Cutting costs is a lot like losing weight: the more consistently you track it, the easier it is to make good decisions. Tiny daily check-ins beat giant, stressful reviews every time.
Fighting Obesity with Daily Weigh-Ins
The United States has an obesity problem. You don’t need a stack of charts to see it, just walk into any large social gathering and you’ll notice how many people are carrying an unhealthy amount of body fat.
One simple, evidence-based technique that researchers have found again and again is daily weighing.1,2 The method is straightforward: weigh yourself at the same time every day. For many people, that means:
- Wake up
- Use the bathroom
- Step on the scale (nude or in the same clothing each time)
This habit takes almost no time, but it has a big impact on your behavior and mindset. When you weigh in daily, you’re gently reminded of your goals and get fast feedback on your choices. Over time, that small nudge adds up.
The research literature shows that people who weigh themselves daily are more likely to succeed with their weight-loss goals than those who weigh themselves infrequently.1,2
Cutting Costs with Daily Spend Updates
Company finances work the same way. If you only look at your spending once in a while, everything feels like a surprise. If you monitor it daily, you stay in control.
Imagine you have a simple dashboard that shows:
- How much your company spent yesterday
- Who spent it
- Which supplier it went to
- What category it belongs to
Checking this once a day takes just a few minutes. But like the bathroom scale, it keeps your mindset focused. You’re not doing a massive forensic analysis, you’re just staying familiar with your own numbers.
When you know the who, what, where, and why of your spending, cutting costs becomes much easier. You develop an intuitive understanding of your spend: what’s normal, what’s unusual, and what doesn’t make sense.
A little time each day reviewing spend gives you more control, fewer surprises, and clearer opportunities to cut costs.
If You Don’t, You’ll Regret It
The opposite approach is to only look at your business spending on a quarterly or annual basis. That’s like weighing yourself once every three months and hoping the scale will be kind.
When you review spending only once in a while:
- You’re constantly caught off guard by unexpected costs.
- You don’t have a clear feel for where the money is really going.
- Cost-cutting turns into a stressful, high-pressure fire drill.
Without regular check-ins, you’re not really managing your spend, you’re just reacting to it.
Summary
- Obesity is a widespread problem in the United States.
- Daily weigh-ins are a simple, time-efficient way to support weight loss.1,2
- Cutting costs in a business is also hard when you’re flying blind.
- Daily spend check-ins help you understand the who, what, and where of your costs so you can make smarter decisions with your money.
Do yourself and your business a favor: track your spending regularly. When you truly understand it, you’ll be far more successful at keeping costs down.