Vorn Finance Tracker is a Python program that categorises your income and spending and writes the data into a spreadsheet. It works with any bank account that allows you to export a CSV file containing your transactions (support for QIF files coming soon).
Note: if you bank with Santander and download your CSV file through their "Midata" system, check it before you run the program, as it's usually horrifically formatted, even for a CSV file. This isn't something I can correct, and is down to Santander themselves to sort. Sorry folks.
None! Everything is provided in the venv folder. However, if you don't want to run it that way, you can install the
prerequisites using install_prerequesites.bat after installing Python 3.
Again, nothing needed, but if you prefer not to use the venv-unix virtual environment, run install_prerequisites.sh
from the terminal and the following things will be installed.
- Python 3 (make sure to add Python to PATH/environment variables when installing)
- pandas 1.2.0 or newer
- openpyxl 3.0.5 or newer
- colorama 0.4.4 or newer (optional, enables colours in command line output)
Vorn Finance Tracker can either be installed by downloading the repository from the GitHub page or by running the following command if git is installed on your machine:
git clone https://github.com/isaacharrisholt/vorn-finance-tracker
In order to use Vorn Finance Tracker, you need two things:
- A CSV file downloaded from your bank containing your transaction data.
- This will be different depending on your bank, so you may have to Google how to get hold of one.
- A spreadsheet for the data to be output into.
- A
spreadsheet_template.xlsxis included in the program files. Feel free to copy and modify that in any way you like. See Using Custom Categories for info on how to use categories other than the default, so you can customise the spreadsheet to your liking.
- A
Now follow the instructions for your operating system below.
Run the start.bat file. That's it. Bish bash bosh.
Alternatively, follow the instructions for Mac and Linux, making sure to use Windows file paths in the command. Only do
this if you ran install_prerequisites.bat earlier.
Run the start_unix.sh file. You can do this with the following command:
source start_unix.sh
If it's your first time running the program, it will ask you who you bank with and what currency symbol to use. This is
so that the program can parse the data from your CSV file correctly. There are a few banks pre-programmed, but if yours
isn't included, type other and follow the steps in the command terminal.
The following banks are currently pre-programmed:
Monzo
Starling
The reason there aren't more is because I don't have accounts with other banks that allow me to easily access a CSV file of transactions. If you want your bank supported by default, see Contribute.
If you have switched bank or currency, press 2 or 3 respectively when the menu appears.
The program will then guide you through the rest of the process yourself, but should you have any issues, please raise them with @isaacharrisholt.
If you'd prefer not to use the default categories and want to change the location of things in the spreadsheet, or even have your own spreadsheet layout you'd prefer to use, that's entirely possible (see Customising Spreadsheet Layout for more details).
In order to customise your income or spending categories, simply modify either files/income_categories.txt or
files/outgoings_categories.txt respectively.
For example, the default outgoings_categories.txt looks like this:
food: 7
transport: 8
rent: 9
savings deposit: 12
entertainment: 15
eating out: 16
random expenses: 17
other: 18
Each line is in the format category: row_number where row_number correlates to the row number you'd like the data
for that category to be inserted into in the spreadsheet.
If you wanted to keep track of say, laundry costs in your spreadsheet (if you use a laundrette for example) and wanted
to store the data in row 19, you would simply add laundry: 19 to a new line:
food: 7
transport: 8
rent: 9
savings deposit: 12
entertainment: 15
eating out: 16
random expenses: 17
other: 18
laundry: 19
Spaces are acceptable, and case does not matter (the program converts everything to lowercase anyway). The order of the categories doesn't matter, but you may prefer to keep them in the order you've got them in your spreadsheet. The program will also filter out any duplicate categories, though the row will be overwritten, so if you do something like this...
laundry: 19
laundry: 20
...your laundry spending will be put in row 20.
Aaaaaaand you're done! Your new category has been added and will be taken into account next time you run the program.
By default, the program will use rows B-M of the spreadsheet for months Jan-Dec respectively. You can shift this left
and right by modifying lib/spreadsheet_manager.py. The following piece of code is on line 15:
column = chr(65 + month)By changing the number 65, you can place January in different columns, and Feb, Mar etc. will follow on to the right
from there.
64 represents column A, 65 is B and so on. I have plans to allow for more customisation, such as rotating the data so that the months run down the rows, and transaction categories are the column headers, but that's a little ways off yet.
There are a few more things I want to do with this project. The current to-do list is below, but if you think of anything you'd like added, please let me know!
- Make category customisation more user-friendly
- Expand support to all banks
- Better utilise the pandas library to optimise program speed
- Improve user experience
- Expand spreadsheet customisation options
- Add a GUI
- (Maybe) Integrate with banking APIs so transactions can be obtained programmatically
Pull requests welcome, though if you want to make a major change, please open an issue first for discussion.
If you'd like to provide me with a CSV file from your bank so I can pre-program it into the software, please open an issue or message @isaacharrisholt.
Devs:
- So far, just me.
Inspiration:
- The Freakizoid for telling me to get my financial ass into gear!
Vorn Financial Tracker is licensed under GNU GPLv3.