In my previous post, I talked about learning to deal with stress after walking away from a steady paycheck. This one is less philosophical and more practical. Think of it as me sharing how am I handling things in practice, the nuts and bolts, as I find my footing and explore the path of solopreneurship.
The Habit That Changed Everything
More than a year before I quit my job at Microsoft, I picked up one habit that turned out to be a lifesaver: tracking my finances.
I built a simple but detailed spreadsheet and split my expenses into two broad buckets:
- Annual expenses like school fees or car maintenance
- Monthly expenses like internet, mobile
I further broke these down into fixed and variable expenses. This helped me clearly see which costs were non-negotiable and where I had some room to adjust if needed.
I even added finer sub-categories like snacks and eating out. Even if I bought a chocolate bar, it went into the sheet under a specific category. The goal was to be as granular as possible about the nature of my expenses. Otherwise, too many things tend to get lumped under “Miscellaneous,” which makes the sheet vague and far less useful when you try to analyze it later.
At high level, the idea was simple: know where the money is going, no matter how small
Making the spreadsheet was easy since it was pretty rudimentary (and badly formatted). Actually using it consistently was the hard part.
Why My Early Attempts Failed
My early attempts failed for a very predictable reason. I’d pay using cash or a credit card, forget to note it down, and then at the end of the month stare at my statements wondering: “What on earth was this for?”.
Even when the transaction showed a merchant name (in the case of credit cards), it was often unclear what the expense was actually for. This became especially problematic when we bought multiple items from a large store. And keeping physical invoices around just to make sense of things later is not a habit I enjoy.
That’s when I changed one key habit.
Centralizing Spending
I rarely use cash as a mode of payment in India, unless I’m in a very remote area where there’s no mobile coverage(travel/vacations).
So, I decided to centralize almost all my offline spending through Google Pay. I still use a credit card, but only when there’s a clear discount or benefit, and in those cases I make sure to note down the expense details immediately.
What I really like about Google Pay is that before you make a payment, you can quickly add a note. That tiny feature made a big difference for me.
For example, on some Friday nights I buy a bunch of snacks from a local bakery to munch on while watching a movie over the weekend. I’d just write “Fri snacks” before paying. It takes maybe ten seconds, but when I later sit down to record expenses, I immediately know what that money was spent on.
A Weekly Rhythm (Not Daily Discipline)
The next thing I did was fix a time to update my spreadsheet.
No daily discipline. No pressure. Just once a week.
I picked Saturday evening or Sunday morning. I’d open my laptop, put on a Netflix show that didn’t need full attention, and start logging the week’s expenses. Because each payment already had a small note attached to it, the whole thing usually took 10 to 15 minutes.
That’s it.
Budgeting
Since Google Pay is linked to a bank account, at the beginning of every month, I started transferring exactly the amount I needed for that month into that account, based on my budget. I always included a small buffer.
By the end of the year, I had a very clear picture of how I was doing:
- Which months I overspent
- Which ones I underspent
- Which categories were most likely to quietly go out of control
I did this diligently for an entire year.
Once I had a year’s worth of data, the next step became obvious. I needed to come to terms with how long I could realistically sustain myself without a steady income, and plan accordingly.
Since most startups don’t magically work out in a few months, I treated this as my personal runway. This determines the amount of time I was willing to give myself to explore this path without external pressure. Before quitting my job, I made sure I had enough buffer to cover my living expenses for this period.
Lifestyle: Frugal, but Intentional
Now, about lifestyle. Life can’t be only about working, isn’t it?
My family and I are fairly frugal by default, but more importantly, we’re intentional about how we spend. We don’t cut corners on essentials like education, healthcare, groceries, or day-to-day utilities. Where we are careful is with discretionary spending.
As a family, our main indulgences are entertainment(music/games/movies), eating out, travel, and occasional shopping. But even these are approached thoughtfully rather than impulsively.
Subscriptions have helped a lot with both gaming and movies. I rarely buy games on day one anymore and usually wait for steep discounts. We also watch very few movies in theatres, mostly large-scale spectacle films like Avatar: Fire & Ash, or the occasional must-watch release. Reason being, theatres tend to be inside glitzy shopping malls where a tub of popcorn costs more than the movie ticket itself.
Most movies are watched at home via OTT platforms. We have a 55-inch screen in the living room paired with a decent Dolby Atmos soundbar, which makes the experience more than good enough for us. Along with subscriptions to the major platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Jio Hotstar, and Apple TV+ (I get a couple of these for free as part of my internet plan), this has quietly become one of our favourite weekend pastimes.
It’s relaxed, unhurried family bonding time. We sit together, watch something we all enjoy, pause when we want, comment freely, and simply be present with each other.
Since we’re vegetarians, most of our eating-out costs aren’t exorbitant. We usually alternate between eating out and ordering in, which keeps things from getting out of hand.
As far as travel is concerned, I’ve included a dedicated travel budget in my runway as well.
Traveling can get expensive or indulgent depending on the destination and the time of year. Within India, though, it’s quite manageable if you plan ahead and choose destinations wisely. Booking in advance and avoiding long weekends and festival seasons makes a big difference. International travel, on the other hand, can stretch the budget significantly, and as a family, we haven’t traveled abroad in a long time. When we do, I expect the same principles to apply.
Where This Leaves Me Today
With all these small systems in place, I’ve been able to keep the stress of not having a monthly salary reasonably under control. The uncertainty is still there, of course, but it doesn’t constantly sit in my head.
I know my numbers.
I know my runway.
And that alone removes a lot of anxiety.
My focus now is pretty straightforward. Through 2026, my goal is to make my apps succeed, grow them steadily, and turn them into a decent-sized startup that can generate a stable income.
This setup doesn’t eliminate risk, but it makes the whole journey feel far more manageable for now.