What Tovari does
Tovari is a personal finance app built around a single question:
How much money can I actually spend right now, without breaking something later?
That answer is the Safe to Spend number. Everything else in Tovari — accounts, the register, categories, envelopes, scheduled bills — exists to make that one number trustworthy.
The thesis
Section titled “The thesis”Most budgeting apps show you a balance. A balance overstates things: it still contains the rent that leaves on the first, the card payment you already authorized, and it knows nothing about the paycheck that has not landed yet.
Tovari starts from the money in your everyday spending accounts, sets aside what is already committed between today and your upcoming paychecks, and shows you what is genuinely left over. The result is one figure you can act on.
Three things follow from that, and they shape how the whole app behaves.
1. Safe to Spend is computed on the server
Section titled “1. Safe to Spend is computed on the server”Tovari does not add the number up in your browser or on your phone. The figure, its planning window, and its “getting tight” cushion are all worked out by the backend and sent to the apps already resolved, so the web app and the mobile app can never disagree about your money.
You choose two things about it: the planning window — how many upcoming paychecks it looks ahead, one, two, or three, with two as the default — and whether the cushion that turns the number amber is worked out automatically from your own typical spending or fixed at an amount you name. The cushion changes only when Tovari starts warning you, never the figure itself.
2. Only everyday spending accounts count toward it
Section titled “2. Only everyday spending accounts count toward it”Checking and savings accounts can be part of the Safe to Spend pool. Investment accounts, credit cards, and loans never can — that is by design, not a preference someone can flip. A credit line is not cash you have, and a retirement balance is not money you can spend on groceries.
Understanding Safe to Spend covers exactly which accounts are in, which are out, and what you can change.
3. Categorize everything, budget selectively
Section titled “3. Categorize everything, budget selectively”Every transaction in Tovari carries a category — there is a protected Uncategorized category so a row can never be left without one. That is what makes your reports and your typical spending a complete picture rather than a sample.
Budgeting is separate and opt-in. You flag the handful of categories you actually want to manage as envelopes and leave the rest categorized but unbudgeted. Nothing is flagged as an envelope for you.
What Tovari tracks
Section titled “What Tovari tracks”| Piece | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Where your money is. Grouped as Cash Accounts, Investments, Credit Cards, and Loans. |
| Register | Every transaction on an account, with a running balance and a status telling you how settled each row is. |
| Categories | What a transaction was for. Applied to everything, automatically where Tovari is confident. |
| Envelopes | The categories you chose to budget, with amounts that carry forward month to month. |
| Bills and schedules | What is coming, and when. Forecast only — Tovari never posts a payment behind your back. |
Movements between two of your own accounts are treated as transfers rather than spending, so paying your credit card off from checking never shows up as a new expense.
Where to start
Section titled “Where to start”Work through the Quick start in order. Each page picks up exactly where the last one left off, from an empty screen to a categorized register you can trust.