💰 This Week: The Small Expenses That Add Up
Discover how tiny daily purchases and recurring expenses silently drain your budget and learn practical strategies to eliminate them while paying off debt.
The Debt Emergency Mindset
🚨 For Debt Emergencies Only!
This is only for those people in debt. If you’re just looking for more money to invest or save, you don’t need to watch every cent and never buy little things like coffee on the way to work. But if you are in debt, emergency!!
🔍 The Small Stuff Matters
So you’re going to have to watch those little purchases that add up. Go through those expenses. It’s this little stuff that can add up and that can be eliminated when you have a debt to pay off.
📊 The Small Expense Multiplier Effect
Daily Coffee: $5 × 20 days = $100/month
Lunch Out: $12 × 10 days = $120/month
Impulse Buys: $15 × 4 times = $60/month
Unused Gym: $50/month
Total Monthly Waste: $330
That’s $3,960 per year going toward debt instead!
Daily Habits: The Silent Budget Killers
☕ The Coffee Conversation
The daily coffee-buying habit gets stressed on a lot when talking about budgeting, and it’s well deserved. Don’t you have a coffee maker at home?
🏪 Coffee Shop Routine
- $5-7 per coffee
- 20+ minutes wait time
- Add-on purchases (pastries, snacks)
- Monthly cost: $100-150
- Annual cost: $1,200-1,800
🏠 Home Coffee Solution
- $0.50-1.00 per coffee
- 5 minutes preparation
- No additional temptations
- Monthly cost: $15-30
- Annual cost: $180-360
⏰ The Morning Routine Reality Check
How is it that people who swear they can’t function without coffee but manage to shower, dress, and leave the house before they buy some of the way to work? No more Starbucks or Rituals.
🏆 Your Coffee Upgrade Strategy
Buy the best machine, beans, grounds, whatever else you require and make it at home. You will still be spending less.
Beyond Coffee: Other Daily Money Drains
🎯 The Impulse Purchase Problem
Coffee is an easy target for this kind of spending, but it manifests in lots of other ways. Snacks at the cashier, a new nail polish or lipstick at Pennywise. None of these things alone will break you, but chances are, more money than you realise is going to this sort of stuff. Money that should be going into paying off your debt.
🍫 Checkout Lane Temptations
Candy, chips, drinks – those $2-5 purchases add up quickly when you’re shopping multiple times weekly.
Monthly savings: $20-50
💄 Beauty Impulse Buys
New makeup, nail polish, hair products – bought because they’re on sale, not because you need them.
Monthly savings: $15-40
📱 App & Game Purchases
In-app purchases, premium features, game credits – the digital equivalent of loose change.
Monthly savings: $10-30
🚗 Convenience Fees
ATM fees, late payment fees, delivery charges – paying for poor planning.
Monthly savings: $15-60
Shopping: Buy Used, Save Big
🛍️ The Secondhand Revolution
Almost anything you can buy new, you can buy used. And for less, often a lot less. Look through the classifieds for garage sales there! Check online sites such as Thrifty Secondhand Store. People get rid of a lot of stuff, some of it never used, worn, or even opened.
📉 Secondhand vs. New Price Comparison
New: $80-120 | Used: $15-25
New: $50-200 | Used: $10-50
New: $300+ | Used: $50-150
New: $100-300 | Used: $20-60
👗 The Clothing Shopping Ban
Clothes, appliances, kitchen items, all of this you can find at a second-hand store such as Goodwill. Sure, you need more time to look through random things to find what you’re looking for and it takes longer than running into West Mall or Gulf City and grabbing one off the shelf, but you will pay a lot less.
🎭 Special Occasions Exception
You shouldn’t be doing any clothes shopping, and if there is a wedding, graduation or similar event and you don’t have anything to wear and need something nicer than you can find at Goodwill, there is a local onsite that sells used graduation dresses and formal wear.
Gym Membership: Paying for Intentions
🏋️ The Reality Check
You might be spending money and not even realise it. That old gym membership…do you really go as often as you should? Maybe at paying when you do go might be worth it!
💸 Gym Membership Math
$50/month × 12 months = $600/year
If you go twice weekly: $5.77 per visit
If you go monthly: $50 per visit
Reality: Most people overestimate their usage
🏠 Free Alternatives
Download online exercise videos, if you can’t sleep at one o’clock in the morning and quick workout may be just the thing you need!
- YouTube workout channels (free)
- Running/walking outdoors (free)
- Bodyweight exercises at home (free)
- Community center classes (low cost)
📱 The Digital Gym Solution
Download online exercise videos – there are thousands of free workouts available for every fitness level and time constraint. Perfect for early mornings, late nights, or whenever you have 15-30 minutes free.
💵 Your Small Stuff Savings Plan
$100/month saved
$50/month saved
$75/month saved
$50/month saved
$275/month
$3,300/year
📈 Coming Next Week: The Medium Stuff & Interest Rates
Stay tuned as we tackle medium-sized expenses and the critical topic of interest rates. Learn how to reduce your debt faster by understanding and lowering the interest you pay.
“A wealthy person is simply someone who has learned how to make money when they’re not working.” – Robert Kiyosaki
📚 Continue Your Debt Reduction Journey
Working through our debt reduction series? Check out our previous articles on Food Budget Savings and Housing & Transportation Costs.
