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Hey, it’s Jeffrey — back again!
I use budgeting apps. I track my spending. But I'll be honest — I almost never look at the yearly trends. It's all monthly snapshots that I glance at and forget.
So I exported a full year of transactions (3,119 of them) and asked ChatGPT to tell me where my money actually went.
The breakdown took about 30 seconds. And yeah... there were surprises.
The prompt:
I want to see where my money actually went in 2025. I'm uploading my transaction data — this could be a CSV export from my bank or credit card, an export from a budgeting app like Monarch, YNAB, or Copilot, or a credit card statement PDF.
Please:
1. Categorize all my spending (combine similar merchants — like all coffee shops together, all Amazon purchases together, etc.)
2. Show me my top 10 categories ranked by total amount spent
3. Flag anything that might surprise me — categories that seem high, subscriptions I might have forgotten about, or repeat charges I may not realize are adding up
4. Tell me my average monthly spend vs. my highest and lowest months
5. Call out any recurring charges and show me the annual total for each
If anything is unclear or you need more context about a merchant, ask me before finalizing.
What I found: My Amazon total for the year was... let's just say comfortably in the four figures. More than I would have guessed. Also spotted 51 separate Apple charges that had been quietly adding up.
Keep going? Once you've got your breakdown, try asking:
"What's the easiest category to cut without changing my lifestyle?"
"Build me a realistic 2026 budget based on what I actually spent"
"Which subscriptions should I cancel?"
Reply and tell me what you find.
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One quick note: This newsletter is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. I'm not a financial advisor — just someone sharing ideas and tools I've found useful. Use what works for you, skip what doesn't, and always do your own research. Some links may be affiliate links or sponsored content for which I may receive compensation.