Welcome to The Happy Giraffe!
Your first happy week starts today!
Our mission is to help you find happiness in budgeting (yes, YOU!)
If other budgets haven’t worked for you, that’s not your fault. Download the free app and see what your week can look like!
Free to use! No credit card needed!
The Happy Giraffe is a free budgeting system.
It maps out your paychecks and bills for the next two years, then turns what’s left into one number to spend each week. We call it Happy Money.
All you watch each week
Your Happy Money refills
Once-a-year bills won’t sneak up on you!
Your forecast looks two years out
Budgeting that looks forward, not back
Most budgets start with what you already spent. Ours starts with what’s coming in.
Income first
Start with what’s coming in. You don’t have to track a month of spending before you’re allowed to begin. You can start today!
Bills planned ahead
Your paychecks and bills are mapped out ahead of time, so those once-a-year bills (car registration, we’re looking at you!) are already planned for.
One weekly number
Whatever’s left after the bills becomes your Happy Money for the week. One number. That’s it! Spend it on whatever makes you happy. Just don’t go over! Didn’t spend it all? It gets added to next week’s. Went over? Next week starts a little lower, and you get a fresh start.
The app does the math. You do the living.
We built the app so the calendar, the math, and your Happy Money all live in your pocket. Set up your budget once. After that, add what you spend and mark your bills paid as they come. That’s it!
- Your Happy Money, front and center. The first thing you see when you open the app.
- Little wins along the way. Earn leaves and level up!
- Made for couples. Share one budget with your partner, so you both see every purchase right away.
Prefer to watch first? Take a quick look at the app
Made by two people who needed this too
We’re Nigel and Laura Bloomfield. We tried hard at budgeting, but the systems we tried just didn’t work for us. After our bankruptcy in 2007, grad school is where it finally clicked. We prepaid the rent for the semester, split what was left into weekly amounts, and lived on one number at a time. It was the first budget that we could live with!
We started The Happy Giraffe in 2021 because other places were charging crazy fees to teach budgeting, and we believe learning it should be free. We’re not finance gurus. We’re parents who found a happier way to handle money.
People who started right where you are
“Thank you so much for everything you do. You have saved my year and mental health.”
Sarah D.
“I tend to cheat with other budgets. A weekly spending budget will work better for someone like me.”
Rosa
“Yours is the only budgeting system which tells me what I really need to know, if and when we are at a pressure point. It enables me to predict where we are. Thank you so much for the work you are putting into this.”
Adrian
Not ready for the app? Start here instead.
Start with the free spreadsheets
Our free budget spreadsheet and our free debt payoff spreadsheet have already helped more than 500,000 people. Open one today, put your real numbers in, and start seeing real change!
Watch the free course first
Our free video course walks you through setting up your budget from start to finish. Watch at your own pace, then follow along in the app!
Read the book
The Happy Giraffe Budget tells our whole story and teaches the system step by step. It’s for adults with bills to pay who have tried budgeting before and given up.
Learn it. Live it. Give it forward.
Learn the system, put it to work with our free tools, or help someone else get started.
Learn how to budget happy
No judgment, no guilt, just a system made for real people with real lives. (Perfect people need not apply!) Start with our free video course and our book, The Happy Giraffe Budget.
Live your happy budget
This is where budgeting finally starts to feel happier! The free app, the free budget spreadsheet, and the free debt payoff spreadsheet all live here. Pick the one that fits you.
Give back
We’re a small nonprofit with a big heart. Everything we make is free, and your donations keep it that way. Be part of someone’s turning point!
Help is always free
Questions while you set up, or a win you want to share? Write to us at hello@happygiraffe.org. We’re a small nonprofit, so a reply can take a little while. We read every note, we’ll never judge you for where you’re starting, and we’re SO glad you’re here!
