Unplanned Spending™: When Money Leaves Before You Decide

What is Unplanned Spending™?

Money is leaving before a decision is made. Individually the amounts feel small and reasonable; together they quietly absorb the money that could have been saved, invested or given on purpose.

Unplanned Spending™ is rarely about one big purchase. It is the accumulation of small, reasonable-feeling decisions that were never actually decisions at all.

The question worth asking

“Did I decide where my money would go — or did spending just happen?”

If spending just happens, the answer is not more discipline — it is more deciding. A decision made in advance costs far less than a hundred small decisions made in the moment.

Your Money Move™: PLAN IT.

Pre-decide discretionary spending and pause before unplanned purchases.

Start here: Before your next purchase that was not planned, pause for 24 hours and write it down instead of buying it.

This pattern is not your identity. It is simply a behaviour — and behaviours can change.