There are many good digital envelope-style budgeting apps out there, so why build another? Why Common Cents? The story starts more than 25 years ago.

In my early twenties, my mom taught me to use a paper ledger notebook to track my spending. I remember the feeling of gaining a clear picture of my money and being able to plan for it. Later I moved to spreadsheets for more flexibility, and those spreadsheets became a long-running place to test and refine how I thought about budgeting.

At the same time, I was also trying to figure out how to turn my interest in finances and budgeting into a way to help other people. This led me to major in finance and accounting in college. Right after college, I went to work for a bank, but quickly discovered that it was much more about bringing in people’s money, not helping them understand how to use it.

I tried accounting next, and while it definitely influenced the way I kept my own budget, it still didn’t scratch the itch of helping others with their personal finances. So I left that track and moved into IT database work. Over time, that opened the door to web development projects, and those projects got me thinking that maybe I could come back to my original goal in a different way.

Meanwhile, my budgeting spreadsheet kept evolving. It went through iteration after iteration, slowly moving toward what you now see represented in Common Cents. After years of changes and expanded functionality, it had become a powerful tool for me, but too complex to simply hand to someone else if I wanted to help them with their finances.

This is where the stories come together. Common Cents became the intersection between the budget nerd in me, the coder, and the desire to help others get their finances in order. I could turn the system I had been developing for over two decades into something more approachable and useful for others.

With Common Cents, I may not be able to personally sit down with everyone and help them sort through their finances, but I can offer a framework that helps them think more clearly about their money and build a budget that makes sense for them.

You probably noticed that Common Cents is free to use. There are several reasons behind that decision:

1. A tool meant to help you get on your financial feet should not become another financial burden before it has had a chance to help you.
2. I see Common Cents as a personal project first and a community project second. I set out to build the tool I want to use, not a product to sell. It has my opinions built into it. However, I built it with enough flexibility that, as long as you want a robust category budgeting tool, you should be happy with it. I’m also happy to receive feedback and ideas to make it better and I’m happy to implement the ones that stay true to the core of the app.
3. I am a tinkerer by nature so Common Cents will be in perpetual beta testing for some time. I seriously doubt there will be any big breaking changes in the future - the app is stable but, I cannot guarantee it. If any breaking changes happen I will provide an escape hatch or easy upgrade path.