Why You Are Not Bad With Money: The Truth Nobody Ever Told You About Spending, Stress And Being Human
People throw the sentence around all the time.
“I’m terrible with money.”
“I can’t trust myself.”
“I’m just not disciplined.”
It sounds honest, but it is almost always wrong. When someone believes they are “bad with money,” they are usually dealing with something entirely different. Something completely human. Something they were never taught to recognise.
Because here is the truth:
You are not bad with money.
You were given the wrong story about what your spending actually means.
The Psychology of Little Treats: Why Small Comfort Purchases Are Not The Problem (And What To Do When They Start Sneaking Up On You)
Every generation has its villain. Once upon a time it was avocado toast. Before that it was lattes. At one point it was scented candles. More recently, it is anything that brings you two minutes of joy for under a tenner.
If money conversations online are to be believed, your entire financial future hinges on whether or not you buy a £3.50 pastry.
This, of course, is nonsense.
Little treats have been unfairly blamed for everything from rising debt to a lack of discipline. In reality, they are one of the most predictable, harmless and psychologically normal parts of human spending. Everybody does it. Everybody has their go-to comfort purchases. Everyone has bought something on a day when life felt too long and they needed something small to soften the edges.
The Intentional Spending Formula: How To Build A Money Plan That Fits Your Actual Life (Not The Imaginary One You Think You Should Have)
If you have ever tried to follow a rigid budgeting method and given up within a week, you are in very good company. Most people try at least one “perfect” system at some point. Zero-based budgets, cash stuffing, envelope methods, colour-coded spreadsheets, highly disciplined routines that look great on TikTok for exactly 12 seconds.
But inevitably they all fail for the same reason. They are built for imaginary versions of ourselves. Imaginary you wakes up early, packs lunches, never forgets a direct debit, plans ahead, shops with lists, tracks every penny and has the emotional range of a very calm fish.
Actual you is juggling exhaustion, responsibilities, unexpected expenses, hungry people in your house, a phone full of notifications and nights where the only thing you want for dinner is something someone else cooks.
This is why traditional budgeting leaks. Not because the systems are wrong. Because they were built for someone else.
The Money Leak Audit: How To Find Out Where Your Money Is Really Going
Most people believe they already know where their money goes. In theory. In vibes. In memory. In the comforting illusion that if they just “tried harder” or “made better choices,” everything would feel under control.
Then they check their bank statements.
There is something strangely humbling about discovering that your “light spending month” actually included three Deliveroos, two panic-Sainsbury’s top-ups, a birthday you forgot was coming, and a suspicious number of small transactions that look like nothing but add up to the cost of a long weekend in Cornwall.
It is never one big disaster. It is always the tiny, boring, unglamorous decisions that leak quietly in the background.
This is exactly why this post focuses on clarity. Not budgeting. Not restriction. Not guilt. Just clarity. Because clarity is the only tool that consistently reduces stress, impulsive behaviour, money anxiety and that end-of-month “where did it all go” sinking feeling.
Welcome to the Money Leak Audit. It is simple, surprisingly revealing and specifically designed for people who are tired, overwhelmed or living in the real world rather than in an aesthetically pleasing pastel-coloured budgeting notebook.
Spend Like You Mean It: Learning To Finally Feel In Control
There is a moment most adults experience but rarely admit. It might happen while you are standing in Tesco holding a basket of completely ordinary items that somehow cost the GDP of a small island. Or it might hit the second you open your banking app, see the number, and feel personally betrayed. You stare at the screen thinking you honestly have no idea how this happened because you barely went anywhere and barely bought anything. Yet here we are again. Confusion. Irritation. A suspicion that someone must have hacked your account and spent it all on snacks.
If that sounds like you, welcome. Spend Like You Mean It is a space where money is talked about realistically. No guilt. No perfectionism. No minimalist purity tests. Just honest conversation about how humans actually behave with money.