The $9 spreadsheet that killed my $40/month habit

Last month I noticed my bank app kept flagging small charges to the same coffee cart near my office in Portland. I thought it was maybe twice a week, but after three weeks of tracking, it was six days a week, every week. So I built a simple Google Sheet with just three columns, date, amount, and why I bought it. The 'why' column was brutal, half the entries said 'tired' or 'line was short' or 'it's Tuesday'. I cut it down to two coffees a week and put the difference into a separate savings account. That's $32 a month now sitting somewhere I can't touch with my debit card. Has anyone else tried the 'why did I buy this' column trick, or do you use something more complicated that actually sticks?

1 comments

1 Comment

grant.jason29d ago

I mean, I get the appeal of the 'why' column, but idk if blaming 'tired' or 'it's Tuesday' is really gonna change the habit long term. Maybe it's just me, but that feels like you're just finding excuses to drink the coffee, not actually fixing the craving.