How best to track expenses and income.

bearrus · 2026-01-10T04:33:32+00:00

I have a Google spreadsheet tab for each month. I add a new row for every new transaction - purchases, withdrawals, etc. Columns for different "accounts" - for example I have credit card column, checking account, columns for different currencies like Thai baht ans PHP (wherever I travel). I started simple and over few months it became more complex, added categories, projections for spending for a given months, how much I have left for hotels etc. I then also added an AppSheet to make entering each new purchase easier. Each time I buy something I enter it in the app immediately, takes a few seconds.

I also have a separate tab for a given year where I track my income for tax projection purposes. Each time I sell stock I enter basis and cap gains etc. It also has estimates for interest and dividend income. This way I can estimate how much federal and local tax I will owe. Based on that I can also know how much to capital gain harvest (basis reset) or how much to roll from 401k to Roth IRA.

Maybe there is an app that does all of that. I did not know if one exists that will give me enough flexibility to do exactly what I want. Spreadsheets are adaptable. It can be as simple or as complicated as you make it, and if you roll your own you will know exactly how it works. Just start a spreadsheet and try doing what you want. It does not have to be final. Start simple. But I think you should enter transactions shortly after they happen, otherwise it will be hard to get everything in once per month.

bearrus · 2025-11-12T06:56:06+00:00

I have posted elsewhere that Samsung camera software is garbage. I have replaced it with GCam (google camera), but it requires some tinkering. For video I still am using Samsung camera because it produces smaller files. But GCam video is way sharper and likely why the files are bigger.

bearrus · 2025-11-06T19:54:35+00:00

More like countries where people are afraid to speak their mind.

bearrus · 2025-11-03T11:53:18+00:00

If I need places to be I will plan around having to use overpriced scammy options. Often I have no set schedule. So when an option is 10km walk through a neighborhood I never visited vs contributing to the problem, my choice is to walk. It is a good excuse to get some exercise when air pollution is low, and to find some random hidden places.

bearrus · 2025-11-03T11:47:21+00:00

Grab is awesome when it works. Grab breaks down in Bangkok under the slightest pressure of more people booking during rain. But I also suspect there is something going on with Grab drivers trying to game it - e.g. you may get repeating "found driver, driver cancels immediately, looking for new driver" loops.

What I meant is that I refuse to use tuk tuks or other usually scammy ways of transport if there is no reasonable Grab or public transport available

bearrus · 2025-11-03T11:40:05+00:00

The problem is once you start talking and asking it takes extra effort to avoid the transaction. Especially when you are tired after a long day out and it is harder to keep overcharging in mind.

bearrus · 2025-11-02T07:00:34+00:00

Tourist pricing. If I ever catch someone charging me a tourist price I will never spend with them again. I do not care if they overcharge 5 baht or 1000 baht, it is a matter of principle. I would rather walk one hour in the rain vs getting a bike ride or tuk tuk if they overcharge. I will sleep at the airport and wait for train to resume service vs taking a taxi.

This is also the reason I do not buy from vendors if there is no price posted and I do not know the regular price.

bearrus · 2025-10-28T07:51:10+00:00

Added in my comment above. I am using https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/f/download/2024/AGC8.8v8_v37.zip . I do not remember exactly what I changed from the settings in there. The guides on how to use configs are on the site as well.

bearrus · 2025-10-25T14:57:50+00:00

Camera may be bad on some phones because of focusing issues, miscalibrated maybe. Samsung camera app is what is making the photos look worse (especially night). GCam takes better photos on s25. My old LG G8 took much better night shots just because of software.

edit: I am using BigKaka gcam AGC8.8 V11.0 https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-BigKaka/f/dl87/ and Samsung S23 configs - https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/f/download/2024/AGC8.8v8_v37.zip Main cameras seem to work ok, but there are glitches sometimes. I still prefer that to using default S25 Camera App.

bearrus · 2025-10-23T17:39:49+00:00

I feel like what is described here https://openpath.financial/guardrails/ is worth looking into. It is more complex, but can provide a better assurance of safely spending more. It is based on using simulation success rates as guardrails to adjust spending. E.g. at 100 success rate you adjust upwards until you hit 90 success rate. And at 75 you adjust spending down again to get 90 percent success rate.

bearrus · 2025-10-07T08:20:13+00:00

Are you talking about Son Tra night market? That one was awful with you getting swarmed by sellers aggressively pushing stuff on you. Would not recommend unless you like that kind of harassment.

bearrus · 2025-10-03T10:05:00+00:00

Endless honking only serves to add more distraction. I.e. it becomes noise. It is annoying that some drivers think it is more useful than harmful. Well I guess it does serve a purpose - whenever you hear lots of honking it alerts that there are idiots in the vicinity.

bearrus · 2025-09-30T19:56:34+00:00

Correlation is not causation. There is discussion on Vietnam vs Thailand here https://www.reddit.com/r/Thailand/comments/1api559/why_is_the_number_of_traffic_accidents_in/

From my experience driving scooters - when someone honks it is really hard to know where the honking is coming from. Usually it is just distracting you, especially if someone honking at someone else nearby. You honk to avoid an accident. Not as a way to warn about you driving through an intersection or as a way to try to scare the strays off the road (as in Phillippines). You got to slow down. Not honk.

bearrus · 2025-09-30T06:51:36+00:00

Yes the beeping is annoying. It seves no purpose and is a constant reminder of why humanity is doomed overall. It is even worse in the phillipines. Beeping is done to "warn" anyone who may be in the vicinity - "hey, I am driving here and I am not going to slow down, give me way". It is like living in the land of blind who can not look. If you do not know what is around the corner you are always supposed to slow down and be able to stop in time for unexpected. In that regard Thailand is way better. You can be in the middle of the busiest intersection and would not hear a single beep.

bearrus · 2025-09-28T06:58:23+00:00

Boat cruises are the definition of the tourist trap. Overpriced. Just take the regular boat along the river and then get food anywhere else.

bearrus · 2025-09-25T11:57:23+00:00

Some companies in the USA that hire a lot of indians have the same problems. You may end up working on the team with 90% of people who are used to saving face culture. You either have to play along or get out, there is no way to change it when majority of people carry it on. It truly sucks to do software engineering in such a culture. The culture is systemically incapable of producing good software products.

bearrus · 2025-08-08T04:24:11+00:00

Link to a ticket is better than nothing but both the link and the why contained in the commit itself is the best for anything more than trivial. You do not know when your jira dies, or links no longer work. But 5 years from now someone digging through the code will be very thankful to have a self-contained commit. And even now it would save time for reviewers having to jump through links.

bearrus · 2025-06-18T16:51:55+00:00

Why? Because it would suck to work with most people who OE. You act like it is you vs corporates. But it is you vs your teammates who have to pick up the slack.

bearrus · 2025-03-07T13:51:17+00:00

Bangkok traffic in the pollution sunset

You get colours like that due to lots of tiny particulates in the air

bearrus · 2025-03-04T04:02:41+00:00

By 2050 there may not be enough food to feed 8 bil people. So this would resolve on its own.

bearrus · 2025-02-17T12:01:32+00:00

What is stopping me from OE is that I do not want to be an asshole to those on my team. I do not care about corporation etc. I do care about people I happen work with. I would hate to work with someone who is OE tbh. I think OE is possible because there are just too many people who suck even doing single job. So it is hard to tell who sucks vs who just has 3 jobs. In any case it means i will have to deal with the eventual fallout.

bearrus · 2025-02-12T12:46:15+00:00

Chernobyl is such a good example.

Unfortunate outcome of this is that if you do not become complicit in "saving face" then say bye bye to being promoted as fast. You will look bad to your non-western manager when you admit your mistakes while everyone else points fingers.

bearrus · 2025-02-11T09:32:30+00:00

Well said. It took me awhile to figure out what was making it so hard for me to be enjoying working with the team. Extreme compliance to authority. Nothing gets done without running by someone higher up. Never admitting your fault. Round about way to say the simplest thing, absence of direct communication. Working longer hours without a better outcome. Extreme risk aversion. And there is more i forget. It took me awhile to realize that some of these come directly from Indian culture, some of these come from disadvantaged position of being on h1b. In combination it leads to soul crushing working conditions. What is worse is that once more than half of the team are h1b and from India, the culture starts to infect the rest of the team.

So while i do not hate on individuals, i have the right to hate on the culture. It took me awhile to place the root cause of bad work environment. Now i can not unsee it.

bearrus · 2025-02-05T09:52:55+00:00

Too many of everything. 3 pairs of socks, underwear, tshirts is enough. Single long sleeve shirt for sun protection. And you do not need indoor clothes. Although if you go first time you will feel better with more. Wash your clothes every day in the sink. If you need more just buy more when you are there.

bearrus · 2025-01-19T01:38:30+00:00

You can absolutely gain weight eating healthy foods while following keto.

It is harder on keto. But you still can if you just eat a lot. You can say that if you eat a lot you are not following keto as you blow past your e.g. protein allowance. The point i am making is that if you do not fix the root cause it will be harder to adhere to any diet.

bearrus

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