I used to have a really “good” system.
A paper bill, “Paid 12 April” written on it in ballpoint pen, signature underneath, then into a plastic sleeve. Naturally, I built a spreadsheet on top of this.
The next month I noticed something was missing from the sheet. A small fix. Then a new formula. Then I had to work out where debt balances were supposed to go. The year changed and the whole thing needed rebuilding again.
The spreadsheet did the maths. The trouble was everything that had grown around it.
Once, at work, I remembered that my phone bill was due. I could have paid it on my phone there and then, but the spreadsheet was on my computer at home. If I paid the bill before recording it, the tracking would be out of order.
So I left the bill unpaid until later.
Absurd, really. The system that was meant to help me deal with money had become an obstacle to dealing with money.
I tried finance apps too. They had automation, charts and categories for everything. My executive function is not exactly a star performer, so learning another elaborate system did not solve much.
Eventually I decided there had to be another way. Mostly for me.
How much detail do I actually need?
I was never looking for perfect bookkeeping. If every coffee is in the correct category but I stop using the system after two weeks, the accuracy is not worth much.
I wanted answers to a few ordinary questions. Pay comes in and bills go out, but is anything left? Am I slowly using up a buffer built earlier? Will the car service land in the same month as the insurance again?
The answers do not need to be right to the cent. They need to be clear enough that I am not guessing.
A bank balance cannot tell me all of that. One month can look bad because several large expenses happened together. There can also still be money in the account while expenses have quietly exceeded income for months.
The overall direction became more useful than one number today.
“Can we afford this?”
The same problem showed up at home. My partner would sometimes ask, “Can we afford this?”
“Of course we can.”
Pay had arrived. I knew how much. I also knew there were plenty of bills. How much would remain after them? Probably not much at all.
Talking about money became difficult. I had the best idea of where we stood, and even my idea was fairly poor. My partner could see even less because the tracking lived in my head, the paper bills and the spreadsheet.
That is why an Exorda workspace can be shared. Both people can see the same situation. If both have editing rights, both can also add entries. Nobody has to ask the person who “probably knows”.
They can look.
How this shaped Exorda
I did not make Exorda because I needed more reports.
I needed one place where my financial situation was available at home, at work or on my phone, without its upkeep becoming a project of its own.
Entries in Exorda are added manually. That is deliberate. When I add a bill, a loan or some income, I know what is there. My finances do not simply appear as a finished chart assembled from bank data.
It does not have to be complete on day one. Regular income, bills, loans and known larger expenses are enough to start. The rest can become clearer over time.
Exorda does not tell me what to spend money on. I did not want an app that complains about coffee or instructs me to save more.
I wanted to know where I stood. That was the beginning of it.
Getting a grip on your finances
My answer is now quite simple: do not try to sort out everything at once.
Start with what you already know. What comes in? Which bills and loans need paying? Is anything unusually large coming up? Most importantly, does something usually remain, or is the situation slowly moving the other way?
A missing loan can be added later. A forgotten bill can be corrected. Assets can wait until you have the energy to work them out.
For me, getting a grip on my finances did not mean a perfect budget or knowing where every euro went.
It meant I no longer had to guess.