Stop what you’re doing and get a pen and piece of paper. Don’t read on until you have it ready.

 

With pen poised and blank sheet in front of you, write down everything you spent money on today or yesterday. Don’t judge what you spent on, judge your recall. The game is to make sure you remember everything, not to imagine a small total.

 

I’ll share mine, although it’s a bit rubbish: my back hurt, so I stayed in all day, and didn’t spend anything. Thinking a bit harder, though, I remember I got a text message last thing in the evening from my daughter that she needed a deposit immediately for her new flat (she’s starting a new year at college), and so I sent money to her account. So there was something, and it was quite a lot!

 

What does yours look like? I hope, even if it was more complicated than that, it was still a lot cheaper. If it was too easy, perhaps go back another day.

 

The day before had more going on. Thinking back, I met a friend for coffee, but he paid. What about lunch? I packed lunch from home, a left-over salad from the day before. Damn, I’ve got nothing. But I drove to work, and parked my car, and although the money for that is stored on a pre-paid card, so there was no “cash out” that day, it was still spent then, so I can record it.

 

Did I buy nothing else? Anything on the internet? I bought some new running shorts in an online sale that I won’t be using for a while now with my bad back, but I think I bought those the day before yesterday, or even earlier, not yesterday.

 

You can see how tricky the exercise can get – that’s why it’s so important to do it as soon as possible. Writing down everything either in the evening of the same day or the morning after is the best way to know exactly what you’re doing.

 

This could become a simple part of a journaling exercise: noting down what you did the day before. While writing down what you did, how much it cost, you could also note how it made you feel, if it was worth it, if other things were better, how you feel about it today.

 

Knowing what you’re doing is a basic form of self-awareness. Nothing is more zen.