Top 10 Things To Stop Buying This Month

Cutting spending works best when it is specific. A vague plan to spend less rarely survives a week. A short list of things you have decided not to buy this month usually does.

Ten worth pausing

• Subscriptions you have not opened this month — check the list, not your memory.
• Coffee bought on autopilot — keep the ones you enjoy, drop the habit ones.
• Delivery fees — the food is the cost you meant to pay, the fee is not.
• Extended warranties — usually poor value against the price.
• Clothes bought in a sale you did not plan — a discount is not a saving.
• Upgrading a working phone — the old one still works.
• Single-use kitchen gadgets — they end up in a cupboard.
• Branded staples — flour, rice, painkillers, cleaning products.
• Convenience portions — pre-chopped and single-serve carry a large markup.
• Anything bought to feel better — worth noticing, not judging.

Total what you would have spent on these in a normal month. That figure is what a no-spend month is actually worth to you, and it is usually larger than expected.

Work out where it could go instead.