Here is a question: how much did you spend on groceries last month? Most of us answer approximately, then look at the bank statement and get a surprise. That is not a personal failing — it is how memory works. We remember large, rare expenses and forget small, frequent ones.
The problem is that most of the money leaves through the small, frequent ones.
The three-month rule
One month is not enough. A single month can contain a wedding, a holiday, a repair or an illness — and then it is not a normal month at all. Take three: card statements, the transaction history in your banking app, and cash withdrawals.
- Download three months of statements from your banking app.
- Note cash withdrawals separately — this is the biggest blind spot.
- Do not forget automatic payments: subscriptions, internet, mobile plans.
Cash is the blind spot
In Azerbaijan a good share of daily spending is still cash: the market, a taxi, a small shop. Two hundred manat out of a cash machine appears as one line on a statement, but it is really fifteen different purchases.
For one week, write down every manat of cash you spend in a notes app on your phone. A week is enough to see the shape of it.
Sort it into categories
Seven categories are enough: rent, utilities, groceries, transport, loan repayments, eating out and leisure, other. More categories do not mean more accuracy — they just mean more work, and the work gets abandoned half done.
Your largest expense is rarely the one you think about most. That is why the number matters more than the impression.
After this lesson
When you have three months of figures, move on to the next lesson: we turn them into a single number.