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I thought that it was about time I spoke about something I referred to in an earlier post about my upcoming plans for 2008.

“I […] want to learn Ruby/Ruby on Rails but as of yet, I don’t have a purpose, a reason why.”

I now have a purpose. And that purpose is Muffin.Muffin is (or will be) a web app for managing your budget. I decided to make Muffin because for years I’ve set budgets but struggled to stick with them. I’m using a mixture of tools at the moment (including excel spreadsheets) to manage and track my budget and spending but they always fall short of what I need them to provide and none are conducive to helping me stick to and track my budgeting. After a lot of head scratching and chin stroking I’ve come up with a clear picture of what I need and don’t need from a budgeting tool and by heck I’m going to build it!

Five reasons why you’ll love Muffin

1. Muffin speaks your language, not money management jargon, not programmer geek-speak and certainly not Klingon (yet).
2. Using Muffin is quick and painless. It’ll no longer be a chore to have your budget keep up with your life.
3. You (presumably) work hard for your paycheck. Soon you’ll be able to let Muffin do the hard work of helping you keep it! (Or help you just spend it on the things you really want to spend it on.)
4. Because it’s online you can access muffin from home, from work, or from school and because there’s no software to download, you’re always running the latest and greatest version of Muffin we got going!
5. That latte you had today probably cost more than what Muffin will set you back every month. (And it has way fewer calories too!)

Going public

If Muffin turns out as easy to use and as wonderful as I plan it will be invaluable to me, my bank balance and my sanity. I also know that I’m not alone in needing Muffin so so badly so I’ll be sharing it with the world as soon as it’s ready.

For the future

I don’t have a firm release date yet but expect to have a fully working app latter this summer. I do have a pretty firm list of features, future features and cool stuff I’d like to add for some sort of premium plan but I’ll be keeping that to myself for the time being. When I’m a little further along I’ll post some screen shots here and probably ask for some feedback. I’ll also talk about plans to market Muffin and spread the word as well as some of the back end logistics of doing this whole thing.

Shameless solicitation

As well as my (in)frequent posts here, a good place for Muffin info will be the official Muffin site www dot get Muffin dot com. And while you’re there you might want to sign up for the Muffin mailing list. You never know when I might send out some secret goodies!

Why’s it called Muffin?

Good question David. I’ll explain that a little later. Thank you. Er, did you have another question there David? No? Well, you can put your hand down now. That’s a good boy. Well done.