Student Expense Tracker — Python CLI for College Finance

College students in India lose track of monthly spending across UPI payments, canteen bills, mobile recharges, and travel — often overspending before month-end with no way to review where their money went. Existing apps require internet or account sign-ups. There was no simple, offline command-line tool a student could run instantly on any laptop. Process I started by mapping the 4 required features into a clean menu loop. I chose JSON file storage over in-memory lists so data survives restarts — a real student need. I built input validation for dates, amounts, and categories with helpful error messages. For the category chart, I used ASCII bar rendering to avoid any external libraries. I iterated on the budget warning to show a visual progress bar with percentage. I pre-loaded 5 realistic sample expenses (mess lunch, recharge, auto fare, canteen snacks, stationery) so reviewers see meaningful output immediately on first run. Results The program runs without errors, satisfies all 4 required features, and includes 2 bonus features (budget alerts and delete expense). It uses zero third-party libraries, stores data in a human-readable JSON file, and loads with 5 pre-seeded realistic expenses. Output is clearly formatted with Unicode box-drawing characters for readability in any terminal. Reflection With more time, I would add a monthly CSV export so students can share spending reports with parents or use them for scholarship applications. I would also add date-range filtering in the view screen and a recurring expense feature for fixed monthly costs like hostel fees.