Inspiration
Managing finances is crucial, especially for international students who often have limited financial resources and must deal with inflation and unexpected expenses. This project was inspired by the real struggle of students trying to keep track of where their money goes each month. We wanted to build something simple, personal, and friendly, like a note-taking app for budgeting, that helps students make informed financial decisions throughout the semester.
What it does
The app allows users to record daily expenses, categorize spending, and monitor their remaining budget in real time. Think of it as a digital notebook for money, designed to be minimal, intuitive, and visually appealing.
How we built it
The frontend was built with React and TypeScript, styled with CSS modules and bundled using Vite. For the database, we chose SQLite instead of PostgreSQL to keep things simple and portable. It still provides reliable data handling and works privately within the app, which is ideal for a single-user budgeting tool.
Challenges we ran into
It was our first time combining React, TypeScript, and a database together in a hackathon setting. Managing time, debugging logic between frontend and backend, and learning to organize files efficiently were big learning steps.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We finished the main structure of the app, connected the database successfully, and made something that actually works. It might look simple, but building it from scratch during a hackathon taught us a lot about teamwork and persistence.
What we learned
Building a full web app from start to finish using React + Node.js + SQLite. How to handle data flow between frontend and backend. The importance of modular design and time management. Using TypeScript helped reduce errors and made debugging easier.
What's next for Budgeting App
We plan to polish the UI/UX and add a session timeout feature that automatically locks the app when no activity is detected, keeping data private and secure. We also want to include analytics like charts and summaries to visualize spending habits better.
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