I built Solvent because I was drowning.

Not in debt, exactly. Drowning in complexity.

I had three accounts across different spreadsheets. Each one tracking things in a slightly different way. Different categories. Different formulas. Different logic.

It was unmanageable.

When life was calm, I could keep up. But life isn't always calm. An overseas trip. Work chaos. Family stuff. And suddenly my numbers were three weeks behind, then six, then I'd lost the thread entirely.

Every time I sat down to “catch up,” I felt that familiar weight. The shame spiral. The avoidance. The quiet knowledge that I was supposed to be better at this by now.

So I'd close the laptop. Tell myself I'd deal with it tomorrow.

Tomorrow became next week. Next week became never.

I tried the apps. Of course I did.

They connected to my bank. They showed me colorful graphs. They categorized my spending automatically and presented it back to me like a report card.

Here's what you spent on food. Here's what you spent on “shopping.” Here's a red warning because you're over budget.

Thanks. I already knew I was failing. I didn't need a dashboard to confirm it.

Those apps are like a diet tracker that only tells you what you already ate. They show you the past. They don't help you change the future.

What I needed was something different. Something that would help me be present with my money. Aware. Conscious.

I couldn't find it. So eventually, I built it.

It started with my son.

He'd just gotten his first job, and his employer was on his case about timesheets. He kept forgetting to log his hours, and it was becoming a problem.

“You need an app,” I told him. “Let's build one.”

So we did. A simple time tracker. Clock in, clock out, done.

But I immediately saw the potential for my own work. I'm a freelancer - I needed to track time too. And clients. And projects. So I added those.

Then I thought: if I'm tracking time, I should be able to create invoices from it.

And if I'm creating invoices, I should be able to see what's coming in.

And if I can see what's coming in... shouldn't I also know what's going out?

That's when it clicked. This wasn't just a timesheet app. This was the financial clarity tool I'd been desperately needing for years.

The breakthrough came from something boring: a CSV import.

I uploaded my bank transactions. Hundreds of line items, dumped into the app. And then I started categorizing them.

One by one. Groceries. Fuel. Subscription I forgot I had. Coffee. Another coffee. That thing I bought online at 2am.

Something shifted.

The act of manually assigning a category to each transaction - of touching each purchase with my attention - changed how I felt about my spending.

I wasn't just reviewing data. I was becoming aware of patterns I'd never seen before.

That coffee habit wasn't just $5. It was $5 every day. It was avoidance disguised as caffeine. It was something I did when I felt stressed instead of dealing with the stress.

I didn't need an app to judge me for it. I needed an app that would help me see it clearly, so I could make my own choice about what to do next.

That's when I understood what Solvent needed to be.

The magic isn't in the features. It's in the friction.

Most finance apps optimize for convenience. Connect your bank, sync automatically, never think about it. That's the selling point.

But I've learned - the hard way - that awareness doesn't come from automation. It comes from attention.

So Solvent is built around a different idea: what if every transaction was a moment of presence?

We created something we call Quick Entry. It takes about ten seconds. You open the app, select a category, enter the amount, and submit. That's it.

Ten seconds. But in those ten seconds, something happens.

You pause. You feel what you're feeling. You notice if you're spending from excitement or anxiety or boredom. You become conscious of the money leaving your hands.

Over time, those moments add up. Spending becomes intentional. Decisions become yours again.

This isn't a new idea. People have been practicing conscious spending for decades - writing purchases in pocket notebooks, pausing before buying, building awareness one transaction at a time.

We just wrapped it in software that makes it easier.

I should tell you where I learned these principles.

Nearly two decades ago, I walked into a room full of strangers and admitted I needed help. Not with money - with something else. But the principles I learned there changed everything.

Awareness. Honesty. Accountability. Taking it one day at a time. Not trying to be perfect, just trying to be present.

Years later, I found myself in another room, this time focused on money. Different problem, same principles. And they worked - until my system got too complicated and I fell off the wagon.

Solvent is those principles, wrapped in software.

I'm not here to preach or convert anyone. These ideas aren't mine to sell - they're ancient, borrowed from recovery programs and spiritual traditions and therapy rooms around the world.

But I can make them easier to practice. That's what Solvent does.

And because these principles belong to everyone, there will always be a free tier. Always. Anyone who needs these tools can access them, regardless of what they can afford.

The paid plans cover the real costs of building and maintaining software. But the wisdom? That's free.

Today, Solvent is the app I use every day.

I track my spending. I know where my money goes. I have a plan for getting out of debt and a vision board for what comes after.

When I open the app, I don't feel shame. I feel clarity.

My son uses it for his timesheets. Friends I shared it with asked for their own accounts. A colleague saw it and immediately wanted to use it for his freelance work.

The feedback surprised me: “This is different.” “I actually use this one.” “It doesn't make me feel bad about myself.”

That's when I knew it was time to share it more widely.

If you've ever felt like money controls you instead of the other way around - Solvent was built for you.

If you've tried the apps and they just made you feel worse - Solvent was built for you.

If you want to get out of debt, or save for something meaningful, or just know where your money actually goes - Solvent was built for you.

Because it was built for me first.

And if I can change my relationship with money, so can you.