Tracking the little things

[Rayn22]

I keep reading it's the little things that add up. Has anyone ever tracked them and found it has made a big difference. I can't imagine how my odd costa and lunch out can make such a big difference. What do you class as the little things?

Lunch out £7.50 Costa £3.00 there's over a tenner a day that's £50 a working week or £200 a month.

Parking costs too

I pay £3.50 a day if I can't find a free space

I think it does.

I did this a few years ago. The things I was frittering money away on were magazines, sandwiches, snacks, drinks and flowers.
When I added it up I was horrified at how much money I was spending on unnecessary things.

Now I make theses things rare treats and it has definitely had a positive impact on my back balance.

I've just bought a budget planner to keep track of everything and to help get myself in a better financial position. I wouldn't class lunch out or Costa as little things. Those would be treats to me. Little things here are a bag of cookies to share after swimming, a chocolate bar or doughnuts after the school run, a fizzy drink when out, getting the bus instead of walking home from school. It's a big hill and sometimes if the weather is awful then the bus is a blessing but it's a minimum of £1.50 depending on the bus but can be £3. That soon adds up.

I suppose I don't count a bag of sweets for the kids. I need to buy a tracker and see what I save! Just stopped myself from going to the sandwich shop so that a fiver saved. Will put it away.

Costa isn't a "little thing", it's very expensive really.

If it gives you value or there is no alternative, fine I guess.

I reckon my coffee machine has paid for itself 3x over in reduced costa consumption. I still get it, just much less.

Basically anything you buy out (coffee, sandwiches) is probably 3x the price you could make it for at home.

I still use places for sandwiches/coffee if I am on an unshceduled outing. But generally if it was for work every day then I would make my own sandwiches and a lot of workplaces have free or subsidised coffee. I think most people do the same ?

A lot of new online bank accounts can track this for you.
If you are prepared for every eventuality - like make your own lunch, bring a bottle of water, etc then the spending drops.Same for dinners.
I used to buy a paper daily that £1x7 or £28 a month. I just watch the news and save the money.

Not only that they are little things, but often, they are mindless things. It's so easy now to tap your card and not even look at the total.
Set yourself a challenge, even if you do this for a week you might surprise yourself.
Write down your bank balance on a piece of paper. Every time you spend, write that down and deduct from the balance. Include bills/direct debits too.
When it's visible in front of you and you are physically writing it down you will find you become more mindful about spending on things that just aren't needed or are not important.

Easiest way to do this is to grab a notebook (or notes app) on phone and jot down every spend. It's amazing how quickly it will add up.

For example yesterday mine was :

Dog walk - takeaway coffee as was frozen and wet lol £3.00.

Trip to shops - to return some sale buys:
Bus fare: £2.50
birthday card x2 - £4.00

Lunch - sandwich and drink - £6.50

Dog treats £3.00
Bird food: £5.00

Total: £24.00 on nothing really but you can see how it can add up over a week/ month/ year.

YNAB is also good if you want to track spending / budget better.

(I'm not counting the new boots I also bought whilst returning another pair) but you get the idea.

If you aren't well off or feel you aren't able to find funds for things you need or want then it's absolutely worth looking at your little spends. I used to be someone who made breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and had tea in the office to somehow having a cappuccino and pastry every weekday on the way in to work which is £20 a week but done every working day is £900 a year and new clothes for larger waistline!

Just started today in a little notebook! Would have spent a fiver but marked it down. See what I have saved by the end of the month.

I read "Your money or your life" 10 years ago, have tracked everything I spend in a spreadsheet since, identified spending that added no value no my life or i could find a perfectly good slternative for, and I'll retire 10 years earlier than I thought I could.

I induct new starters at work, and tell them they can use the perfectly good coffee machines or buy drinks in The Wild Bean cafe. I've never paid for a drink at work and saved about 9k in 18 years. That's how little things add up.

(It's not about being tight, or missing out on anything, it's about knowing you have X amount of cash, and spending it where it counts).

@SilentHedges that's incredible!! I remember that book. Whatever happened to Alvin Hall?!

The little things absolutely do add up, it's amazing if not too surprising really.

I use Monzo (am sure others offer similar) which lets you label and categorise all transactions as you spend which is helpful for looking back. Not helpful with cash but I don't use that much anymore.

Remember the adage look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves? It’s really true. You don’t notice how all the little bits add up over the course of a week/a month/a year.
I make a note of everything I spend, it really doesn’t take long. It’s also easier to see where you could save money by bulk-buying or planning ahead.

It depends how often you do it. Once or twice a month, unlikely to be a problem unless your budget is very tight, but daily or more often, it can add up to a huge amount over the month, year, decades.

For example, if you have a Costa and buy your lunch from somewhere like Pret or McDonalds (ie not a very cheap meal deal but not an actual restaurant meal, so fairly average, but a bit spendy), that could easily be £10 a day.

£10 every working day is £200 per month or well over £2k pa. That amount would buy pay for a holiday. Taken to extremes, if you invested an extra £2k pa and it grew at 5% pa after 10 years, you'd have about £30k.

If you pay for your 'little things' by card, you can download your transactions, possibly for the last year into a spreadsheet (or look for analysis in your banking app). However, the categorisation isn't as good as it could be, eg if you buy a supermarket meal deal, it's likely to be listed as 'groceries' and oddly, I think McDonalds counts as 'entertainment'.

We’re into our second year of DH’s pre-retirement and money is tight. Thankfully not forever.
I’ve just started my second Kakeibo (Japanese personal petty cash diary) which is just a printed version of PPs’ notebooks. You can decide the spending categories and put in every penny. I have 10 ranging from shopping to bus tickets. €250 per week which I regularly go over but it averages out at that.
With galloping inflation it’ll be interesting to compare spending year on year.

It’s a hardback book and I use a good pen so it’s a pleasant daily habit and means I don’t need to switch on the computer to track €0.58 parking!

I don’t track, but having been pretty much housebound for the past 2 weeks (illness) I’ve noticed a difference in my bank account!
I might start tracking….

@flowerycurtain Thank you. Alvin Hall was a different "Your Money or Your Life", he nicked the name for his own book/show. The original book came out in the 80's by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin www.goodreads.com/book/show/78428.Your_Money_or_Your_Life

I think there is an updated version for this era, but the principles remain the same (just not the savings rates!) That book really changed my life and as other posters have said, simply listing all your spending monthly, makes you accountable and makes you think about where you're spending cash. I use a spreadsheet, it's free (obviously ha!) Give it a go OP.

Do you mind sharing what budget planner you got,I definitely need one can’t decide, thanks

It depends on your lifestyle doesn’t it? I only buy an occasional coffee when I meet up with friends maybe once a month. Otherwise I would always go home and put the kettle on!

If I worked in a city centre and bought lunch out that would cost a fortune over a year.

So I don’t think cutting back on the little things would make much difference to me.

When I was working (in a school) I would take my own lunch eg just a sandwich and I would make a coffee using the shared facilities that staff would pay for in groups so pennies really.

@Sgtmajormummy what Kakeibo do you use?

We need to get a handle on our spending and as much as I love a spreadsheet I feel pen and paper are better for daily spending

@TreeWitch I have this one. The paper’s quite “furry” but it doesn’t show through. I think you can take your pick from Amazon.
Kakeibo