Budget Canvas
This is a budget allocation planner based on the 50/30/20 rule. It helps you decide how to distribute your income across three categories:
The app answers one core question:
“Given my income, how should I distribute my money across needs, wants, and savings?”
It’s a prescriptive planning tool — it helps you create an intentional budget before you spend, not track spending after the fact.
This app is not designed for:
These are valid needs, but they represent different problem domains. For day-to-day expense tracking, consider pairing this app with your bank app or a dedicated spending tracker.
Short answer: That’s cash flow management, not budget allocation.
The 50/30/20 method is about allocation ratios, not spending velocity. If you’ve allocated £300 to wants for the month, the budget is correct whether you spend it in week 1 or week 4.
The app already allows you to set your month close day in Settings, which effectively lets you align your budget cycle with your pay schedule.
The 50/30/20 method doesn’t depend on when you get paid — only on how you allocate what you receive.
Zero-based budgeting asks: “Is this money allocated?” — not “Has it been spent yet?”
The distinction between elapsed and upcoming expenses is relevant for bill tracking and cash flow management, but not for allocation planning.
Bank connections require complex regulatory compliance (PSD2, AISP registration), GDPR data processing agreements, significant security infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance.
Instead, the app provides month-end reconciliation where you can adjust your final savings amount and add a memo explaining any variance.
The month-end reconciliation handles this. When closing your month:
It doesn’t need to — the app prevents overspending by design.
When you allocate money to budget items, you can’t exceed your category budget. This is the core philosophy: prevent overspending at the planning stage, rather than detect it afterwards.
Charts work well for analysing patterns in historical data — but this app is about deciding allocations upfront.
What the Insights view does offer:
The Health Score is a single number (0–100) that summarises how well your budget is working. It’s calculated from three weighted components:
| Component | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Savings consistency | 50% | How often you’ve achieved positive savings each month |
| Goal progress | 33% | Overall progress toward your savings goals |
| Reconciliation accuracy | 17% | How close your actual savings match your planned savings |
Score interpretation:
Simplicity is a feature, not a limitation. The 50/30/20 rule works because it’s easy to understand, quick to set up, and focused on one decision: allocation.
| Aspect | Budget Allocation (This App) | Expense Tracking |
|---|---|---|
| Your role | Active — you decide the plan | Passive — app tells you what happened |
| Key question | “How should I split my income?” | “Where did my money go?” |
| When you engage | Start of month (planning) | Throughout month (logging) |
| Data source | You tell the app your intentions | Bank/transactions tell the app reality |
| Mental model | Prescriptive (what should happen) | Descriptive (what did happen) |
The difference is intention before action vs awareness after action.
No. This app provides full value without logging a single transaction.
If you want transaction-level tracking, pair this app with your bank app or a dedicated expense tracker. They solve different problems and work well together.
All budget data is stored locally in your browser or mobile device using encrypted localStorage. Your data never leaves your device unless you explicitly export it.
Yes. When you create an account, all profile data is encrypted using AES-256-GCM with a key derived from your passphrase/biometrics.
Yes. You can export a full encrypted backup of all profiles, items, goals, and history. This file can be imported to restore your data or transfer to another device.
Yes. You can delete individual profiles or your entire account. Deletion is immediate and permanent.