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budgeting personal finance productivity

Why Most Budgeting Apps Fail (And What We're Doing Differently)

Traditional budgeting apps demand too much from users. Here's why simplicity wins when it comes to tracking your spending.

baguette team ‱

Let’s be honest: you’ve probably tried at least three budgeting apps. Maybe five. And if you’re reading this, they probably didn’t stick.

You’re not alone. The average budgeting app has a 90-day abandonment rate of over 80%. That’s not a user problem—that’s a design problem.

The complexity trap

Most budgeting apps fall into the same trap: they try to do everything.

  • Sync with 12,000 banks
  • Categorize transactions automatically (and get it wrong half the time)
  • Create elaborate budget categories
  • Show you fancy charts and graphs
  • Send you notifications about every coffee purchase

The result? You spend more time managing the app than managing your money.

What actually works

After talking to hundreds of people about their money habits, we noticed a pattern. The people who successfully track their spending don’t use complicated systems. They use simple ones.

Here’s what they have in common:

  1. They log expenses immediately — not at the end of the day, not once a week
  2. They use natural language — “lunch with Sarah $25” not “Food > Restaurants > Lunch > Social”
  3. They check their spending weekly — not obsessively, but consistently

The 15-second rule

We built baguette around a simple principle: if logging an expense takes more than 15 seconds, you won’t do it.

That means:

  • No bank syncing required
  • No category hierarchies to navigate
  • No apps to switch between

Just open, type, done.

Starting fresh

The best time to start tracking your spending was three months ago. The second best time is today.

baguette isn’t about perfection. It’s about awareness. When you know where your money goes, you naturally make better decisions.

No stress. No spreadsheets. Just clarity.

Ready to try a different approach? Join our waitlist and be first to know when baguette launches.