Stuff I Made With AI Episode 1: The Budget Planner

A simpler way for my daughter to think about money.

Stuff I Made With AI will hopefully be a series of articles describing the tools I create with AI to make my life easier and/or more fun. My intention is to demonstrate how easy it is to create software that solves problems we encounter in everyday life. Oh, and also to get rich. Because apparently, people get rich on the internet all the time. Usually with one, or sometimes seven, weird tricks. At least that is what my inbox tells me.

“I just don’t get it.”

That was my daughter’s refrain as we were trying to set up her budget in a full-fledged budget app. That app (which I use myself for my own finances) had everything one would need to import and track expenses and accounts and set budgets and goals and stuff. What it did not have is a simple way to answer the basic questions.

“Will I make enough this summer to make it through the school year?”

“How much am I spending every month, in total, on all these categories combined?”

“How much spending money do I have?”

“Will I end up living in a van, down by the river?”

She needed both less and more than the mainstream apps provided. Of course some of what she needed was just some parental reassurance. “Oh honey, they make really nice vans these days,” I assured her.