Spending audit survey results!

By far the biggest insight was in the cost of food. Whether it was just lamenting that the cost of food has gone up as much as it has, or how buying food online for delivery can really add up over time, readers seemed to come away from this exercise shocked at how much of their monthly spend went toward food and food-adjacent expenses. Another interesting insight: how easy it is for ordering expensive food delivery to become a habit. 

>  Hidden charges:  Nearly one-third of readers discovered that they were paying for things or services that they were no longer using. The most common sneaky expense were (unsurprisingly) streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and YouTube Premium (to name a few). Many readers outright canceled the unused services or downgraded access to the ones they used less frequently. Another common sneaky charge was subscriptions to apps for children through the App Store or Google Play Store. Some discovered useless iCloud storage plans. Others realized that they were paying for multiple postpaid lines or services that overlapped. One reader canceled an unused annual subscription that will save them over ?10,000! Nice!

> Best tips/tricks:  The key themes of your tips and tricks were consistency, simplicity, and self-awareness. That last one (for me) is the key to the whole exercise. Being mindful of my goals, my income, and my obligations can help me stay “in the moment” when it comes to spending (or not spending) money. I know that sounds like therapy talk, but what I’ve discovered through this process--and readers based on the feedback--is that the most important thing is to snap yourself out of autopilot mode when it comes to spending your money. 

> Expenses as a percentage of income:  As you can see from the chart [link], the majority of readers (nearly two-thirds) spent more than half their monthly income in January. Over 35% even reported spending less than 50% of their income on expenses, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. What’s even more interesting is that about half of readers responded that they spent about 50% of the money in January on things that they would consider to be “core” expenses [link]. That means the average responder had a very high level of discretionary income (money that can be used for non-essential purposes). Good work! 

MB BOTTOM-LINE:  This is my first time guiding readers through this process at scale, so I appreciate your patience with the process, and the time and effort you’ve taken to both do the exercise and provide such detailed feedback. The next time I do this, I’ll be able to point readers toward the tips, tools, and insights that you’ve provided to give the next batch a head start. You’re MB Spending Audit pioneers, and I appreciate you! Based on what you’ve said, I think a good number of readers actually saved a good deal of money canceling unused or under-used subscriptions, which can really add up when multiplied out by the 12 months in a year, and a good number more will set themselves up for keeping a little more money in the bank after each pay period as they go forward with a greater sense of their financial goals and spending weaknesses. For me, the key is always to strike a balance. Like trying to clean up my diet, it’s just not sustainable if I cut out everything fun and tasty. Likewise, I’d never survive a self-imposed regime of clean spending. I always give myself little cheats, otherwise, what’s the point? My problem is that my monkey brain always figures out a way to trick me into thinking that I deserve more cheats than I need, and that’s why it’s so important for me to run these audits once or twice each year. The problem is never solved with finality. Spending discipline is a lifelong learning process for me.