Expense Tracker

Welcome to the Expense Tracker page.

This page contains a brief description and implementation instructions for the project.

Project Description

A simple finance tracker that records income and expenses. The user can input transactions (date, amount, category, description), and the program stores them (e.g. in a CSV file). It can then display a summary (total income, total expenses, net balance) or monthly reports. This mimics personal finance apps and uses file storage for persistence.

Project Requirements

Python 3.x, built-in csv module; optionally pandas and matplotlib for data analysis and charts.

How to Run the Project

1. Create a script (e.g. expense_tracker.py) that prompts for transaction details and writes them to a CSV file.
2. Run it: python expense_tracker.py. Choose options to add a transaction or view reports.
3. Use commands like “add expense” or “view summary”. The program updates or reads expenses.csv.

Key Concepts Learned

• File I/O (CSV): Writing transactions to and reading from a CSV file.
• Data Handling: Using lists or DataFrames to calculate totals and summaries.
• Modules: Optionally using pandas to manage data and matplotlib to plot spending trends.
• User Interaction: Looping through menus, error-checking inputs.

Possible Extensions

• Use a database (like SQLite) instead of CSV.
• Categorize transactions and show breakdown by category.
• Add budget limits with warnings.
• Generate visual reports (pie charts, bar graphs) using matplotlib or seaborn.
• Add recurring transactions or currency conversion.

Troubleshooting & Debugging

See Troubleshooting & Debugging.