Use cases
The Household Purse — where it earns its place
On The Household Purse — Bills → Spending → The Month. Fixed costs and daily spending meet in one honest number.
The Household Purse is the family's budget in one file — accounts, bills, envelopes, and the quiet running total of the month. It sits between spreadsheet and app: warmer than a spreadsheet, smaller and more honest than an app.
The couple who share money but not a shoebox
Two salaries, one rent, three subscriptions, groceries, and the vague awareness that something is off in the middle of every month. The Purse gives you envelopes — food, kids, transport, the fun budget — and shows the month's slope, week by week.
It is not YNAB and it is not trying to be. It is closer to a paper cashbook, with the arithmetic right.
The parent tracking a variable-income year
Some months are fat, some are lean. The Purse holds the average and the actual; the shortfall becomes visible before it becomes a crisis. Print it, put it on the fridge, live within it.
The tidy-minded person tracking one recurring category
Maybe you only want to see the grocery envelope tighten. Turn the other categories off. The Purse is comfortable being used for a slice of the picture.
What lives inside
- AccountsBank, savings, cash, credit card.
- EnvelopesCategories that hold monthly budgets and roll where you want them to.
- Recurring billsThe known monthly outflow, previewed a month ahead.
- The running monthOne glance: how the month is going.
Questions people ask
Is this replacing YNAB?
For a household that wants a small, private, one-time tool: yes. For a household that wants YNAB's whole methodology and community: no. Use the tool that fits the family, not the fashion.
Bank sync?
No. You type transactions in. The typing is the point — a household budget that you cannot feel is not a budget.
Multi-currency?
One currency per Purse. If you truly need two, keep two files.
A quiet, honest little cashbook — enough shape to see the month, no more.