Problem
Most budgeting apps answer the wrong question. They tell you what you spent last month, in categories and pie charts, long after the money is gone. The question people actually ask standing in a shop is much simpler and much more immediate: can I spend this right now, or will it cost me later in the month?
Answering that means reasoning about pace rather than totals. A budget that is 60% spent is fine on the 20th of the month and a problem on the 8th, and no amount of category breakdown makes that distinction for you.
Process
RichBudget is built on Next.js and React, deployed on Vercel. The interface is deliberately quiet: budgets, spending and daily pace live in one view rather than being split across tabs and reports, so the safe-to-spend answer is readable at a glance instead of assembled by the user.
Key Decisions
- Lead with a decision, not a report. The primary number is what is safe to spend today, not what was spent last month, so the app answers the question people actually have.
- Pace over totals. Spending is measured against where you are in the month, so the same percentage reads differently on the 8th than on the 20th.
- One calm view. Budgets, spending and pace share a single screen; no tab-hopping to reconstruct the picture.
Outcome
The app is live on Vercel and usable end to end.