Calculating the costs of the little things

It can get a little hectic when trying to calculating monthly expenditure for your day to day living costs. However,  this is a great way to make big inroads into practicing money management and learning more about your biggest spending leaks.

Try out this ‘cost calculator‘ from insurance comparison site confused.com. Its’ a nifty widget that helps to total your monthly expenditure. After inputting a few of my figures i found some surprising leaks in my monthly expenditure. Simply enter your expense details and see how much you could be wasting each month:

Cost Calculator Widget created by Confused.com

One of my biggest leaks was buying lunches at work, it seems like a simple obvious expense, but i didnt realise how much i was wasting:

I am spending upwards of 60£ per month on lunches at work, and i think that this figure could be even higher when i factor in pub lunches and such. I think i could probably save £30-40 a month off my monthly expenditure by preparing my own lunches.

Eating out was also a reasonably large expense at £40 per month. While i am not likely to stop socialising and having meals out, perhaps i could cut back this figure slightly to perhaps £20 per month.

One action you could take from this widget is to jot down your biggest expenses and find out ways in which to reduce this monthly figure. Think of all those savings that are out for the taking… Feel free to post comments below on your biggest expenses or any shock surprises!