The short answer: your money goes to the two places you are not looking. Recurring bills that quietly land whether you think about them or not, and small daily purchases that feel too tiny to count. The only way to stop the leak is to actually see it. Here is how I found mine.
The wake-up call
I wake up, check my account, and freeze: it is basically empty, and payday is still five days away. Where did all that money go? A week ago I seemed to be doing fine. A beer night easily fit the budget, I paid a couple of bills without thinking twice. And now here I am, anxiously calculating the price of instant noodles in my head, because that is what has to carry me through the next five days.
What did I do wrong?
Those damn bills
Thinking back, most of my bills were due a few days ago, along with my mobile plan. Yesterday the monthly gym fee went out too. If I had seen that coming, I certainly would not have closed last week in a craft beer bar.
And while we are at it, I should probably cancel a few subscriptions. Half of my streaming services were not even opened this month. Now that I add up what they cost, the total is surprisingly steep.
I need to know where my money goes
That morning I decided: no more instant noodle days next month. But I can only avoid overspending if I know what I spend on, and how much. How much goes to subscriptions? How much do I spend on coffee on the way to work? How much have I dropped into the snack machine over the month?
If I do not watch these, there is no chance of pulling off a month where I break even, let alone put something aside.
My solution: write down everything
Since then, I log my spending and plan my month ahead: how much I will spend on the small daily stuff, on bills, all the way to clothes. And on top of that, I want to save too.
I started with a spreadsheet. The method worked great for a few months, but then it slowly became impossible to follow. Not to mention that a spreadsheet on a phone is a nightmare. Standing at the register, trying to tap the right cell on a tiny screen, I kept asking myself: is there a better way?
A better way
I concluded that there is, and that is how GoHoardly was born. In it, I plan around my actual pay period instead of the calendar month, I track my spending in 4 buckets, and I can look back months on any spending type, from subscriptions to beer nights.
No more fighting a spreadsheet on my phone: logging a purchase takes a few taps right when I spend. Since then, not only have I said goodbye to instant noodles, I even manage to put money aside every month.