hursey013

I guess the frustrating part is that Twitter doesn't specifically disallow automation and bots, the platform also provides a low barrier of entry for casual users to also view the data produced by the bot, but for a company that "loves developers" they don't provide a great developer experience when things go wrong.

Mostly for simplicity. Most folks can quickly tell you their annual salary, it would likely be more difficult to calculate their post-tax income. There is also the possibility that individuals may prefer to withhold more or less throughout the year depending on how they approach taxes, so that could potentially skew the numbers.

In the weeks since launching BudgetDuo, the percentage of users visiting the site from a mobile/tablet device outweighs those visiting from a desktop. Maybe folks find spreadsheets intuitive, but I'd disagree that trying to navigate and manipulate a spreadsheet on a phone is a better user experience than using a responsive web app designed with touch interfaces specifically in mind.

Thanks, and I agree, being able to gather some high level insights would be pretty interesting - perhaps something I can look into once the sample size is large enough.

Just in some of the initial feedback I've received it's been surprising to hear how passionate folks are about the different approaches - it is definitely not a one-size-fits-all type of situation. Ultimately folks should do what works best for them, my hope is the BudgetDuo will provide a bit of insight to help make some decisions.

Thanks for the kind words!

As others have mentioned, we use the income based split because of disproportionate salaries. It lets us know that we are both chipping in for household expenses while still having some money leftover in our own accounts for personal spending.

I would love to do this, but in areas with a high cost of living it's not always possible.

I've used a spreadsheet with the same basic functionality as this for years and it worked just fine. The main problem with it was when folks asked me to share it with them the spreadsheet wasn't exactly user friendly. Putting it in web app form makes it easier to identify which fields are meant to be edited and ensures that the formulas aren't accidentally changed.

The web app can be used without an account just to experiment and plug some numbers in. My hope is that it can still be useful to folks that'd prefer not to save their data just to get some rough insights and perhaps be a starting point for developing their own custom spreadsheets.

BudgetDuo was inspired by a fairly simple spreadsheet my wife and I use to help divvy up household expenses.

It's extremely easy to get started, just enter your recurring monthly bills, then choose how you'd like to split them - either 50/50, ad-hoc, or proportional to your income. The income based split is really where BudgetDuo shines compared to similar tools. Using you and your partner's income the calculator will provide a breakdown of the overall percentage you owe, as well as a monthly and per paycheck amount.

There are many different ways to handle shared expenses in a relationship, and BudgetDuo let's you easily compare a few of those options. Ultimately, folks should do what works best for them, but my hope is that BudgetDuo will help add some insight as couples are developing their plan.