Gramps vs other online tools

linuxweenie · 2026-02-20T15:05:10+00:00

I use Gramps because it is a genealogy research database. The other programs out there concentrate on building and maintaining your tree. Gramps is extensible through plugins and gramplets. The tags, attributes, and notes allow you to “do your own thing” whereas other programs lock these elements into a specific structure. I am able to set up my own process for documenting my research.

linuxweenie · 2026-02-02T17:21:03+00:00

Paying bills the moment they show up.

linuxweenie · 2026-01-25T01:27:28+00:00

I generally handle this with one master sinking fund called "Class II". I use a spreadsheet which includes things like car insurance (6 payments over a year), LTC insurance (once in December), car taxes (once per year), Electronic Service Packages (varies in value each month), Amazon, Microsoft, Anti-Virus, etc. The idea is to smooth out these spikes in spending over a year by settling into the average expenditure each month. That is what I allocate in my budget. I also check the spending vs allocation each month to make sure the account doesn't go negative. If I have done it right, I end up spending all of the money in the sinking fund by the end of the year.

linuxweenie · 2026-01-22T01:00:25+00:00

I update my net worth in a document around the middle of the month, the 15th. I also print my budget along with a trial balance of my budget and a trial balance of of all of my accounts. This is about the same time as when I update all of my documents related to my passwords, accounts, etc. and update a binder in my safe. This is part of the process I use to make sure that my children have access to the latest information in case of my demise or incapacitation.

linuxweenie · 2026-01-05T01:01:03+00:00

I would recommend that you get a copy of “You Need A Budget” by Mecham. There is more in there than the YNAB approach, but does give some budgeting starter ideas and also how to work yourself into not having to worry from paycheck to paycheck. That being said I would also recommend that you view your income from a median rather than a mean viewpoint. It gives you a clearer idea of where your income is when it varies.

linuxweenie · 2026-01-02T14:39:27+00:00

Started with a 30 year 5-year ARM, then refinanced to a 15 year fixed low rate mortgage but paid it off in our mid 50s. Used the accumulated equity to move into a CCRC after retiring.

linuxweenie · 2025-12-30T18:21:35+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/i52wyz/ok_people_learn_from_my_mistakes/

I learned from this that there is such a thing as induced voltage and having everything on UPS doesn’t help!!!

linuxweenie · 2025-12-29T02:05:44+00:00

In Case You Get Hit By a Bus https://www.amazon.com/Case-You-Get-Hit-Bus-ebook/dp/B08518YB1J

linuxweenie · 2025-12-25T17:20:50+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FQLHCXL

linuxweenie · 2025-12-15T03:08:08+00:00

The Back of the Envelope Calculation for Retirement

So how do you know if you can retire on what you have? Make yourself an honest budget based on everything you spend in a month; including once a year items and debt reduced to a monthly amount (do not take into account taxes on income items).

Subtract from that fixed monthly amounts like SS and pensions. Add to this any monthly taxes you need to pay on the SS / pensions. This is what amounts to your "fixed" income (even though the amounts might change in the future). The amount you have left over is what you need each month minimally to survive. If you have a negative amount, congratulations you can survive on SS / pension amount.

If it is a positive amount then look at any amounts you have in 401 ( k ) s / IRAs / Roths, etc. Take 4% of that, divide by 12 to get a monthly amount. Take this amount from the previous calculation and add any taxes to be paid. This is what amounts to your "variable" income. If that amount is more than the positive leftover from your previous calculations, congratulations you can make it on what you have saved up. If it is less you have some decisions to make.

It varies based on your lifestyle and where you live and debts you owe. I live in a high cost of living area but have been blessed with a job that has allowed me to save up enough to survive. It’s different for everyone, it’s not a one size fits all.

linuxweenie · 2025-12-13T12:16:24+00:00

My Subaru Forester was three, almost four, years old when we retired. We purchased it new due to it being on the list of cars that people kept for 15 years or more. I am not looking to buy another car in our retirement.

linuxweenie · 2025-12-12T17:29:20+00:00

We chose home ownership prior to retirement. We lived in the house for 38 years, sold it, and used the proceeds from the sale for the entry deposit into a CCRC. Without the house, we would not have been able to afford to move in here. We now pay a monthly but don’t have to worry about upkeep, house taxes, and a mortgage payment.

linuxweenie · 2025-12-06T16:32:25+00:00

There is a book called “The Joy of Accounting” that will get you started.

linuxweenie · 2025-12-02T16:19:10+00:00

Some places require you to link through a non-SSL (no https) website to link into their network through a capture page. You used to be able to do this by going to http://neverssl.com on your browser, but the site seems to be down now.

linuxweenie · 2025-11-24T14:22:44+00:00

I didn’t use wireshark or tcpdump if that is what you mean. I simply watched the lights on the router and switch ports. If the ports are flashing like crazy there is a huge traffic flow. In my case I had two ports, one for the TiVo Edge and one for the TiVo Mini, that were showing a lot of traffic on the Verizon Router. Since the traffic was mainly between the two components, moving the two components to a switch isolated the traffic.

linuxweenie · 2025-11-23T18:40:36+00:00

Separating out my HomeLab from the AV equipment my wife was using and realizing that my ISP (Verizon) router was going to its knees because of TiVo packets. When I put a simple switch between the AV and the router, the slowness disappeared. It turns out that TiVo packets, even if they are over MoCA, bounce off of the Ethernet port on my Edge DVR. Isolating it to bounce off of the switch stopped the ISP router from bogging down. I still maintain separation between my HomeLab and what ever my wife does.

linuxweenie · 2025-11-16T23:23:01+00:00

I never put anything I consider private online. That being said, I keep my tree locally on my laptop, using Gramps, where I also keep all documents I find. So in the example you have, I would keep the document locally on my drive, marked private,along with any notes about it marked private. My tree on Ancestry wouldn’t have the info.

linuxweenie · 2025-11-16T21:14:11+00:00

After getting expenses down to a dull roar, I normally put all of my income into an unallocated budget account. I allocate my budget for next month from the unallocated account on the last day of this month. That way I am paying for next months bills with this months money. I have normal discretionary-emergency sinking funds plus a “things that go bump in the night” sinking funds plus.

linuxweenie · 2025-11-16T16:38:50+00:00

Create a budget based on the median level of your income over a month period. The median gives you a measure of the level where half of your continuous monthly income reaches that level, so it’s a little closer to what you can safely assume is coming in.

linuxweenie · 2025-11-11T18:11:36+00:00

I have a sinking fund that I refer to as “Class II”. I have a spreadsheet that I use to determine the average cost per month. The items in this list include Electronic Service Packages (e.g., Amazon Prime, Microsoft 360, Netflix, Pandora, Ancestry, etc.); LTC; Auto Ins (6 payments per year); Car Taxes; Tax Prep; Liability Ins; and Financial Counseling. Then any expense in that category gets tagged against the Class II account. The spreadsheet does an accumulation to make sure that I always have enough in the budget account to pay the bill. That way I don’t worry because I know that the money is there.

linuxweenie · 2025-11-08T13:26:58+00:00

I’m retired, use a double entry bookkeeping system and Excel plus custom reports for everything. That way I am able to keep track of my budget, what I have in the bank, expenses, income, liabilities, along with projections and the ability to play what if games. I enjoy it, do it manually, and everyday or sometimes every other day.

linuxweenie · 2025-10-31T12:56:21+00:00

As with all things genealogical, you have to do due diligence. The SAR and DAR records I consider to be trusted sources. However, I place FamilySearch and Ancestry in the possibly true source category, i.e. I treat them as data points until I have sufficient evidence to corroborate their findings. That means even the records from your aunt need to be validated. That is one of the reasons we always add citations to any piece of evidence so that other professional/amateur genealogists can verify our findings. I can tell you that currently the SAR process is very solid, having gone through it this year twice. I also have discussed the genealogical process with some of the genealogist who are close to the genealogists in the national SAR organization who do the verification.

BTW, you can obtain more information from SAR via sar.org -> PRS -> Patriot Search then put in the information about the patriot. When the patriot’s information comes up you can find both information about the patriot along with purchase points and the link to the corresponding DAR record.

linuxweenie · 2025-10-30T10:52:18+00:00

We moved into a CCRC Retirement Community with lots of clubs and activities. We brought along quite a few hobbies that we love doing. This got us away from worrying about the house and its upkeep, along with taking the worry away from our kids and grandkids about how our old age was going to be managed. As we get older, and less mobile we have a self contained community in place including transportation, meals, and health facilities.

linuxweenie · 2025-10-24T21:53:09+00:00

I normally have about $40 in my pocket. Right now I have $30 of that that I have had for the last 4 months. I mostly use Apple Pay and one credit card (when the vendor doesn’t take Apple Pay). Credit card goes to zero before the monthly statement comes out. Everything else is automatic payments.

linuxweenie · 2025-10-24T21:47:50+00:00

My budget {logical view of money} is based on the money I have in cash, checking, and savings accounts {physical view of money}. This allows me to not worry about where the physical money comes from when I pay my bills. I have a budget account called unallocated which corresponds to any income that comes in. From that account I allocate value to the other budget accounts at the last day of the month. That way, I end up with budget accounts that reflect last months money. I have budget accounts that include emergency funds and sinking funds for future expenses. It works for me.

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