I Tracked Every Single Rupee for 30 Days — Here are the Shocks (and What I Did About It)

Spoiler: My UPI app became my therapist, my barista, and my biggest enemy. Not the usual 'I stopped buying coffee' blog. It's deeper.

DAY 1 - "This'll be fun, I guess."

I opened my Notes app and named it "Where My Money Is Running Off To." Sounded harmless. I thought I was being financially responsible. I mean, I don't buy designer bags, I barely party, and I don't smoke, so this little experiment would surely demonstrate that I was a mature adult with her finances on lock.

Except... no.

By the end of Day 1, I had spent:

- ₹180 – Zomato order (because the dal didn’t smell “right”)

- ₹90 – Auto ride when I could have walked

- ₹250 – A random home decor thingy I saw on Instagram

- ₹199 – A monthly subscription I forgot existed (still don’t know what it does)

I told myself, "Okay, fine. Off-day. Let's just keep going."

WEEK 1 - The avalanche begins.

Here is a morsel of what seven days spent swiping, tapping, and saying "Treat yourself!" looks like when written out in raw numbers:

Food & Drink:

- Zomato / Swiggy – ₹1,490

- Coffee shops (yes, plural) – ₹870

- Groceries (impulsive snacky ones) – ₹620

Transport

- Uber / Auto – ₹1,180

- Petrol – ₹780

Impulse Buys

- Insta product ads – ₹1,350

- Amazon 'late-night boredom' haul – ₹2,290

- App subscriptions I didn't even use – ₹1,497

Total: ₹10,077 in ONE WEEK.

And you know what the worst part was? I couldn't see it while it was happening. Every ₹180, ₹350, ₹99 felt like "just this one time." But they were happening daily. That's what wrecked me.

What Triggered These Spends?

Oh yeah. Let's talk emotions—because this wasn't about "bad math." This was about:

- Boredom: Most Amazon buys happened between 11 PM and 2 AM. Doomscrolling + "You deserve it" = checkout.

- Stress: I used coffee runs as escape pods from my to-do list.

- Insecurity: Insta ads caught me with "elevate your content aesthetic" captions. Hook, line, ₹1,350 sinker.

- Guilt avoidance: Ordering food was my way of not dealing with the guilt of not meal-prepping.

Every rupee had a story, and that story was me avoiding something.

The Lowest Point

On the 18th day of the month, my bank balance fell below ₹4,000 with 12 days still to go. Oh, that pit in the stomach? I felt it. Rent was auto-debiting in 5 days. I literally sat staring at my statement whispering, "Where the hell did it go?"

The Fix — Without Becoming a Frugal Zombie 🧟‍♀️

Let us be clear: I'm not washing and reusing ziplocks suddenly. Here are the things I actually did, which helped but didn't cause me to kill joy:

1. I made a Frivolous Budget (Intentionally, Yes)

So I provided myself with a budget of ₹3,000 a month to buy all the stupid, fun things that I didn't need. Once that ₹3K runs out, I can't buy anything else. Surprisingly, I used to appreciate my random purchases more when I had a fixed pool.

2. App Clean-Up Like I Was Going to Die for It

Cancelled 5 subscriptions. Almost 1497 per month. To be frank, I was paying for companies I hadn't even interacted with in six months. Gone.

3. Every UPI Swipe = A Screenshot

Extreme? Yes. But wow, did it change things. Every time I scanned a QR code or tapped to pay, I would take a screenshot and add a quick note like "stress coffee" or "bored midnight buy." The patterns emerged real fast for me.

4. Created a "Buy Later" List Instead of Adding to Cart

I would put every "I want to buy this" thought down in my Notes app for a week every time the urge struck me. 90 out of 100 times, I would realize I didn't want it after that week. That was how I realized impulse is louder than logic.

5. Emotional Audit, Not Just Financial One

Every Sunday, I went back to review the week and asked myself, "What did I feel when I spent?" For me, this felt a whole lot more significant than the expenditure itself. It made me realize - budgeting is not so much money management as it is emotion management.

What Changed after 30 Days?

- In the second month, I saved ₹12,000 without deprivation.

- Conscious spending or zero buyer remorse.

- Asking myself, "Do I need this, or is it just a thing I'm feeling?"

- It felt as though I was finally getting one about my money story, rather than merely reacting to it.

Final Thoughts (and a Little Tough Love)

Track your "not that bad" spending to see how it looks. No guessing. No estimating. WRITE. IT. DOWN. Every rupee. Every swipe. Every "just this once."

This doesn't mean you give up those lattes or don't live your life anymore; rather, you just don't go financially blind to it. That's the real freedom: the ability to be aware enough to spend without shame or regret.

Not be a monk, then. But be that woman who knows where her money goes and why.

Let me know if you want a free copy of the budget tracker I used-or will just post it in the next blog on how I turned this into a low-effort, high-reward weekly system.

Until then-track it. And don't flinch.

Going in Cold: What I Didn't Expect to Know

1. Your "harmless" ₹99s are out for blood

Those cute little app trials for ₹99 each? Seven of them. Seven! It felt like nothing at all, but collectively they were killing me like mosquitoes. Henceforth to be called "Death by a Thousand ₹99s." Canceled all but two. The ones I actually use: Canva Pro and Notion AI.

2. Convenience and emotional outsourcing are two different ballgames

Ordering in isn't just a matter of convenience; it's emotional outsourcing. I realize now that food has been my balm against stress, or a distraction from feeling lonely, or an avoidance of something hard (like chopping onion when I was already tired). So now I just let myself feel what I feel...stress or no stress, I don't need to mute it with butter chicken.

3. Guilt hangover is worse than the buy

Every purchase I did outside the necessary bad was always tainted with guilt hangover. Not so much guilt over the money spent, rather guilt over how purchasing took away the power I thought I had. Being intentional made me feel pride. That thing is seriously addictive, in a good way.

The Monthly Breakdown of Spending (Unedited Dump)

For the curious, here is how my spending went before and after this tracking:

Category	Before (₹)	After (₹)	Change (%)
Food Delivery	4,520	1,450	-68%
Subscriptions	2,340	720	-69%
Impulse Shopping	3,640	1,000	-72%
Transport	2,090	1,180	-44%
Coffee/Cafes	1,370	420	-69%
Total Saved	—	—	₹9,290

That's nearly ten grand back in my pocket — in just one month.

What I Do Now (And You Can Copy-Paste)

Here is my exact system for maintaining sanity with spending now:

Screenshot System: Every payment, screenshot + 3-word reason. (e.g., "scroll trap order") ✅

Sundays: 15 mins checking spends-trigger-review. ✅

Frivolous Capping: ₹3K on silly things per month. Makes me enjoy each treat. ✅

Buy Later List: Anything bought on impulse goes here. If I still want it in a week, it is a go. ✅

Tracker Template: One tab for spends. One tab for moods. ✅

Reader Challenge (Join Me)

Here’s a challenge for you, if you are reading this:

Track every rupee you spend for the next 7 days. Don't change anything. Just observe. Screenshot every UPI/payments; write a note with the emotion behind it.

After 7 days, DM or comment on your total. Let's make money awareness the new flex.