For a lot of us, financial literacy is not a given, and even worse – it can cause us to want to curl up into a ball and cry.
I know I was one of these when I first moved out on my own. The only reason I started saving money was because my friend joined a pyramid scheme investment firm and his manager got to take my case, and my money for a loan that allowed me to start an RRSP.
I know a lot of people don’t end up going that path, and maybe you’re 40 and you have never even thought about saving. I know it can seem (and actually be) pretty impossible with not enough income.
Well this made me consider what ways we can take control of what money we *do* have, and encourage people to do it in a way that doesn’t feel like an attack, a judgement, or the source of a sudden mental fog and the need for alone time.
So I got to thinking: maybe some visibility into where the money goes, with some gentle encouragement could be the answer. Maybe offering insights without judgement will at least help? It’s not going to get rid of the anxiety this subject can create, but it can maybe give someone control and thus diminish it a little.
https://www.lilithebowman.com/budget/ is a tool I hacked together to give people a basic idea of where their money is going and maybe even some small tools to help take control of it. All data is stored in the browser, so use it only on a machine you own, or clear the browser storage when you leave the machine.
Making it offer user accounts and secure storage might be a future goal, but for now I want your data to be yours, on your own machine, for only you to use.
It has a little questionnaire which asks about income, and expenses, and then it lays them out on a calendar by day, colour coded to show expensive days, with a little link to add a reminder the day before to make sure there’s money available for that expense.
As well, there’s a pie chart to show where the vast amount goes. In a lot of my test cases I have listed it as rent because: I live in Toronto and that’s the reality we face. We are financing someone else’s financial goals because they withhold shelter from us unless we fork over half our pay or more! Yup landlords, that’s how everyone else sees you. You don’t provide anything. You hoard it and set the price. This is coming from the child of someone who was a landlord for a while.
If you can think of anything that might be helpful to add, please let me know in the comments!