Makes Buying Hard Again.

budge, formerly okspend

A guard over Buy: reflection, friction, and a sixty second pause, so impulse stops winning at checkout.

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budge intervening on Amazon checkout about an NYC trip goal

The problem

Buying is TOO easy.

HENRY

29. Earns well. Saves nothing.

H.E.N.R.Y: High Earner, Not Rich Yet.

$3,045

a year on purchases nobody planned. About $254 a month.

75%

of millennials do this regularly

Capital One Shopping, 2026.

The leak, invested

Same money. One path disappears. The other builds a life.

$3,045

a year, gone to purchases nobody planned

→

$607,888

by the time you retire, if you invest it instead

5 years

$17,500

A car, in cash. No loan.

10 years

$42,100

A down payment on a home.

40 years

$607,900

Retirement, from money you already spend.

Assumes $254 a month invested at 7% annually. Conservative, inflation adjusted.

budge will not stop every impulse. If it only catches half the leak: 10 years → $21,000. 30 years → $143,800. 40 years → $303,900. Still a down payment in a decade from stopping half of what was already slipping away.

The vision

Not another budget. A way to feel okay with money.

budge exists so people can get financially literate in the moment it matters, make decisions they can stand behind, and trade low level money anxiety for a clear way forward from where they are to where they want to go.

Financial literacy, lived

Not a course. A pause at checkout that teaches the trade: this purchase, or the goal it costs.

Decisions you can defend

Reflection, friction, and a sixty second wait so the choice is yours, not the retailer's.

Comfort talking about money

When the numbers are clear in the moment, money stops being a private shame and becomes a conversation.

A path from here to the goal

Stop the leak. Invest the leak. Watch small impulse dollars become a car, a down payment, a retirement.

What I am building

budge puts the friction back.

Three moves research backs, right at the moment you are about to buy.

Reflection

A prompt that asks why you want it.

Friction

A guard over Buy. Clear it first.

Postponement

Sixty seconds. The urge passes.

And more we can turn on

Show the Trade

Not $400 spent. 40% of your trip.

Name the Trick

That timer resets on reload.

Your own History

You rated the last one 2 out of 5.

Park it

Move it to a list. Most die there.

A Second Signature

Big buys need a friend to approve.

Postponement, reflection and friction each significantly reduce purchase impulsivity. Sun et al., Behavioural Public Policy, Cambridge, 2025.

In the moment

What budge feels like
at checkout

Not a dashboard. Not a lecture after the fact. A pause, right before Place your order.

Reflection

Type why you want it. Most impulses do not survive the sentence.

budge showing purchase impact on NYC trip goal

Show the Trade

$20.48 stops looking small when it is 30% of your trip.

Second Signature

Big buys need a friend to approve, or you walk away.

Why it works

It is built on

PsychologyHow you actually decide under urge, not how budgets pretend you decide.
Intervention in the momentA guard over Buy, before the money is gone.
Rewards for listeningYou keep the joy of buying , when it still fits your life.

I add friction back, that retailers removed.

I do not take the joy away. I replace it.

Why me

This is a behaviour problem.

I trained in both halves of it.

Masters in Psychology

Masters in Business Analytics

I am the Customer

Rahul Chauhan

University of Delaware · Venture Fellow, VentureOn Incubator

LinkedIn GitHub Email me

Budge before you splurge.

Be among the first when we launch in September 2026.