It happened over Raksha Bandhan this year.
We had gathered at my uncle’s place with cousins, uncles, aunts, and the familiar noise of laughter, food, and conversation filling the house.
At one point, the discussion turned towards how much we spend in a week without realising it. One cousin said she had ordered food three times that week on Zomato. Another mentioned paying ₹179 for a movie rental simply because it was easier than searching for it elsewhere.
I shared that I had spent ₹219 that very morning for extra cloud storage after my phone showed a warning. Soon it became a game where each of us tried to recall our most unnecessary small spend in recent weeks.
Later in the evening, after everyone had left, I checked my bank statement out of curiosity.
There was a long list of small amounts. ₹79, ₹129, ₹249. Food deliveries, ride shares, OTT rentals, storage renewals, and a few in-app purchases. Each one had felt small in the moment. When I added them up, the total for that month crossed ₹5,000. Over a year, that meant more than ₹60,000 spent on things that I could barely remember buying.
India’s digital economy runs heavily on these small payments.
In July 2025 alone, UPI processed transactions worth ₹25 lakh crore, and almost half of them were payments below ₹300. These are the payments that are easy to ignore because they happen quickly and feel too small to make a difference in that particular moment. Yet, when put together, they can have some real impact on personal finances.
How the Money Slips Away
Small spends often happen because the environment is built to make them feel effortless. And to be honest, we have all heard this multiple times, but I will reiterate it again.
Companies understand that the human brain sees ₹199 differently from ₹200. The small drop in price makes the purchase feel lighter than it actually is.
App designs remove most of the pauses that might cause you to think twice. Saved cards, payment buttons placed in the same position every time, and tips that are already selected by default make it easy to spend without a deliberate decision.
There is also a constant flow of prompts.
Food delivery apps send a discount notification just before lunch hours. OTT platforms promote a new release on the day your subscription renews. Cloud storage services alert you when you are about to upload a file.
Each of these moments is chosen carefully, when you are most likely to say yes, and the amount is small enough to avoid resistance.
Over time, these small decisions blend into daily habits.
Ordering food when tired, booking a ride when it rains, paying for an extra feature in a game during a free moment. Every choice feels reasonable when it happens, yet the design in the background makes it easier for the habit to repeat. The spending does not feel significant, and that is why it is able to continue for so long.
This is the nature of how money slips away. It is not one event, but a steady series of well-timed moments that encourage you to spend and move on, often without remembering it later.
We Cannot Avoid Them, But We Can Keep Track
Small payments are part of the way we live now. We will still order food when we are tired, book a ride if it rains, and rent entertainment when we want to relax.
Trying to avoid them completely is not realistic.
The better approach is to bring them into our awareness so they happen with intention instead of habit.
The mind plays an important role here. We often underestimate these spends because they feel harmless in isolation.
This is called denomination blindness.
The smaller the number, the less weight our brain gives it, even if it repeats many times. We also fall into present bias, where the immediate comfort of a cab ride or a hot meal outweighs the future cost. These are natural tendencies, but they can be managed if we create simple points of awareness.
One of the easiest ways is to set a monthly “micro-payment budget.”
For example, ₹3,000 for all spends under ₹300. This turns an unlimited, invisible flow into a visible number. The budget works like a mental speed bump. Each time you make a small payment, you know it is part of that monthly total, which encourages you to choose more carefully.
Another practical step is to review your bank or UPI statement once a month and highlight every payment under ₹300.
Many people find this uncomfortable at first because it shows how many times we act without thinking. But that is exactly why it works – the discomfort makes the pattern real.
Create a moment of friction before you spend.
Remove saved cards from apps you use most for small spends. Enable OTP for payments. Even a few extra seconds can help you decide if it is worth it. This works because it interrupts the automatic loop between seeing an option and paying for it.
Reduce overlap.
If you have three OTT platforms and two music services, keep the one you use most often and pause the rest. The mind is quick to justify keeping them all “just in case,” but the truth is that we rarely use everything we pay for at the same time.
Track renewals.
Put auto-renew dates for subscriptions and recurring services in your calendar. This gives you a chance to decide if you still want it before the payment goes through. It also reduces set-and-forget spending, where we keep paying for something only because it continues quietly in the background.
Small spends will always be part of modern life. But when they are visible, intentional, and linked to your priorities, they stop being silent leaks and start becoming conscious choices. That shift alone can save tens of thousands of rupees a year without making you feel deprived.
Author Note
Note: This article relies on data from fund reports, index history, and public disclosures. We have used our own assumptions for analysis and illustrations.
The purpose of this article is to share insights, data points, and thought-provoking perspectives on investing. It is not investment advice. If you wish to act on any investment idea, you are strongly advised to consult a qualified advisor. This article is strictly for educational purposes. The views expressed are personal and do not reflect those of my current or past employers.
Parth Parikh has over a decade of experience in finance and research. He currently heads growth and content strategy at Finsire, where he works on investor education initiatives and products like Loan Against Mutual Funds (LAMF) and financial data solutions for banks and fintechs.