An idea, not a product. Nothing has been built yet.
Couples Budgeting/Finance App
A household money plan based on what you each actually earn, not a 50/50 split.
I'm thinking about building an app that works out a fair way for couples to split household bills, based on each partner's actual take-home income rather than an even split. Both partners enter their income and bills separately, the app calculates what each should contribute, and then tracks real spending against that plan each month.
Tell me if you'd use itWhere it comes from
Couples who move in together or get married usually end up with some informal arrangement for who pays what. If one partner earns a lot more than the other, a 50/50 split isn't fair, but working out what is fair takes an awkward conversation most people avoid. Spreadsheets exist, but they don't update themselves and nobody keeps them going past month two.
The result is often resentment on one side or guilt on the other, especially in households where the incomes are very unequal or one partner isn't earning at all.
What it would be
Each partner enters their take-home income and lists their regular bills, tagged by category like rent, utilities or groceries. They can do this separately, in their own time. Once both have submitted, the app works out each person's fair contribution to shared costs in proportion to their income, and shows what's left over as a personal, guilt-free allowance.
The plan is set once and left alone. It only recalculates if someone's take-home pay changes by more than 10%, so you're not renegotiating every month over small changes. Any money left in your personal allowance rolls over rather than resetting to zero.
Day to day, the app pulls transactions from one partner's linked bank account and sorts them into shared or personal using rules you set up in advance (Tesco counts as shared groceries, Spotify is personal, that sort of thing). Anything it doesn't recognise gets flagged for the two of you to decide. Each month it shows how actual spending compares to the plan and who owes whom. What you do about that, and how you settle up, is between you.
What it would do
Contributions based on income, not a flat split
Each partner's share of shared costs is worked out as a proportion of their take-home income, so someone earning 70% of the household income pays 70% of shared bills.
Set the plan once, not every month
You agree the plan when you set up, then it stays as it is. It only recalculates automatically if either partner's take-home pay changes by more than 10%.
Separate setup, one shared plan
Each partner can enter their income and bills on their own time. The plan generates once both have submitted, so you don't need to sit down together for the whole thing.
Personal allowance that rolls over
Whatever's left after your share of bills is yours to spend freely. Unused allowance carries into next month instead of disappearing.
Automatic spending tracking from one account
The app pulls transactions from one partner's linked bank account and sorts them into shared or personal using rules you set up yourself, like marking a merchant as groceries or personal spending.
Facts, not decisions
When actual spending doesn't match the plan, the app shows the numbers, who overspent, who's owed what, and leaves it to the two of you to sort out.
Who it's for
- Dual-income couples who both earn and want a fairer split than dividing everything down the middle
- Couples where one partner earns significantly more than the other
- Single-income households where one partner has zero or very low income, such as a carer, a student, or someone between jobs
- Couples who've just moved in together or got married and are setting up joint finances for the first time
What it wouldn't do
- It won't pull your bills in automatically at setup. You type them in by hand for now.
- It won't handle shared debt repayment schedules or more complex assets like investments.
- It won't give investment advice or recommend financial products.
- It won't decide what counts as shared or personal for you. Each partner marks their own costs and the app just totals them up.
- It won't move money between you. It shows who owes whom, and you arrange the transfer yourselves.
Saying no to these is the point. A tool that tries to do everything ends up doing none of it well.
Register interest
Would you use this?
This is an idea, not something I've built. I've worked through the fairness logic, the setup flow and the monthly tracking in detail, but there's no app to try. If this sounds like something you'd actually use, or something you'd never touch, telling me why is genuinely useful right now, because interest is what decides whether it gets built at all.
Registering costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. I'll email you if it gets built, and not about anything else.
Questions
- Does this exist yet? Can I sign up?
- No. It's an idea I'm working through and testing publicly. There's no app, no beta, and nobody using it yet.
- Why not just split everything 50/50?
- For couples with roughly equal incomes that's often fine. But when one partner earns a lot more, an even split means the lower earner gives up a much bigger share of what they actually have. This works out each person's contribution as a proportion of their own income instead.
- What if we share one bank account already?
- In this version, the app assumes every transaction from a linked account belongs to whoever's account it is. It doesn't try to work out which of you actually made a specific purchase.
- Does it work if only one of us has an income?
- Yes, that's part of the plan. Households where one partner has no income, or a very low one, such as a carer, student or someone between jobs, are included from the start, not added later.