• 8 Posts
  • 176 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 7th, 2023

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  • I’m saying this as someone who used Mint for years due to how it integrated with banks so easily.

    I’m currently using Money Manager EX, which is open source. I “self-host” the database file on my NAS, and simply open the file through MM EX’ Windows program.

    Since it’s just a simple database (encrypted, of course), it’s easy to back up.

    Now, I lost the ability to automatically sync with my bank. This was a blessing in disguise, since it forced me to go over each transaction carefully.

    Granted, Mint had me doing the same, but because I spent a lot of time removing duplicates and fixing errors in their sync system. LOL

    MM Ex has been very easy to use, and I don’t see a need to self-host the software itself.





  • Don’t forget that every self-driving car is a 360 camera that’s able to capture real-time photo and video for the car’s manufacturer (and whoever they want to sell this data to).

    This would include images inside your garage, even when the car is off.

    And they have microphones that can record conversations inside the vehicle, too.

    These vehicles, in my opinion, are in many cases more privacy invading than phones.

    And with Elon in government, with his BFF President at his side, concerns over deregulation and weaponizing these of moving spy devices seems like a future reality.


  • Nah, self-hosting is still a solution. And when I self-host, I don’t even need an internet connection to access my files, movies, photos, security cameras, etc.

    Yes, we can fix privacy laws, and put in a lot of faith that they will be followed or that our data won’t be lost/sold. But I think everyone benefits when they are in control of their own data.

    What we need are more accessible self-hosting options so that even computer n00bs can set up and cut ties with these mega corps.









  • The number one thing that most of these don’t do well for me is the connection with banks.

    A bit of an anecdote, but i was a long-time user of Mint, which integrated with all my banks and credit cards, which was nice.

    When I decided to selfhost, I was disappointed that bank syncing wasn’t a thing, or it had these roundabout ways of working, or they simply didn’t support the banks and credit cards i use.

    So… I ended up wity Money Manager EX.

    Once i did the initial importing of my records, everything since has been manually entered.

    Now, this might seem tedious depending on how many transactions and accounts you manage, but it’s really not.

    Depending on how often you update your records, you can do an easy export/import of your transactions from your bank (usually a csv export). Doing this once a month isn’t terrible.

    I just manually enter all my transactions. Yes, more work, but also less frustration and it makes me feel more in touch with my spending.

    Even not having to worry about the hassle of syncing not working, or having to fix things like that is a huge weight off my shoulders.

    Anyway, just wanted to share my experience because bank syncing shouldn’t be a make-or-break thing.