Bilancio is a fully functional budgeting application; it gives users the ability to create budgets, record their expenses and income or create goals for long-term savings. It also displays all of their information clearly and simply. However, this application is not just an expense tracker -- its a teaching tool.
Special Features
Teaching Mode
Teaching Mode is designed for classroom use. In Teaching Mode the users actual data is saved away for later use, and he or she can complete practice scenarios, example situations they could encounter in the app or in the budgeting process itself, to become familiar with the app or learn more about how to budget. When Teaching Mode is turned off the users actual data is restored and he or she can continue budgeting, as the data from Teaching Mode is not saved.
Reminders
Another special feature is the incorporation of reminders. Our user base is very heavily relient on reminders to be sure that everything they need to do in a day is completed and completed on time. These reminders can be used to remind a user to pay (and record) a bill, or to record their income. Additionally, users can choose to receive daily reminders to enter their transactions from the day.
Can I Afford This?
Lastly, Can I Afford This? allows users to enter the information for a potential purchase and receive immediate feedback from the application as to whether or not they can afford this item. This process removes the guess work and mental math from budgeting that had previously complicated budgeting for our users.
The Hope Software Institute partnered with the Ready for Life program to design an application to teach money budgeting skills to adults with cognitive disabilities. Bilancio was developed by Hope College students Natalie Boardway, Joanie Davis, and Meredith Lind under the direction of Dr. Mike Jipping over the summer of 2016.