diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 0cc8f5ec..b0733a8a 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -26,14 +26,14 @@ format used can be found on `the SQLAlchemy documentation`_.
 
 For example, if you're using MariaDB, use a configuration similar to the following::
 
-    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'mysql+pymysql://user:pass@localhost/dbname'
+    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'mysql+pymysql://user:pass@localhost/mydb'
 
 If you're using PostgreSQL, your client must use utf8. Unfortunately,
 PostgreSQL default is to use ASCII. Either change your client settings,
 or specify the encoding by appending ``?client_encoding=utf8`` to the
 connection string. This will look like::
 
-    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'postgresql://myuser:mypass@localhost/dbname?client_encoding=utf8'
+    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'postgresql://myuser:mypass@localhost/mydb?client_encoding=utf8'
 
 .. _the SQLAlchemy documentation: http://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/latest/core/engines.html#database-urls
 
diff --git a/docs/installation.rst b/docs/installation.rst
index 2fed458c..e6351a4f 100644
--- a/docs/installation.rst
+++ b/docs/installation.rst
@@ -36,15 +36,16 @@ most small to medium setups.
 Prepare virtual environment (recommended)
 =========================================
 
-Choose an installation path, here `/home/john/ihatemoney`.
+Choose an installation path, here the current user's home directory (`~`).
 
 Create a virtual environment::
 
-    python3 -m venv /home/john/ihatemoney
+    python3 -m venv ~/ihatemoney
+    cd ~/ihatemoney
 
 Activate the virtual environment::
 
-    source /home/john/ihatemoney/bin/activate
+    source bin/activate
 
 .. note:: You will have to re-issue that ``source`` command if you open a new
           terminal.
@@ -179,7 +180,7 @@ Install Gunicorn::
       [Service]
       Type=simple
       User=ihatemoney
-      ExecStart=/home/john/ihatemoney/bin/gunicorn -c /etc/ihatemoney/gunicorn.conf.py ihatemoney.wsgi:application
+      ExecStart=%h/ihatemoney/bin/gunicorn -c /etc/ihatemoney/gunicorn.conf.py ihatemoney.wsgi:application
       SyslogIdentifier=ihatemoney
 
       [Install]