Inspiration: As college students juggling coursework, part-time jobs, and social lives, we realized how easy it is to lose track of our daily spending. We wanted a tool that could categorize expenses automatically and build better financial habits, so students can focus on what matters—school and personal growth—without the stress of money management.
What it does: Our Financial Categorizer Habit Changer (BLCS) takes in transaction data (either manually or via a linked bank account), automatically sorts each expense into categories like “Food,” “Entertainment,” and “Essentials,” and provides real-time insights on how much you’ve spent in each category. It also suggests habit changes and budget goals based on spending patterns to help users cultivate healthier financial habits.
How we built it: Frontend: We used React for a responsive interface, allowing users to view their categorized expenses and budgets in a clear dashboard. Backend: A Node/Express (or Flask/Python) server handles data processing, storing transaction details, and categorizing them using machine learning or keyword matching. Database: We stored user data and transaction info in a MongoDB (or SQL) database for quick retrieval and updates. APIs/Integrations: We integrated with Plaid (or another financial API) to pull real transaction data securely. Challenges we ran into Accurate Categorization: Some expenses don’t fit neatly into one category, so refining our categorization logic was tricky. Time Constraints: Balancing code quality with hackathon speed was challenging. We had to prioritize core features. Accomplishments that we're proud of Dashboard UI Automatic Categorization: Building an initial logic that accurately sorts most expenses was a major win w/ palid service Real-Time Insights: The live progress bars and budget overviews give users immediate feedback on their spending habits w/plaid service(currently no API)
What we learned:
Team Collaboration Financial APIs UI/UX
What's next for Financial Categorizer Habit Changer - BLCS Enhanced AI Categorization: Improve the accuracy of our expense categorization with deeper machine learning+ chatbot model to give advice by statistics Mobile App: Launch a companion mobile version so students can log expenses on the go. Habit Gamification: Add rewards or streaks to incentivize users to stay under budget and build lasting financial habits such as a game tab where you can feed your pet or water plant with x coins. coins are earned from how much leftover % of the budget u have left per month. Make punishment for overspending more ethical and prominent Integration with More Banks: Expand to support international banks and credit unions for broader accessibility.
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