Here is one worthwhile exercise that you can do with hledger. Specifically, print a year or so’s worth of things you paid for in a certain category. For example, it could be travel related expenses or dining out. The hledger “areg” command can work well for this.
Get together with anyone you share expenses with (for example, a spouse). Look at the items in a list the same way you would photos from the past. In other words, you are just reminding yourself/yourselves of what you did.
Reviewing is helpful because it is an important part of planning. And reviewing can come at two places in planning:
• Before you plan
• After you plan
You want to review the past before you plan the future. The future won’t be the same as the past, but the future grows out of the past. So, you need to know what has happened recently in order to make an intelligent plan about the future.
Also, after you have planned and done something, review what your plan was and what happened. Again, with an hledger report you are looking what you actually spent your money on. It’s not a time to blame. Rather, it’s a time to look at what you are happy with and how you might make changes in the future so during your next review you are even happier.
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