You know how you spend your money, right? After all, every time some money leaves your account or your pocket, it’s due to a decision you made.

Well, it turns out things aren’t quite that simple. For a number of reasons your grasp of your finances is likely to be a lot less precise than you think. In fact, unless you’ve carefully measured your own spending habits, you probably have quite a misleading idea of where you can save, and what you spend too much on.

This first step is designed to get you a little distance from your spending, so that you can take a new look at what your cash is spent on.