August Part 2 - Expenses

Week Two

My photos are normally by magicalstock.art. This week’s photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Welcome to Part 2 of August’s focus inside The Simplified Year!

This week, we’re moving beyond subscriptions and diving deep into our everyday expenses. The sneaky ones that have become habitual. The ones we’ve stopped noticing, but which still impact our bottom line.

It’s time to reclaim awareness, stop leaking money where we don’t mean to, and put that energy toward the things that actually matter.

Where are you starting from this week? Is this something you struggle with?

This Week’s Focus: Expenses

This week, we’re looking at what your life actually costs, beyond the big stuff like rent, mortgage, and car payments. Not that they shouldn’t be included in the list, but this week we really narrow our focus on the steady drip-drip-drip of daily expenses, like:

• Takeout

• Fancy coffees

• Electricity

• Grocery store extras

• That random Target run.

• Even the extra-long showers your kids (or you) are fond of.

Where is your money going that you're not actually choosing?

Why This Matters (Mindset Reset)

Too often, we move blindly and automatically through our spending, and come up against hard walls with our credit or account limits, instead of leaving some cushion or breathing room.

We swipe a card, click "order again," or agree to that little add-on without even noticing what it costs. And the cost isn’t just in dollars, it’s in stress, physical clutter from what we buy, and mental clutter, too.

Money is a form of energy, and when we use it without awareness, it’s like leaving all the windows open in winter and wondering why we’re freezing and broke - nobody can afford to heat the outdoors with their furnace. When we don’t know what’s going out, it’s hard to know what’s possible. And that not knowing creates more stress than the actual numbers ever will.

Trust me, I struggled with this for years. Budgeting apps didn’t stick. My own spreadsheets fell apart in weeks. I hated looking at my money. It was almost like I believed if I didn’t look, I couldn’t run out… wrong.

Then a friend recommended YNAB (You Need a Budget) and, listen, that’s not an affiliate link. I’m not selling anything, I just love this program. But if your brain works like mine (read: distractible, intuitive, non-linear) and budgeting has felt like torture, it might be a game changer. It helped me see where I’m actually at, in real time, without judgment, and get a grip on where every dollar was actually going each month.

It didn’t cure my impulsive spending (hello, ADHD), but it created just enough structure that I could breathe. I didn’t always maintain it, but it was the easiest one I’ve found to catch up with.

If not YNAB, find something. An app, a notebook, a printable template.
Something that helps you see what’s going on without shame. Keep trying until you find the one that works for you!

Because when we see clearly, we can choose wisely.