Map your month before your month maps you

In 5 min you'll know: how to map every money outflow for a month and uncover invisible leaks

You've seen on your payslip how much you actually receive (B1-L01). Now comes the question few people ask: where did that money go by the end of the month? The rule for this lesson is simple — map all outflows for one month and find the invisible leaks. This isn't about budgeting (that's the next lesson). It's about opening your eyes.

Before you continue: what amount is IRS (Portugal's personal income tax) withholding calculated on — gross, net, or gross minus Social Security?

(Answer in the next paragraph.)

Your net salary — after IRS and Segurança Social — lands in your account. Then there are fixed expenses (rent, loan repayments, insurance), variable expenses (groceries, transport, telecoms), annual expenses you forget (car insurance, IMI (annual municipal property tax), enrolment fees) and the everyday leaks: subscriptions you don't use, takeaway coffees that become a habit, impulse buys on marketplaces. No single leak seems big on its own. Together, they can eat 15 to 25% of your net income.

Let's look at the numbers. You receive €900 net. Rent: €400. Telecoms + streaming: €55. Groceries: €200. Transport: €50. You've already spent 78%. That leaves €195 for everything else — clothes, health, leisure, unexpected costs. And you haven't yet counted car insurance (€40/month if spread out), the quarterly IMI, or that gym subscription you used twice. When you start mapping, almost everyone finds between €100 and €200 a month in leaks they didn't know they had.

You don't need to cut anything yet. The first step is to see the full map. Without a map, any financial decision is a guess.

Map your monthly outflows (3 min) →

Your promise: This week, Sunday at 10am, I will open my bank statement from the last 30 days and map every outflow by category.