Well, 2008 was going to be a year for change, I'd start exercising, work in the garage more, finally remove the stump out of my front yard, and yes, do my taxes early. In every sense of the word I have been a compulsive liar to myself and the little man inside who loves procrastinating. I'm not sure I've done any exercising except for the occasional 12oz curl, you can't open the man door to my garage, and today I finally mailed off my check to Federal and State Tax departments.

During the weekend I was more frustrated with myself for not doing my taxes earlier than anything else, so I began a search. One that would make doing my taxes next year easier, since I had taken no steps to make my profits online a smooth transition to paper, by not recording all of my expenses. I'll be damned if Uncle Sam is going to take more than what he is owed! My research led me to GNUCash, which if I had had this software in 07 would have made my tax crunching almost as simple as a 1-click of the mouse and I'd no longer be whipping myself for utter procrastination.

GnuCash Review

The #1 thing that I love about GnuCash is that it's free and it works, period. It's open source software that is freely available for download from SourceForge and appears to be regularly updated. Sometimes it can be difficult to find good open source software for Windows, but installed and ran just fine on my XP OS, although other versions are available for Linux, Solaris, and Mac.

My online business had required me to start keeping better tabs on my expenses, since my profits had jumped up so much from the year before, deductions were in order. Well, without a nice detailed report of all the software I purchased, scripts, computer parts, utilities, and anything else I was grasping at straws for 2 weeks scared I might miss something. With GnuCash it was easy to setup an initial business account and just start filling in the ledger with expenses I had already accrued in 2008. Each category is very easily labeled with explanations of what should be recorded, such as the specific expense, checking accounts, assets, utilities, taxes, etc.

At first installment it might be a little intimidating to the first timer, but keep in mind I was able to use it fine. My experience in accounting only goes as far as Accounting 101 at the local public college, so fear not entrepreneurs you can use GnuCash too. And, if you get lost there is a detailed help section in the software along with online documentation.

Final Statement on GnuCash

With all of this being said, I know for a fact I am not using it to it's full potential. I'm only using it for very basic daily expense tracking and account balancing, which it does perfectly, but there are features far out weighing my needs. In addition, there are built in mortgage calculators, loan payoff calculators, and other useful tools for the every day person. Also, don't forget, it's FREE!

After getting my feet wet with GnuCash I started checking out some other open source applications that might replace some Microsoft products, like QuickBooks and Office. What I found was OpenOffice.org, so look for a review of those programs coming soon.

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