diff --git a/src/backend/xml/sixtp-dom-generators.c b/src/backend/xml/sixtp-dom-generators.c
index 621769779b..48311ef8dc 100644
--- a/src/backend/xml/sixtp-dom-generators.c
+++ b/src/backend/xml/sixtp-dom-generators.c
@@ -131,17 +131,10 @@ commodity_ref_to_dom_tree(const char *tag, const gnc_commodity *c)
  * but we want to serialize it un-normalized, so we make a partial
  * copy.
  */
-gchar *
+char *
 timespec_sec_to_string(const Timespec *ts)
 {
-     gchar *time_string;
-     GDateTime *gdt;
-     Timespec sts = { ts->tv_sec, 0};
-     gdt = gnc_g_date_time_new_from_timespec_local (sts);
-     g_return_val_if_fail (gdt != NULL, NULL);
-     time_string = g_date_time_format (gdt, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z");
-     g_date_time_unref (gdt);
-     return time_string;
+     return gnc_print_time64(ts->tv_sec, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z");
 }
 
 gchar *
diff --git a/src/core-utils/gnc-gdate-utils.c b/src/core-utils/gnc-gdate-utils.c
index 059275aa0d..ae415fd358 100644
--- a/src/core-utils/gnc-gdate-utils.c
+++ b/src/core-utils/gnc-gdate-utils.c
@@ -37,11 +37,10 @@ gnc_gdate_set_today (GDate* gd)
 void
 gnc_gdate_set_time64 (GDate* gd, time64 time)
 {
-    GDateTime *gdt = gnc_g_date_time_new_from_unix_local (time);
-    gint y, m, d;
-    g_date_time_get_ymd (gdt, &y, &m, &d);
-    g_date_set_dmy (gd, d, m, y);
-    g_date_time_unref (gdt);
+    struct tm tm;
+    gnc_localtime_r(&time, &tm);
+    g_date_set_dmy (gd, tm.tm_mday, tm.tm_mon, tm.tm_year + 1900);
+
 }
 
 gboolean
diff --git a/src/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c b/src/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c
index e17b56cc4f..e028e78220 100644
--- a/src/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c
+++ b/src/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c
@@ -1653,10 +1653,6 @@ static gchar *generate_statusbar_lastmodified_message()
                 int r = stat(filepath, &statbuf);
                 if (r == 0)
                 {
-                    // File mtime could be accessed ok
-                    gint64 mtime = statbuf.st_mtime;
-                    GDateTime *gdt = gnc_g_date_time_new_from_unix_local (mtime);
-                    gchar *dummy_strftime_has_ampm = g_date_time_format (gdt, "%P");
                     /* Translators: This is the date and time that is shown in
                     the status bar after opening a file: The date and time of
                     last modification. The string is the format string for
@@ -1664,20 +1660,14 @@ static gchar *generate_statusbar_lastmodified_message()
                     explanation of the modifiers. First string is for a locale
                     that has the a.m. or p.m. string in its locale, second
                     string is for locales that do not have that string. */
-                    gchar *time_string =
-                        g_date_time_format (gdt, (dummy_strftime_has_ampm &&
-						  strlen(dummy_strftime_has_ampm) > 0)
-                                            ? _("Last modified on %a, %b %e, %Y at %I:%M%P")
-                                            : _("Last modified on %x %X"));
-
-                    g_date_time_unref (gdt);
-
+                    char *time_string =
+			gnc_print_time64(statbuf.st_mtime,
+					 _("Last modified on %a, %b %e, %Y at %I:%M%P"));
                     //g_warning("got time %ld, str=%s\n", mtime, time_string);
                     /* Translators: This message appears in the status bar after opening the file. */
                     message = g_strdup_printf(_("File %s opened. %s"),
                                               filename, time_string);
-                    g_free(time_string);
-                    g_free(dummy_strftime_has_ampm);
+                    free(time_string);
                 }
                 else
                 {