Your small habits are bankrupting you

Hey Future Millionaire,

This week, I had a call with Marcus, a 34-year-old marketing director who just found out his company is cutting 30% of staff.

He's smart. Talented. Just got promoted 6 months ago.

But when he showed me his bank account, I understood why he was panicking.

€5,694 in savings. With a €6,200 monthly burn rate.

"I thought I was doing fine," he said. "I mean, I'm not stupid with money."

That's when we had to do the thing no one wants to do: start cutting back.

And let me tell you, cutting expenses is painful. It forces you to look at everything you've let sneak into your life. The small indulgences. The lazy subscriptions. The "I deserve this" splurges.

It made me realise something important:

The time to be strict isn't when you're in crisis. It's before the crisis ever hits.

So whether you're feeling financially stretched or just want to bulletproof your budget, here are my 10 no-nonsense ways to cut back your spending without hating your life:

10 ways to cut back (that actually work)

1. Track every cent for 30 days

James thought he was spending €500/month on groceries. The reality? €1,147. The difference was all those "quick stops" at the corner shop. You can't fix what you don't see.

2. Add "no-spend" days to your month

This is my personal favourite. If you need to cut back your spending, give yourself fewer opportunities to spend. You could choose to only spend on even days of the month.

This will force you to plan more, be mindful and shop less.

3. Reduce your exposure

Lisa deleted three food delivery apps from her phone. Result? She cooked 5 more meals at home that week and saved €73.

Fewer temptations = fewer regrets.

4. Cancel your auto-renewers

Sarah discovered she was paying for three fitness apps (€47/month) plus a meditation app she used twice. One brutal Sunday afternoon saved her €564 per year. If it didn't improve your week, cancel it.

5. Sleep on every purchase over €50

Tom wanted a €280 coffee machine. Added it to his wish list. Three days later, he realised his current machine worked fine. He was just bored. That pause saved him from impulse spending.

6. Plan your meals like a boss

Food waste is budget sabotage. One planning session per week can save you €50+ easy.

Maria went from throwing away €80 of food monthly to almost zero waste.

7. Downgrade, don't delete joy

You don't need to eliminate fun.

Just shift it. One dinner out becomes a homemade tapas night with friends. Same laughter, half the cost.

8. Audit your "small" habits

Your €3.50 coffee is fine until it's every workday. That's €91 per month. €1,092 per year.

This is what Wendy realised when she added up all the coffees she got in the shop. Even though she gets free coffee in her office next door!

9. Block your impulse channels

Unfollow your favourite brand on Instagram. Mute the influencer selling you stuff. Create space between you and your urge to spend.

For me it was deleting the Nike SNKRS app. See, I'm not immune either!

10. Make cutting back a game

David turned expense cutting into competition with his flatmate. Whoever spent less on groceries each week got to pick the Netflix show.

Sounds silly? He cut his food bill by 40%.

The bottom line:

Spending is like your diet. The cleaner your regular habits, the less painful it is when you need to tighten up.

Marcus? After our session, he cut €1347 from his monthly expenses without feeling deprived. His secret wasn't willpower. It was having a system.

But if there's one big lesson, it's that it's so much easier to prevent lifestyle inflation than to reduce it after the fact.

So be intentional. Be a gatekeeper.

Because adding expenses is easy, but cutting them later? That's the part that hurts.

Money Mastery insight

Since I launched the new 4-call Money Mastery coaching package last month, 30 people have signed up.

But now that I get to spend more time with people, one flaw has become painfully obvious.

I used to skip the spending part to focus mostly on the investments.

I now realise even more that financial freedom is achieved on the spending side of the balance sheet.

When we get that dialled in, the investments are a simple tactic that follows.

Free strategy calls

To make the intro calls even more valuable, I've lengthened them to 25 minutes.

This way, we can spend more time talking about your individual situation and how I can help.

But my friend, there are only 2 left for the coming week. You can book yours here:

I'm on a quest to become a better runner. So I will head into the garden for a core workout before the rain starts!

Have a wonderful weekend!

— Sjoerd
Financial Freedom Coach | Ex-Sales Director | Still Human Like You

P.S.
If 1:1 coaching is not in your budget, I can still help.
I am working on a small group coaching program to help more people like you to create their financial freedom plan.

If you’d like to be the first to be notified about this, send me a DM on LinkedIn.