I tried more budgeting apps and spreadsheets than I’d like to admit before one actually stuck. The problem was never the tool — it was that I didn’t understand where my money was actually going until I sat down and genuinely tracked it.
How to build a monthly plan that survives contact with real life, how to spot the small recurring expenses that quietly drain a budget, and how to build an emergency fund that actually gets used for emergencies.
Every other financial goal — investing, insurance, retirement — sits on top of a working budget. Get this part right, and everything else gets easier. I learned that the hard way, one overdrawn month at a time.
In 2022, when I moved to Bangalore for a new job with a monthly take-home of ₹65,000, I tried to follow the 50/30/20 rule to the letter. My rent alone ₹22,000 for a 1BHK in a decent locality plus an ₹8,000 EMI on an old education loan already ate ₹30,000 of my supposed ₹32,500 “needs” … Read more
Reviewing a full year of my bank statement in January 2024, prompted by a friend asking me for saving tips I didn’t feel qualified to give yet, I found ₹4,700 worth of active subscriptions I hadn’t used in at least four months, spread across three separate services I’d forgotten I was even still paying for. … Read more
For a long time, I genuinely believed I didn’t have a spending problem. I never made one big, dumb purchase I could point to and say, “that’s what wrecked my month.” No impulsive gadget upgrade, no random weekend trip on a credit card, nothing dramatic. And yet, almost every month, somewhere around the 22nd or … Read more
I tried more budgeting apps and spreadsheets than I’d like to admit before one actually stuck. The problem was never the tool — it was that I didn’t understand where my money was actually going until I sat down and genuinely tracked it.
How to build a monthly plan that survives contact with real life, how to spot the small recurring expenses that quietly drain a budget, and how to build an emergency fund that actually gets used for emergencies.
Every other financial goal — investing, insurance, retirement — sits on top of a working budget. Get this part right, and everything else gets easier. I learned that the hard way, one overdrawn month at a time.