Last November in this blog I wrote that if you are going to start using hledger, you will likely do well to start with small steps. I mentioned setting up just one account (such as a savings or checking account) the first day, and adding an additional account each day.
This year I decided to track mutual funds in hledger. I had previously tracked them in a spreadsheet, and that had sufficed for me. However, I now wanted to do some more detailed tracking, so it was time to put them in hledger.
Thinking about my own advice of starting small, I decided to add one fund per day. I have to admit that it was tempting after setting up the first fund just to continue and add the rest. I had figured out how to enter the first one, so why not continue and and the rest? However, I stuck to the original plan: One fund per day.
Another piece of advice that I gave to new hledger users was not to enter past transactions. Just set up each account and add transactions as they occur going forward. Sigh. Again, time to follow my own advice. It was tempting to add transactions over the last year. However, I didn’t do that. I just set up opening balances for this year.
After a few days I was finished. I can report a couple of things. One is that I wasn’t stressed. Each day’s task was easily doable. Second, I feel that I learned more by the spaced repetition of setting up one fund per day. It gave my brain time to absorb some new ideas by repeating them over a few days instead of all in the same day.
It’s hard when I am excited about a new task to want to take things slowly. But often that’s the way to get long term results.