Expense Audit Skill
Money leaks quietly — forgotten subscriptions, lifestyle creep, small daily costs that annualize into a lot. This skill audits someone's spending, surfaces the leaks ranked by annual impact, and proposes specific cuts with dollar amounts — so they free up cash without a vague "spend less". Educational, not personalized financial advice.
Required Inputs
Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:
- Spending data — a list of expenses or transactions (paste what they have: statements, a rough list, categories + amounts).
- Which are recurring — subscriptions and memberships, with frequency.
- What's off-limits (optional) — costs they won't cut (and why), so suggestions stay realistic.
- Goal (optional) — a target amount to free up.
Output Format
Expense audit — [name]
Where the money goes
| Category | Monthly | % of spend | Annualized |
|---|---|---|---|
| $ | % | $ |
🔁 Recurring / subscriptions — every recurring charge found, with monthly + annual cost, and a verdict (keep / downgrade / cancel / negotiate). Flag duplicates and "haven't used it" candidates.
✂️ Ranked cuts — the highest-impact opportunities first, each with the annual dollar saving and how to do it:
| Cut | Monthly saved | Annual saved | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| $ | $ |
Total opportunity: $X/year if all suggested cuts are made (and a realistic "easy wins only" subtotal).
Notes — what was assumed; the "small daily cost" reframed annually (e.g. "$6 coffee × workdays ≈ $1,500/yr"); anything to verify on a statement.
Quality Checks
- Spending is categorized with both monthly and annualized figures
- Every recurring charge is listed with a keep/downgrade/cancel/negotiate verdict
- Cuts are ranked by annual impact, each with a dollar amount and a how-to
- A clear total opportunity (and an easy-wins subtotal) is given
- Suggestions respect the off-limits items and stay realistic
Anti-Patterns
- Do not say "spend less" — every cut must name an amount and a method
- Do not rank by monthly when annual reveals the real impact — annualize everything
- Do not suggest cutting things the person flagged as off-limits
- Do not miss the silent recurring charges — those are usually the biggest, easiest wins
- Do not present this as personalized financial advice
Based On
Spending-audit / subscription-audit practice (categorize, annualize, rank cuts by impact).