Most money problems aren't big purchases. They're small, recurring, forgotten ones — the $9 here, the $14 there, the tool you signed up for to do one thing six months ago and never opened again.
The fix isn't a budget spreadsheet. It's a one-time, ten-minute audit that finds the leaks so you can plug them and forget about it.
The ten-minute audit
Open your last two months of card statements. You're not categorizing everything — you're only hunting for the same charge appearing twice or more.
- Flag anything that recurs and that you can't recall using in the last 30 days.
- Split them into "keep" and "cancel in the next five minutes."
- Actually cancel the second group before you close the spreadsheet — that's the whole point.
You don't find money by earning more. You find it by noticing what's quietly draining out the bottom.
Do this twice a year and the leaks never build up. The goal isn't to spend nothing — it's to spend only on what's actually doing something for you.
