Here’s what we see as the “must haves” for the first release:

• Create a monthly budget by category expenditure
• Manually add transactions
• Mark transactions by type (Credit Card vs. Bank)
• Categorize transactions
• Manage categories, specifically, with the ability to mark a category as a ”variable expense” (Entertainment, Vacation etc.)  or “fixed expenses” (cell, car payments etc.)
• Tag transactions for more detailed searches
• Pretty reports
• Mobile version to add cash notes, and then turn those into transactions
• Search and filter transactions

And that just about covers it! I’m sure this will change slightly, but this is what we figure we need to have in order for the app to be of any practical use. We’ll be putting specs to all of these next week and will post a follow up with more details.

On another note, I expect to have a first mock-up of the user interface ready by the end of the week!

Lest I suffer the wrath of a woman who has been patiently awaiting closet space that can actually accommodate 23 pairs of identical black pants and countless shoe boxes stacked in a precariously shaky format, I need to get my savings on!

Seriously though, I whipped out open office and tried getting all my bank and credit transactions in some sort of readable format, then tried to sort them into something that would tell me where all my money’s going. It worked… sort of.

Everything was there but it was pretty painful trying to figure out where I should be cutting back, and what things looked like month over month. This led to me to search for some sort of online 2.0 app that would handle things in a more elegant fashion. I found a few, really good ones too, but they missed the mark in a couple of key areas:

1. Need to be in the USA and have a US bank account.
2. Too many things going on…I don’t need to track my investment portfolio here!
3. Most importantly, I don’t want an accounting program, all I want to know is where I’m  spending my money and where I can cut back

Based on this, and the constant nagging gentle reminders from my significant other, I’ve decided to build my own little app which will do just this, track my expenses and give me pretty reports.

As for features, I’m trying to keep it simple. Being an adherent of the the 37 Signals “Getting Real” philosophy, I’m starting with the bare minimum. Now you ask, “What is the bare minimum?” and “Will I have to pay for it”? The answer to the second question, is no, the app will be free. (Sign up here to be notified when we open for beta testers.)

The answer to the first question… come back next week, we’ll be writing an article outlining our first draft of minimum requirements!

We’re all pumped about the product over here and have a ton of fantastic ideas, which we’ve added to “The List”. We’ll be updating this blog fairly frequently and should have some more detailed posts coming soon.

Cheers!