Scout: Family Budget

Most budgeting apps tell you where last month's money went. Scout tells you what next month costs before it arrives. Months are worked out from your recurring rules rather than stored, so you can open any future month and cost it now. The home screen is a single number — Safe to Spend — already net of every bill, subscription and set-aside between today and the end of the month. No arithmetic, no guessing which direction the month is going. MONEY HELD BACK BEFORE IT IS NEEDED A wedding in November lowers what you can spend in September, spread across the months in between, so the money is simply there when the date arrives. With your permission Scout can read your device calendar to spot events that usually cost money and suggest setting something aside. It always asks first, and calendar events never leave your phone. MONTHS THAT ARRIVE ALREADY FILLED IN Fixed bills that have been the same for months post themselves. Anything that has moved, or is new, goes to a short confirm list instead of being decided for you. A bill earns silence by being predictable, and loses it the moment it changes. RENTAL PROPERTY, DONE PROPERLY Each property groups its own income and expense lines and reports what it actually clears each month. Your own home is not flagged as losing money for having no rent — only rentals are judged that way, so the one that is genuinely underwater is not buried among the ones that were never meant to earn. DEBT THAT TELLS THE TRUTH Payoff is amortised against the real interest rate, not balance divided by payment. A payment that only covers interest is reported as never clearing, rather than given a comforting date that will never come. WHEN THE MONEY IS ACTUALLY THERE Paid twice a month, rent arriving mid-month, the mortgage due on the 1st? Give each line the day it lands and Scout shows what is still to come in. Type in your checking balance and it shows how low the account gets before the next payday, and where it ends the month. No bank connection needed. SAFE TO SPEND ON YOUR HOME SCREEN A widget shows the one number, and how much of it is left to spend this week, updated whenever the budget changes. NET WORTH Assets, debts and property in one balance sheet, kept up to date as the rest of the app changes. TWO PHONES, ONE BUDGET Sign in and a second phone in your household sees the same figures. Sign-in is a code emailed to you — there is no password to share or forget. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Scout does not need an account. Every feature above works on your device with no sign-in at all. There is no advertising, no analytics, and no tracking of any kind. If you do sign in, you can delete your account from inside the app and your budget stays on your phone.