$5,003
A money guide that shows its math
Being broke is expensive. Staying broke is a decision.
Where your money leaks out without you noticing – with the annual cost, sourced numbers, and three ways out. No finger-wagging.
See what your decisions cost you: a year of it, the hours you worked for it, what it would have grown to. No bank access, no sign-up.
9 free calculators · no account linking · every calculation shown
- 32articles
- 9calculators
- 105sources
- 0entries stored
- Every number with a source and a date
- Every calculation you can redo
- Corrections stay visible
Cheap Life, Good Life
The water you already pay for, and then buy again
What a gallon of tap water costs at the utility's own published rate, why no federal average exists for the bottled kind, and who actually checks each one.
$261
This costs you per year
The most expensive habits
Every number in one list$4,759
The first 33 minutes of your working day are worked for the car
$2,917
The used car borrower pays 17,000 dollars less and 1,600 dollars more
1
Answer eight questions
Only amounts you consider avoidable yourself. We estimate nothing about you.
2
Get one number
What that is per year, how many working hours – and what it would grow into over thirty years.
3
Start with the best lever
Ordered by saving per hour of effort, not by amount. That way it does not end after one afternoon.
The eight leaks
- Unused subscriptions
- Delivery and eating out
- The daily habit
- Account fees
- Overdraft and card interest
- Devices left running
- Contracts you never checked
- Paid for and barely used
The Money Burner
Every week, one everyday money trap taken apart: what it costs per year and how to get out.
5 articlesBroke Because …
Behavioral economics for normal people. Why your brain works against you with money, and what helps.
6 articlesCompare and Switch
Power, phone, banking, insurance: what switching gets you, how long it takes, what goes wrong.
8 articlesCheap Life, Good Life
Saving without feeling deprived. What actually tastes good, lasts, and works – tested, not claimed.
5 articlesThe Math
Numbers that hurt. Every calculation laid open, every assumption named.
3 articlesFrom Zero to Not Broke
The beginner series: budget, emergency fund, debt, banking, insurance, investing.
5 articlesAll articles
All articlesBroke because life happened
What the Federal Reserve's own survey says about why households fall behind, and what follows from it for a site that writes about spending.
The cancel button, and the federal rule that was struck down before it took effect
Which cancellation rights actually apply to an online subscription in the United States, after the FTC's rule was vacated, and what the surviving…
$360 per year
Two years, one month, done - except that is a German rule
What actually limits contract length and automatic renewal in the United States, where the protections are industry-specific, and what to do with a…
$300 per year
Broke because five dollars does not matter
Why the mind systematically under-rates small repeating amounts, where that stops being the reader's problem, and what actually helps.
$1,826 per year
Is switching worth it? Work it out before you spend three hours on it
What switching a plan actually returns once the ongoing saving, the sign-up bonus and your own time are counted separately.
$362 per year
Broke because the raise arrived and nothing changed
What the Consumer Expenditure Survey shows about spending as income rises, what it cannot show, and the one habit that separates a raise you keep…
What does this habit actually cost you?
One amount, one rhythm – and the number for the week, the year, and the long run.
3 fieldsWhat does your car cost you per mile?
Fuel is a third. The rest never shows up on a bank statement.
12 fieldsThe subscription audit
List everything, tick honestly, look at the total. That is all it is.
1 fieldsIs switching worth it?
What you save, what it costs you in time – and what your hour is worth doing it.
6 fieldsWhen are you actually out of debt?
Balance, rate, payment. And the number no statement gives you: what the interest adds up to.
4 fieldsHow big does your emergency fund need to be?
Not three months of salary. Three months of what keeps running when nothing comes in.
4 fieldsWhat does one single use cost you?
The monthly price tells you nothing. The price per visit tells you everything.
5 fieldsHow many hours of work does this cost you?
A price can be argued with. Eleven working days cannot.
5 fieldsWhat does this appliance cost you per year?
Watts times hours times your rate. Running and standby counted apart, because that is the only way to see whether unplugging is worth it.
4 fieldsWhat to hold us to
Source and date
Every claimed number names its publisher and retrieval date. No figure from memory.
Take a lookMath laid open
Every calculated number comes from a calculator on this site. You can redo it with your own values.
Take a lookNothing stored
Calculators and the check run on our server and keep nothing – neither entry nor result.
Take a lookCorrected in the open
What was wrong stays visible – with the date, the old figure, and how it came to light.
Take a lookThe Five-Dollar Slap
Once a week: one money trap, one way out. No fluff, no sharing your address.
Double opt-in, your address is never shared, one click to unsubscribe – and that deletes your address rather than just switching it off.