Project Overview: Dynamo Budget Tracker

Managing finances effectively is a challenge for many, especially when incomes and expenses vary. Static budgeting tools often fail to adapt to fluctuating financial situations, leading to overspending or missed savings opportunities. Recognizing this problem, I developed Dynamo Budget Tracker, a dynamic budgeting application that adjusts budgets based on income and expenses. Fixed categories, such as rent and utilities, have predetermined budgets, while dynamic categories, like food and shopping, are allocated budgets proportionally from the income remaining after covering fixed costs. Users can view comprehensive budget summaries for various timeframes (weeks, months, or years), providing a clear and adaptable overview of their financial situation.

1. Adding Incomes

• Single Income Category: Incomes are grouped under one category, simplifying tracking.
• Detailed Input Fields: Each income entry includes a description, date, and amount.
• Manual Entries: While recurring incomes are not yet supported, users can manually add incomes with specific dates.

2. Adding Transactions


• Categorized Expenses: Transactions are categorized into predefined groups, including Food, Rent, Utilities, Transportation, Health, Sports, Education, Investment, Pets, Travel, Subscriptions, Entertainment, Shopping, Miscellaneous.
• Comprehensive Details: Each transaction includes fields for description, amount, date, and category.

3. Allocating Budgets


• Flexible Budgeting System: Each category has two fields: amount and proportion. A "fixed" checkbox determines whether the budget is fixed or dynamically allocated based on income exceeding fixed costs.
• Dynamic Allocation: Dynamic categories automatically adjust to income variations.
• Predefined Categories: Users work within a set of predefined budget categories without customization options as of now.

4. Budget Summaries


• Comprehensive Insights: Summaries include allocated budgets, actual spending for each category, and contributions to savings goals.
• Flexible Timeframes: Users can view summaries for specific weeks, months, or years.
• Customizable Views: Users can select specific timeframes for tailored insights.

5. Savings Goals


• Multiple Goals: Users can set and track progress toward multiple savings goals.
• Interactive Options: On the savings goals page, users can add money to their savings goals and track the funds they used from the money they added to the savings goal.
• Automatic Contributions: Any leftover income not allocated to spending or savings goals is automatically added to a generic savings column.

6. Recurring Transactions

• Recurring Expenses: The app supports recurring expenses, tracking start date, frequency (daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, or annually), total transaction count, category, amount, and description.
• User Interaction: Users see recurring transactions due till date on the transactions page and can mark them as "done" to acknowledge them.

7. Data Visualization


• Bar Charts: The app provides visual insights using bar charts. Home and summary pages feature category-wise spending, a 10-week trend (income and spending), and a 6-month trend.
• Advanced Customization: The visuals page offers advanced customization options, including selecting time period (week or month), specifying how many periods to include, setting an end date for precise data, choosing expense categories to include or exclude, option to include or exclude income bars, and separating categories into individual bars for each time period.
• Filtering Options: Users can filter income and transaction records by specifying start and end dates.

8. Login and Signup for Data Privacy

• User Accounts: Each user has their own login and signup credentials, ensuring their data remains private and secure.
• Personalized Experience: All income, expenses, and savings data are tied to individual user accounts.

• Framework: Built using Python Flask.
• Hosting: Deployed on Heroku for accessible and reliable performance.

• Data Computation and Management: Implemented dynamic budgeting algorithms to handle fixed and variable categories, ensuring precise allocation of funds based on income and expenses.
• Web Development: Gained proficiency in Python Flask to develop robust backend functionality for budget tracking and user authentication.
• Database Management: Designed and managed a relational database to store user-specific data, including incomes, transactions, budgets, and savings goals.
• User Authentication: Integrated secure login and signup functionality to ensure data privacy and personalized user experiences.
• Data Visualization: Developed bar chart visualizations for trend analysis and category-wise spending insights, enhancing data interpretation.
• UI/UX Design: Designed intuitive user interfaces to simplify interactions with complex financial data.
• Deployment: Deployed the application on Heroku, learning about cloud hosting and managing server-side applications.
• Problem-Solving: Addressed real-world budgeting challenges by combining technical solutions with user-friendly features.

Visit Dynamo Budget Tracker at: Dynamo Budget Tracker

Dynamo Budget Tracker is more than just a budgeting tool; it's a comprehensive financial assistant designed to adapt to the user's needs. By dynamically allocating budgets, offering detailed summaries, and supporting robust customization, the app empowers users to take control of their finances effectively. With planned future enhancements, such as recurring income support and additional visualization options, Dynamo Budget Tracker aims to become an indispensable tool for financial management.