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I guess I've been using Emacs for 20+ years at this point, but I've only started using org-mode in a serious way in the past two/three. One of the things I lik

I guess I've been using Emacs for 20+ years at this point, but I've only started using org-mode in a serious way in the past two/three. One of the things I like most about it is that it doesn't enforce any particular work-flow on you. That lack of structure means that I can arrange and organize things as I see fit. I keep two journals/diaries using org-mode: * One for work, where I write down "everything" I did that day, often with commands and output as I do various tasks. * One for my personal life, dates with people, notes on when I bought things, and regular recurring tasks for the house (e.g. "change toothbrush" every two months.) On top of that I'm a landlord, and I use a single file per property. Records of tenants, monthly income/expenses. I wrote some simple lisp to create tables of income per-tenant, profit/loss over distinct years, etc. Every time I enter a suitable row for a month the whole document updates: * Income/Expenses for the current year. * Global income/expenses since I got the property. * The tenant-table gets updated to say "Victoria total income: €1234, tenant for 14 months". I wouldn't have setup such a system in a google sheet, or similar, but having down this now I just copy and paste a bunch of tables and change 2022 -> 2023 and I'm all set for the current year.

gavinhoward 4y ago
Lack of structure is not what I expected to see as a plus, but now that you say it, it makes sense; every person is different and needs a different organization. It seems like Org Mode is an programmable documentation environment. Is that a correct understanding? While I use a double-entry accounting system for my budget, and thus won't ever use Org Mode like you do for your properties, I'm utterly fascinated that Org Mode can do that. Your mention of regular tasks caught my eye too. I use a task manager on my phone and have to back it up manually. The best feature is a way of repeating tasks at various intervals. I don't have a "Change Toothbrush" repeating task (I should), but I do have some like "Change Furnace Filter" (every month). I also have a notes repo with a bunch of unorganized stuff. It sounds like Org Mode (well, Neorg; I use Neovim) might serve both those purposes and more. Is that a fair assessment? (I wonder if there's an Open Source Android app for Org Mode...)
- stevekemp 4y ago
  Yes I think it's fair to say it's a programmable system, because it can be extended significantly by either packages or your own local lisp setup. I think org-mode could easily be used to maintain a collection of notes, whether in one large file or multiple small ones. (That's an obvious example of how no workflow is mandated - people make different choices on that, and use org-refile to move things between files too.) I've seen android "viewers", but since they require having the file(s) on your PC and your phone they get a bit horrid - using dropbox to sync, or similar. For that reason I've never used them.
- sachac 4y ago
  I use ledger-cli as my double-entry accounting system. It's been really helpful to have an Org file with literate programming blocks for the kinds of reports I regularly run and the TODOs to check various accounts' statements so that I don't have to remember things. =)

gavinhoward 4y ago

Lack of structure is not what I expected to see as a plus, but now that you say it, it makes sense; every person is different and needs a different organization. It seems like Org Mode is an programmable documentation environment. Is that a correct understanding? While I use a double-entry accounting system for my budget, and thus won't ever use Org Mode like you do for your properties, I'm utterly fascinated that Org Mode can do that. Your mention of regular tasks caught my eye too. I use a task manager on my phone and have to back it up manually. The best feature is a way of repeating tasks at various intervals. I don't have a "Change Toothbrush" repeating task (I should), but I do have some like "Change Furnace Filter" (every month). I also have a notes repo with a bunch of unorganized stuff. It sounds like Org Mode (well, Neorg; I use Neovim) might serve both those purposes and more. Is that a fair assessment? (I wonder if there's an Open Source Android app for Org Mode...)

stevekemp 4y ago
Yes I think it's fair to say it's a programmable system, because it can be extended significantly by either packages or your own local lisp setup. I think org-mode could easily be used to maintain a collection of notes, whether in one large file or multiple small ones. (That's an obvious example of how no workflow is mandated - people make different choices on that, and use org-refile to move things between files too.) I've seen android "viewers", but since they require having the file(s) on your PC and your phone they get a bit horrid - using dropbox to sync, or similar. For that reason I've never used them.
sachac 4y ago
I use ledger-cli as my double-entry accounting system. It's been really helpful to have an Org file with literate programming blocks for the kinds of reports I regularly run and the TODOs to check various accounts' statements so that I don't have to remember things. =)