Automating Personal Finances with Python

Introduction

• Objective: Learn how to use Python to automate personal finance tracking.
• Key Learnings:
  • Use CSV data for financial tracking.
  • Utilize Python libraries for data manipulation.
  • Integrate Python with Google Sheets for data storage and visualization.

Importance of Tracking Finances

• Personal spending can decrease when you track and visualize your expenses.
• Example: Realizing high spending on unused subscriptions.

Setting Up

• Download transaction data from your bank as a CSV file.
• Use a consistent file naming convention (e.g., bankname_month.csv).
• Python Setup:
  • Import the csv library to work with CSV files.

Accessing CSV Data

• Write Python code to read and print rows from the CSV file.
  • Each row includes date, transaction name, and transaction amount.

Google Sheets Integration

• Library: Use gspread to interact with Google Sheets.
• Setup Process:
  • Enable API access via Google Developer Console.
  • Create a service account and download the JSON key file.
  • Share the Google Sheets document with the service account email.

Implementing the Code

• Import necessary libraries.
• Write functions to categorize and process transactions.
• Categorize transactions using predefined rules (e.g., name-based categorization).
• Store categorized transactions in a list.

Inputting Data into Google Sheets

• Use the gspread library to insert data into specified rows:
  • Access the correct worksheet using the month variable.
  • Implement a time delay using time.sleep() to avoid API rate limits.

Bonus: Using Mailgun for Email

• Learn how to send emails using Mailgun API with a few lines of code.
• Mailgun is useful for sending marketing emails with send-time optimization features.

Final Thoughts

• The automation process involves summarizing data into Google Sheets for analysis.
• Customize further based on personal financial needs, such as currency conversion or additional account types.
• The potential for further automation, like shell scripting, to enhance functionality.

Conclusion

• This project demonstrates the practicality of using Python for personal finance management.
• Encouragement to keep learning and applying coding skills for personal benefit.

Extras

• Explore more Python projects and tutorials on the channel.
• Engage with the community by liking and subscribing to the channel for more content.

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