About

It started with a spreadsheet

About six years ago, I sat down to budget for the first time. I didn't download an app or sign up for a service — I opened a blank Google Sheet and started typing. The formulas were basic. The layout was rough. But it worked, because I actually used it.

The single biggest thing that made budgeting stick for me was tracking my expenses daily. Not weekly, not monthly — daily. Actually seeing how much I spent on restaurants, coffee, golf, entertainment, and everything else gave me a kind of clarity I'd never had before. I could see exactly how much was going to each category, and that visibility alone changed my relationship with money.

Using frameworks like the 50/30/20 rule gave me a north star. Fifty percent to needs, thirty to wants, twenty to savings. It wasn't rigid — it was a direction. And once I had a direction, the daily tracking told me whether I was actually heading that way.

Optimizing over time

For the next couple of years, I kept building. I dialed in how much income was coming in, how much was going to my 401(k) and different savings accounts, and how my spouse and I were splitting our bills. I got granular about recurring expenses versus daily spending, and that distinction matters more than most people realize.

Then I built something that really changed the game: a real-time progress indicator. During any given month, I could look at my spreadsheet and see whether I was ahead or behind on spending. That single feature made me feel genuinely comfortable with my finances — not because I was spending less, but because I always knew where I stood. I knew exactly how much was being saved every month. I knew what was going to bills and what was left for the things I enjoy.

Sharing it with real people

When friends and family saw my spreadsheet, they'd ask about it. So I'd share a copy, walk them through it, and then ask what was confusing or what they'd change. Their feedback made the spreadsheet better every time. Without realizing it, I was running a user testing process with real people and real money on the line.

That feedback loop eventually made me realize this could help a lot more people beyond the ones I knew personally.

Designing a product

I've spent over 12 years working in UX and visual design, and I brought all of that experience to the spreadsheet. I cleaned up the layout, simplified the instructions, and focused relentlessly on making it easy to use. My goal was a spreadsheet that someone could open, understand in five minutes, and actually keep using week after week.

I knew there was a lot of competition in the budget spreadsheet space. But I also noticed a pattern: most of them either fell flat on design — hard to read, overwhelming to look at — or they overcomplicated things with too many tabs trying to solve every financial problem at once. I wanted to do the opposite. Solve one problem really well. Make it look clean. Make it feel simple.

From side project to bestseller

I launched my first budget spreadsheet on Etsy with the goal of making it the simplest, most approachable option out there. It started slow, but the reviews and feedback kept coming in positive. People appreciated that it didn't try to do too much. They liked the clear instructions. They actually used it.

Over time, I kept optimizing based on what real users told me, and it grew into one of the bestselling budget spreadsheets on the platform. From there, I expanded — creating a version specifically for couples managing money together, a debt payoff tracker, and more.

What this site is for

My goal is simple: help other people learn what budgeting is and show them that there are a lot of ways to do it. You don't need a complicated system. You don't need to track every penny if that's not your thing. You just need something that gives you enough visibility to make better decisions — and then you need to keep it simple enough that you'll actually stick with it.

That's what this site is about. Straightforward articles, practical advice, and spreadsheets that work. No filler, no upsells, no 47-tab monsters. Just tools that help you understand your money and feel good about where it's going.