Building a money app for people who stop using budgeting apps after 1 day
I’ve been working on a side project called Spending Pulse.
I tried a bunch of expense trackers and budgeting apps before. The problem is I’m kind of lazy with this stuff, so I would use them for maybe 1 to 3 days, then forget about them completely. They’d just sit in my app drawer collecting dust.
What I really wanted was something simpler:
How much can I spend today without feeling guilty or messing up the next few days?
That’s basically why I built this app.
You put in your current balance, add recurring or planned expenses and incomes, and the app gives you a simple daily safe-to-spend number. Then during the day, if you spend money, you quickly log it and it gets deducted from your daily allowance.
So yeah, it’s not really a traditional budgeting app.
Okay, maybe a little bit. You can also set a safety floor for your balance over the next 30 days if you want. But that’s pretty much it.
For extra lazy people like me, there are also widgets, so the safe-to-spend amount is right in your face on the Home Screen or Lock Screen.
It’s an iPhone + Apple Watch app right now.
Here it is if anyone wants to take a look:
Spending Pulse on the App Store
I’m still trying to figure out if this is actually clearer than traditional budgeting, or if it only makes sense in my own head. So blunt feedback is welcome.
The "how much can I spend today" framing is exactly right. Most budgeting apps make you feel like an accountant. Nobody wants that.
One thing worth testing, a streak or small nudge when someone logs 3-4 days in a row. Not gamification for the sake of it, just enough to make the habit click before people forget about it again.
Also curious, do you show the safe-to-spend going up when income comes in, or only down when you spend? That positive feedback might help with retention more than people expect.
Hi, thank you for taking an interest in the idea. To answer your questions:
The streak is already there, it will be available in the insights tab. It will show you exactly what you mentioned, how many days in a row you didn't overspend and how many days you didn't go below your minimum floor for a selected balance
Yes, the safe-to-spend number will adjust accordingly based on planned and actual income and expenses. For expenses it will automatically reserve that amount so the safe-to-spend is your actual guilt free spending money. For the income it will not be included in the calculations until that amount is marked as received.
There is also an option to mark both income & expenses automatically on the due date. In that case everything is automatically included in calculations.
I hope it makes things a bit clearer. Feel free to ask any follow-up questions, I am more than happy to answer all of them.
Love the “lazy-friendly” angle — the daily safe-to-spend number is actually super intuitive. Feels way easier than traditional budgeting apps.
I think you’re onto something with reducing it to one decision per day. Curious how users stick with it over time.
Also, if you’re testing ideas like this — you have an idea, $19 puts it in real competition. Winner gets a Tokyo trip (flights + hotel, $500 min guaranteed).
Round just opened: tokyolore.com 🚀
The "lazy" framing is the one thing I'd push back on, gently. The people who quit expense trackers after 3 days weren't being lazy. They were doing the math correctly. Categorizing transactions is retrospective work with a weak reward relative to effort, and their brains noticed. The apps were asking for ongoing labor in exchange for a report nobody needed.
What you've actually built is a different cognitive task. Instead of "record the past," it's "query the future." Those are opposite gears. The daily safe-to-spend number answers a question your brain is already asking, which is why it doesn't feel like work.
I caught myself doing the same self-deprecating thing with a habit project a while back. Positioned it as "for people too lazy to track." What I was really building was something for people who'd done the math on the trade-off and come out different. The "lazy" framing limited the market by making the feature sound like a concession instead of a different answer to a different question.
The problem you've identified is real and very specific - "I tried every budgeting app and quit within 3 days" is probably the single most common thing people say in personal finance communities.
The insight behind Spending Pulse is solid: instead of tracking everything in detail (which requires sustained effort and discipline), just give me one number. "Can I spend money today, yes or no?" is a much lower cognitive burden than a full budget reconciliation.
What I'd be curious about: have you found that the daily check-in habit is easier to sustain than traditional expense categorization? That's the core bet you're making - that a simpler question ("what can I spend today?") produces more consistent engagement than a complete picture ("here's exactly where all my money went"). If that retention holds up, it's genuinely a different product category than what most budgeting apps are building.
Good luck with it - the "lazy person who still wants to be okay financially" market is enormous and underserved.
This actually clicks - “how much can I spend today” is way clearer than traditional budgeting. Curious though: what makes people keep using it after day 3?
This makes sense, especially for people who hate tracking everything.
“Can I spend today without guilt?” is the real value here.
The challenge is communicating that fast enough.
If you turn that into a simple, relatable demo, it becomes much more compelling.
A clean 15–20 sec video showing the experience can boost conversions a lot — If you want i can make it for you
I’m guilty of this exact pattern.
Download a budgeting app → use it for a few days → forget it exists.
I think the “daily safe-to-spend” idea is interesting because it removes the mental overhead. Traditional budgeting always felt like something I had to maintain, not something that helped me in the moment.
do you feel people stick with it longer because of that simplicity?
This is a smart angle. Most budgeting apps seem built for the version of people who are perfectly disciplined, and most people are not. Reducing it to “how much can I safely spend today” feels a lot more usable than asking users to manage an entire financial system every day. Feels like a product built around actual behavior instead of aspirational behavior.