1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 9
Summary
$80,000 in student debt framed a 12-month review of one single mother’s bank statements, which showed her account was being drained less by big splurges than by many small, forgotten charges.
Line-by-line scrutiny pointed to digital payments as the driver: swiping made purchases feel frictionless, making it easy to spend and then lose track of the outflows.
The pattern highlights how routine, low-value transactions can accumulate into a meaningful budget problem even when there are no obvious reckless purchases to cut.