BudgetBloom

Inspiration

Many students struggle to manage dining dollars, event fees, and budgets. We wanted to create a single platform to make financial wellness visual, rewarding, and easy to understand.

What it does

BudgetBloom tracks spending, sets savings goals, and rewards smart financial decisions. The AI chatbot explains spending trends and suggests ways to save. The Money Tree grows as users make progress.

How we built it

Frontend: Worked with Figma and React for interactive dashboards, Backend: Node.js/Express for logic, React for real-time data & authentication, AI Insights: Lightweight NLP models for personalized spending feedback

Challenges we ran into

Keeping real-time data consistent across dashboards, rewards, and the Money Tree and GitHub merge conflicts during team collaboration

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Fully functional Smart Campus Wallet in 48 hours, Integrated AI-driven financial advice, a Visual, interactive dashboard that motivates users

What we learned

Full-stack integration and syncing multiple features, Using React for real-time updates and user management, applying AI practically, not just for novelty, balancing functionality with appealing design

What's next for BudgetBloom

Plaid - Students can use our app without the risk of leaking sensitive info, Seasonal Tree Themes: Ex. Winter tree, cherry blossom tree, Send active reminders when the user might overspend, Scan a QR Code: AI extracts price and adds it to the spending dashboard