Only up from here 📈

Somehow it feels like the right time to be building something to help people. With the world in such an uneasy place, investing in self is a good hedge.

I had to figure finances out myself since I left home. Even while at home I did not have good role models on how to handle money. That’s lead me down the traditional path of learning and trying new things. Even after lots of trial and error, I still landed on managing a spreadsheet on my own. That was fine for a long time. Like, 5-10 years no problem. Now though, more than ever, I want to share our financial history, decisions, plan with my partner. Let me tell you, the spreadsheet ain’t it.

So I’ve set out to solve my problem, create what I’ve lacked and share it with the world along the way. I am focusing on 3 things for launch:

Privacy and Security

I’ve found it hard to give all my financial info to rando services online that require my data be stored on their cloud. So Shilling is going to be local first. It can sync to your other devices without your data going through a server. A server still facilitates your devices being able to talk to each other but none of your data goes through the server. Unless you want it to, which then you can back up your data in case your devices fail/get lost/etc. I want this backup to be encrypted so we can’t read it but that is still untested.

Receipt Store

My desk is constantly full of receipts, even more over as the years go on. Organizing is a pain and takes so much time. Then come tax season, more receipt time wasted. I’ve wanted a digital solution to this for a long time but its never crossed my path. In the business/professional space, Ramp has made receipt capture easy. I’ve mimicked this easy of use into Shilling to make receipt management a breeze.

No Box

Every budget/finance app I’ve tried has put you in a box. They want you to manage your money, their way. That hasn’t worked for me. I landed on managing my own spreadsheet because of that fact. Shilling is going to be as unopinionated as possible, letting you do things how it makes sense to you.

I hope you join me for this ride I am on. I hope to provide a great tool and give pointers along the way on how I like to use them. I am also starting with the basis that these tools can be self hosted if you have the knowledge to do so. Then there is AI. I think incorporating in AI will happen. In most cases it will trade security for this but I think the option should be there for those that want to use it.

I’ll be back for launch soon™️