Because sometimes, wealth doesn’t start with a raise, it starts with awareness.
When Lerato’s Salary Started Disappearing
I met Lerato two years ago during a financial coaching session in Soweto.
She worked at a call centre in Braamfontein, earning around R14,000 a month.
Every payday, she felt rich for two days, and broke by the next weekend.
Her exact words were,
“I don’t even know what happens. The money just evaporates.”
At first, I thought it was just poor budgeting. But when she showed me her spending habits, I realised it was deeper, death by small expenses.
A pie and Coke on her way to work: R30.
Uber from the taxi rank because “it’s late”: R60.
Spur dinner with friends on Friday: R250.
A little “help me please” to a cousin: R200.
None of these looked dangerous alone. But together, they were slowly robbing her financial peace.
The Night She Broke Down (and Woke Up)
One night, Lerato called me almost in tears.
She’d just checked her bank balance, R280 left, and it was only the 17th of the month.
We talked for a bit, and I told her something simple:
“Don’t panic. Just start tracking your spending for 10 minutes every night.”
No budgeting app, no spreadsheet. Just honest reflection.
I told her, “Write down what you spent, why you spent it, and if it made you feel better or worse.”
She laughed. “Ten minutes won’t change anything,” she said.
I told her, “Try it for a week.”
The 10-Minute Habit That Changed Everything
The first night, she wrote:
- Taxi: R24
- Lunch: R80
- Airtime: R20
- Snack: R15
She looked at the total, R139 in one day.
Not bad, but not small either.
By the third night, she noticed something strange: she spent more when she was stressed.
By the seventh night, she saw the pattern, payday joy, mid-month anxiety, month-end panic.
And for the first time in her adult life, she could see her financial behaviour like a movie.
That’s when she said,
“It’s not the money that’s the problem, it’s me not paying attention.”
From Chaos to Control
After a month of 10-minute nightly reflections, Lerato started making small changes:
- She packed lunch from home three times a week.
- She stopped buying data in small bundles, switched to a monthly plan.
- She started saying “no” to guilt transfers.
By month two, she had saved R1,200, the most she had ever saved in her life.
And by the fourth month, she used that money to pay off her store account.
The Psychology Behind Her Transformation
Lerato didn’t need more income , she needed self-awareness.
Psychologists call it “pattern recognition”, the art of noticing your own habits before they sabotage you.
A study from the University of Cape Town found that people who track daily spending for just 10 minutes reduce emotional spending by over 30%.
Ten minutes a night built what no salary could buy, peace of mind.
South Africa’s Quiet Money Trap
In South Africa, it’s not the big things that drain us — it’s the little ones we normalize.
- Takeaway meals because “I’m too tired to cook.”
- Paying for subscriptions we forgot.
- Weekend “chillas” that cost R500 but give 2 hours of happiness.
We think it’s harmless, but it adds up, just like Lerato’s story.
The 10-Minute Formula That Works
Here’s what she did, and what I now tell every client:
- Pick a Quiet Time — Before bed. No noise. No TV.
- Write Down 3–5 Expenses — Only for that day.
- Circle One “Unnecessary” — The one that didn’t add real joy or progress.
- Ask Yourself Why — Stress? Boredom? Peer pressure?
- Decide One Adjustment — What you’ll skip or change tomorrow.
Simple. Ten minutes. Big results.
Six Months Later…
Lerato’s life didn’t suddenly become perfect, but it became predictable.
She knew where her money went.
She stopped panicking at SMS alerts.
She started saving consistently.
When she called me six months later, she said something that stayed with me:
“I used to be afraid of checking my bank balance. Now, I check it with pride.”
And that’s the true power of this 10-minute habit, it turns fear into freedom.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “This is me,” it’s not too late.
Start your own 10-minute money habit tonight.
Don’t wait for a raise. Don’t wait for next month.
Just start watching your money like it matters, because it does.
Because as Lerato learned, the secret to financial peace isn’t earning more, it’s finally paying attention.
Want more real-life stories that teach you how to master money and mindset?
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