When you left your packed lunch in the office fridge and went out to the corner deli with your co-workers, it was only $11.
But then you made that unscheduled stop at Starbucks, downloaded that song from itunes, picked up that blouse on 75% off sale and bought a new book at Target.
All of these are things that most of us have done and then justified with the “It’s only” 5, 10 or 15 dollars.
Being mindful with our big stuff spending is important, but all the good we do there can be undone if we are not just as careful with the little stuff.
In our house, by count – fully one half of our spending transactions last month were under $25 and by total dollar amount – one half of our transactions were under $100. Clearly, paying attention to small transactions is important in our financial life and I bet it is for yours as well.
If you are trying to pay off debt, then starting right now, there is no “It’s only”. Everything counts.
The only exception to this is your very modest amount of budgeted blow money.
If you have already killed that debt monster – Yea You! Celebrate but don’t backslide. If you stop budgeting or if you only pay attention to the big stuff then you are quitting way before the finish line. Keep moving up those baby steps and collect the prize of true financial peace.