Where the money actually goes
Most people have a rough sense that money "goes somewhere," but very few could tell you exactly where. That vagueness is expensive. You can't cut what you can't see, so the first job — before changing a single thing — is simply to look. No judgement, no spreadsheet wizardry. Just an honest picture.
A simple outgoings audit
Set aside half an hour with a recent bank and credit-card statement, ideally covering a full month. Go down it line by line and sort everything into the categories below. Pen and paper is perfectly fine. You're not optimising yet — you're just finding out the truth.
Look for the quiet leaks
The painful discoveries are usually small and forgotten — a £9.99 subscription you stopped using in 2023, a magazine that still arrives. Circle anything that makes you think "I didn't realise I was still paying for that." Those are your easiest wins.
