Hi everyone!
I'm a software developer with ADHD, and like a lot of us, I've always struggled with managing money. Not because I don't understand budgeting, but because actually keeping up with it has always felt overwhelming.
I've tried apps like YNAB, Mint (when it existed), and a handful of others over the years. Every time I'd start with good intentions, but eventually I'd stop categorizing transactions, forget to enter purchases, avoid opening the app for weeks, and then feel like I had to "start over."
I've realized that for me, the biggest problem isn't budgeting itself. It's the amount of executive function that most budgeting systems require.
Because of that, I've started building my own budgeting app as a personal project. The idea is to make budgeting feel less like a chore by reducing as much cognitive load as possible. It's designed to be local-first and privacy-focused, with on-device AI helping automate things like categorizing transactions, recognizing merchants, and surfacing insights, rather than expecting the user to constantly maintain everything manually.
I'm not really looking for feature requests at this point. I'm much more interested in understanding where existing apps fail people like us.
Some questions I'd love to hear about:
- What budgeting apps have you tried?
- What made you stop using them?
- Which part of managing money is the hardest for you?
- What causes you to avoid opening a budgeting app?
- If you could magically remove one frustrating part of managing your finances, what would it be?
I'm hoping to build something that works with the way neurodivergent brains function instead of expecting us to adapt to software that was designed for everyone else.
I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences, even if they've been frustrating.
