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Ask The Grasshoppers

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2011-05-03

Pay No Attention To That Developer Behind The Curtain

Okay. Maybe just a little attention.

Check out the peek under our hood on Aptera Software this morning:

In its latest incarnation, Check Fu! is an ASP.NET MVC 3 site using the new Razor view engine, a generous helping of jQuery(1.5, with templates—shiny!), the aforementioned ELMAH for logging, all perched upon an Entity Framework 4 / SQL Server 2008 stack. It also interacts with the Twitter API via Twitterizer, reads iCalendar feeds with help from Douglas Day’s iCal library, parses email using OpenPop.NET, and does its business out back with the Enterprise Library Logging block.

Do You Have A Pet Application? [ Aptera Software ]
2010-08-06
Tag, You’re It

Planning Your Spending With Allocations

You already know that you can tag what you have spent in Check Fu. But did you know that you can also tag what you haven’t spent yet?

One of the most helpful features in Check Fu! (and my personal favorite) is the Allocation. Using the same charms you use to record your transactions, you can quickly slice up what’s left over to devise an effective spending plan.

Here’s how it works. On the balance page, in the big, friendly charm a new transaction box, type “allocate”. Then, charm the details of what you want to allocate. As in:
- “allocate $50 #fuel” I think am going to put about $50 of gas in my car in the near future.
- “allocate $200 #grocery #fast-food ^monday (I like food)” Starting on Monday last, set aside $200 that I will either spend at the grocery store or on horrible grease-ball burgers. Also, I like food.
Hit enter, and Check Fu! creates your allocation. As one might guess, your balance will be reduced by the amount of the allocations, which are shown at the top of your list of transactions in an eye-catching cornflower blue sort of font:

And just so you always have the whole picture of what’s left, they also appear on your dashboard under each account:

Now, try charming a transaction or two with any of these allocated tags. It can be readily shown that, at this point, a miracle happens.

Within seconds, our trained grasshoppers update the allocation will update to show how much you have left to spend on items with their respective tags. When you have spent the amount of the allocation (or more), it politely deletes itself and gets out of your way.

Sa!

Next Time: Charm in bulk with Grasshopper Mail.
2010-07-13
Check Fu! 101: Charming Your Transactions

So, you’ve got your Check Fu! login. You’ve received the friendly, friendly welcome message via email, added your checking account, and collected your 60 starter Check Fu! points. I can almost hear you scratching your head as you stare at the dashboard.

Now what?

You Know, Like With Snakes

The very first useful thing you will do with Check Fu! is balance this first account, reconciling your receipts against the bank’s records, so that you can be crystal clear about how much money you really have left.

Unlike some hastier or perhaps fresher-tasting personal financial tools, there is not a link between your bank accounts and your Check Fu! accounts. In order to get started, you must add records of your transactions to Check Fu. This process is called charming.

Charming is simple, and fast.
1. On the dashboard, click on the account you wish to update.
2. In the big text box at the top of the account’s balance page, enter some text describing the transaction.
Here are some examples of phrases that Check Fu! will understand:
- “BigBox $160.58 #grocery #snacks” (I spent $160.58 at BigBox today, and I want to tag that transaction with the words “grocery” and “snacks”.)
- “transfer $50 to Savings ^tuesday” (I transfered $50 from this account into my Savings account this past Tuesday. “Savings”, in this case, has to be the name of an existing account belonging to your Check Fu! login.)
- “$9000000 + #winnings from @FYeahPoker.com (call mom)” (I have deposited an extraordinary check from FYeahPoker.com. I want to tag this deposit “winnings”, and add a note that I should probably call my mother to tell her I’ve made something of myself. Including a “+” in the phrase tells Check Fu! that you are charming a deposit, and anything in parenthesis (like this) will be added as a note on the transaction.)
- “you are a complete kneebiter” (I am super frustrated and I don’t get this. Plus I am really into Douglas Adams lately. Check Fu!, though a little confused by this approach, will politely charm a transaction of $0.00 to “you are a complete kneebiter”, dated today.)
You may have noticed some unusual symbols in those phrases. Those symbols are the charms, and they each denote a special meaning for whatever text follows them:
- $ (How Much) The amount that has transacted.
- # (Tag) A word or phrase you wish to use to tag a transaction.
- ^ (When) The date or relative day on which the transaction occurred. You can use words like “yesterday”, “friday”, “7/16”, or “5/23/2003” to indicate this value.
- @ (Who) The name of the person or business with whom you transacted. Check Fu! also usually assumes that the start of your phrase is the Who name, so using this charm is only necessary when mentioning the Who name in the middle of a phrase.
- () (Note) Some free-form text containing extra information about the transaction. Or perhaps a haiku. Your pick.
The Power of Suggestion

The more you put in to Check Fu!, the more you will get back out.

While this is true in many respects, the first you will notice is that our trained grasshoppers will remember all of your favorite places that you hand out your hard earned cash. As you type your next charm, they may assist you. They will also remember how much you spent the last time you ate at your favorite restaurant, as well as how you tagged the expense, and they will automatically fill in this information if you do not.

Tweet Fu!

As advertised, you can use Twitter to update your Check Fu! accounts, too. Just add your Twitter username on the Settings page, direct message your transaction phrases to @checkfu, and our helpful, helpful grasshoppers will charm them for you. If you manage many accounts under your Check Fu! login, you can use the special ! charm to specify the name of the account in the message (i.e., “McBurger $2.99 !Main Checking #fast-food”).

Charmed, I’m Sure

Now go forth and practice what you have learned. Pay close attention to the ebb and flow of your pennies. Soon you will see their patterns. Soon you will learn to lead rather than to follow their dance.

Sa!

Soon: Set something aside using Allocations.
2010-07-09

How Good is Your Check Fu?

Close your eyes! How much money do you have left in your checking account right now?

Okay, you can open your eyes again. Did you know, or did you have to guess?

Let’s just say that you did know, because you’re that good. Now, how much of that amount have you set aside for groceries? For gas? How much is left to pay the babysitter?

The picture gets a little blurry for some of us at this point.

My name is Jon, and I’m a software and music developer who’s probably off looking for a cup of coffee right now. I created Check Fu! to help me answer these questions, and to become more mindful of my own cash flow. I really enjoy using it, and I thought you might, too.

Take a quick look at what you can do with Check Fu!, all for free:

Find Balance.

Record purchases, deposits, and transfers with quickness and ease. Reconcile that which has cleared. Smile broadly while using Check Fu’s intuitive human interface.

See The Truth.

Your bank thinks overdraft fees are delicious. Stop feeding them! See what’s really available at a glance using your Check Fu Dashboard.

Spend With Confidence.

Allocate money for groceries and rent, then see if what remains can buy you that shiny new Bo staff you’ve had your eye on. See what is left for each allocation as you spend.

Update From Anywhere.

Sign on, update, and check your real balance from anywhere. Don’t even have time to load up our nimble little site? DM your transactions to @checkfu, and we will have our trained grasshoppers enter them for you.

Find Answers.

Don’t just guess at when you paid your friend back. Ask Check Fu! We’ll pull that right up for you.

Score Points.

Increase your Check Fu with each wise move you make. We’ll keep track.

Plus, in a little while (after I catch my breath), I am going to crawl behind the Check Fu! web server, and with all my might throw the giant switch that will activate the Black Belt features:

Make A Plan.

Create a spending plan of transactions, allocations, and transfers entered using the same techniques used to balance your Check Fu accounts. Predict what’s left over. Do something wonderful with it.

See What’s Coming.

Never be surprised by an oddly recurring expense again! Integrate with your favorite calendar application to track when you get paid next and when bills are coming due. See what you need to worry about in the next two weeks. Stop worrying about it.

Save Painlessly.

Be the most important bill you will ever pay. Paying yourself first is easy with the Check Fu! Plan Wizard.

Kill Bill.

Keep track of who you owe in Check Fu! Bills. Use the Plan Wizard to help you snowball through your debts and reach your financial freedom.

Get Our Attention.

Should you run into any difficulty in using Check Fu, you will receive our full priority email support service.

Score More Points.

Besides the instantaneous good Karma you will receive for supporting us, you will boost your Check Fu! by up to 250 points.

Check Fu! users will be able to acquire these skills for just $14 per year. That’s probably less than what your bank charges you for a single overdraft.

So, my Check Fu is 1280. What’s yours?
2010-06-28

Every master was once a novice.

Blog

2011-05-03

Pay No Attention To That Developer Behind The Curtain

2010-08-06

Tag, You’re It

Planning Your Spending With Allocations

2010-07-13

Check Fu! 101: Charming Your Transactions

You Know, Like With Snakes

The Power of Suggestion

Tweet Fu!

Charmed, I’m Sure

2010-07-09

How Good is Your Check Fu?

Find Balance.

See The Truth.

Spend With Confidence.

Update From Anywhere.

Find Answers.

Score Points.

Make A Plan.

See What’s Coming.

Save Painlessly.

Kill Bill.

Get Our Attention.

Score More Points.

2010-06-28