hard not to envy. But the guilt of letting me buy some non-essential items is far greater than the satisfaction I get from getting it.
Yes, the habit of bookkeeping has made my consumption habit into – only buy useful things.
I evaluate whether something is worth buying by looking at its practical value, which seems to be true, but some things are actually difficult to evaluate their value.
For example, I have always wanted to change to a lightweight notebook. Although it is expensive, how can I evaluate the convenience and improved efficiency brought about by this? For example, the switch used to buy games is expensive, but how to measure the decompression and happiness it brings to me? For example, courses for self-improvement cost three or four thousand. Although it is expensive, is it worth it to expand my skills and improve my cognition?
Money, as a general equivalent, is only a measure of measurement, not value itself.
And when I use money to measure the value of everything, when I face some things that are difficult to value, I find that I have lost the ability to judge. In other words, the eyelids have become shallower, and they are only limited to paying attention to the digital changes on the accounting app, and cannot see the longer-term gains and losses.
On the surface, I did save money, and the money saved is measurable. But at the same time, the guilt of making unnecessary expenditures, the joys and opportunities lost through frugality, is immeasurable.
So should I stop accounting? I found to my dismay that years of bookkeeping habits had made me dependent, or unable to give up this sense of control over my consumption.
So, is there a way to balance the pros and cons of good bookkeeping?
In fact, if you think about it further, bookkeeping is indeed a good habit. It allows you to understand your income and expenditure and increase your control over your life. However, if the mentality of bookkeeping is to curb consumption and save money, then it will not be worth the loss.
So what I want to change is not the habit of bookkeeping, but the mentality of bookkeeping.
Keeping accounts and understanding of daily income and expenditure is only the first step. What is more important is to be able to plan the future according to the income and expenditure situation, assess where unnecessary expenditures should be reduced, and where there is still room for spending.
It was at that time that I learned about the energy distribution law of Zhihu Daniel, that is, to look at a thing from the perspective of revenue value and half-life (the speed of revenue decay over time), and do more high-yield and long half-life things.
Copper mining divides activities into four categories by revenue and half-life
This inspired me to actually use this theory to assist decision-making in spending, namely:
- For high-yield projects with a long half-life, such as investing in learning, don’t be stingy with spending, and even plan to increase investment if you find that your spending is not enough.
- High-yield and short-lived projects, such as eating high-calorie fried foods and desserts, can bring great pleasure in a short period of time. It can be appropriately reduced, but it cannot be completely eliminated, and there is no need to feel too guilty. After all, “good mood” is also a high-yield project.
- Items with low returns and long half-lives, such as sports and reading, can also be appropriately spent.
- Items with low returns and short half-lives, such as buying some clothes on a whim that you know you won’t wear a few times, can be completely abandoned.
With this kind of awareness, I spend a lot more calmly, and I am no longer tortured by guilt, I will not save money for the sake of saving money, and I will not hesitate to spend money where it is worth (unless I really can’t get it out T_T) .
3. Accounting application recommendation
Share the review of the accounting app that you have done before. If you don’t want to watch the video, you can watch the graphic version below.
Let me talk about the logic of the evaluation first. I found the accounting application report of Analysys Qianfan in the third quarter of 2021. At the same time, referring to the ratings of the Appstore, Zhihu, Douban and other community recommendations, I comprehensively selected the following apps for evaluation.
The dimensions of the evaluation are divided into two features: time-saving and worry-free and safety.
Save time and worry : As a regular and high-frequency action, accounting is very important to save time and worry. It is best to achieve automatic bookkeeping, reduce manual bookkeeping, and at the same time make mistakes and increase operating costs.
As for security: after all, it involves the records of funds and carries our important data, so the security level of the accounting application is required to be higher. In this regard, choose a large platform and a guaranteed app, preferably with import and export functions, so as to ensure that our data is safe and portable.
Alright, so let’s get started. First, let’s take a look at the comparison table I have compiled. There is a lot of content. You can click on the link to see the details.
The above video shows the usage path of each application, here is a brief description.
Suishoji is the first active application in the Analysys report, and the number of active users in Q3 reached 1666w. Suishoji is an old-fashioned application, not to mention that it is produced by Kingdee, a professional accounting software, and its security can be said to be very guaranteed. Compatible with the accounting needs of individuals and businesses, the functions are complete and powerful.
However, it is also too complicated and not very friendly to novices. After I use it personally, I feel that the interface is confusing, the learning cost is a bit high, many functions are not available to individuals, and the advertisements are too conspicuous, and there is a charge for advertising, which is not recommended. personal use.
With Notes
Shark bookkeeping , the number of active people in Q3 reached 1040w, second only to Suishoji. The basic functions can meet the requirements, the path is very clear, the interface is simple and comfortable, especially its click sound, which is full of rhythm and sounds very cool.
shark bookkeeping
Nao, the number of active users in Q3 reached 269w , ranking third. His slogan is an AI that accompanies you to chat, record and memorize words. My experience after using it is that this is an accounting app, it is an app that simulates getting along with idols.
babble
If you don’t log in to the app, he will still find you (who can stand it!!!) But then again, Nao Nao’s current positioning is more like a chat app, and accounting is more like an additional function. If it is for accounting, I will I won’t choose it because I’m afraid I’ll accidentally spend too much time on yy idols.
In pocket bookkeeping , the number of active users in Q3 reached 119w, ranking fifth. As a software that I have used for three or four years, the style of painting has been as simple and unpretentious as ever for so many years, and it has not changed much. The design of the time axis is very clear, relatively small and beautiful. Personally, I think it is quite satisfactory.
pocket bookkeeping
According to Youyu Accounting , the number of active users in Q3 reached 17w, ranking ninth. Like pocket bookkeeping, it is also a time axis design, but the bookkeeping method that supports voice input is really great, and among many applications, it is rare to support data import and export for free, which is really excellent!
fish accounting
Next, I will introduce two applications that use gamification to assist in developing accounting.
Meow Meow Bookkeeping , 210,000 people in the Appstore rated it 4.8 points, using cute pet development to help develop bookkeeping. Each category is a category of cats. For example, if you record food and beverage expenses, you will generate food and drink cats, and if you record travel expenses, you will generate traffic cats. The more you record, the more skins you can unlock for this category of cats.
meow bookkeeping
But I don’t know if it’s because of too many animations. I always feel a little stuck when using it, and the drag and drop operation is not very smooth, and I suspect that the interface may be more chaotic after there are too many meows.
In contrast, the gamification of Bookkeeping City is smoother, and it was listed among the best apps on Google Play when it was launched in 2017. Compared with Miaomiao’s cartoon style, this style is more simple and clear, and it feels like playing Monopoly or Jiangnan Hundred Scenes.
You can build a building by keeping a single account, which is full of accomplishment. You can also recruit citizens to live in the building to earn gold coins. The gamification is very good.
Some people on Tieba even claimed that it was a “recording app that made me unable to resist making fake accounts”. What is rare is that the path of bookkeeping is also very clear, which is very suitable for people who are not confident to develop the habit of bookkeeping, so that you can develop the habit of bookkeeping in the process of playing the game.
Qingzi Bookkeeping , the name sounds unremarkable. It has a score of 4.8 in the Appstore. His developer is the developer of “Little Daily”, and the application of this developer is very pure and concise, so I am very interested.
The style of painting continues the usual girly and cute style, and the function is just like its slogan – a quiet financial accounting book, no other messy things other than accounting, no community, financial management and other additional functions, it is the most restrained I have ever seen. accounting application. Perfect for my go-to standard.
To sum up, after this evaluation circle, I selected the three best:
“Experience the best accounting app” I think is a shark, I think no matter what kind of people you are, you will like this.
“The most fun bookkeeping application” is the bookkeeping city. If you think bookkeeping is too boring, you can try to develop it by playing games.
“The most concise bookkeeping application” is Qingzi Bookkeeping. If you are a professional and you want to go after you run out, then try Qingzi Bookkeeping, you won’t be disappointed.
But if you ask me, which one am I using now?
The above recommended apps have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as a long-term bookkeeping person, I actually value the function of saving worry and effort and quickly bookkeeping, so I have always wanted to find an application that can automatically book accounts , but what? , I use WeChat and Alipay at the same time, and it is difficult for these two companies to authorize payment data to a third party. Although they also have billing functions themselves, they cannot communicate with each other, so they gave up.
But at the same time as I was distressed, I accidentally discovered that someone recommended China Merchants Bank’s “Revenue and Expenditure Details” ? !
From Douban netizens
Because I have both WeChat and Alipay tied to the China Merchants Bank card, so looking at the China Merchants Bank bill directly can indeed satisfy the synchronization of the bills on both sides! And it also supports modification of details, so it can basically meet the accounting needs.
Although it has disadvantages such as slow startup and non-customizable classification, it has the advantage of automatically synchronizing bills, which is enough to kill all accounting applications!
So I am actually using China Merchants Bank to keep accounts, and I have not used the above popular applications. So, in fact, what is popular is not necessarily the best, and what suits you is the best.
That’s all for today’s sharing. If you have a recommended accounting method or application, please leave a message to share!
above!
This article is reproduced from: https://sspai.com/post/76557
This site is for inclusion only, and the copyright belongs to the original author.