Editorial Standards

Last updated: July 27, 2026

These are the standards Spends Better holds itself to. Where we fall short of them, please tell us at [email protected] and we will publish a correction.

1. What we publish

Spends Better publishes articles on the ordinary mechanics of household money: budgeting, expense tracking, grocery and utility spending, subscriptions, and everyday minimalist buying decisions. We deliberately do not publish anything on investing, trading, cryptocurrency, day trading, options, real-estate speculation, or side hustles that depend on rapid returns. Those topics belong on other sites written by people who cover them full-time.

2. How we source claims

Whenever an article cites a specific figure (a typical monthly grocery bill, a utility-rate average, a common subscription price, an interest rate, a percentage of income), that figure links to the source we used: a government dataset (Bureau of Labor Statistics, EIA, IRS, CFPB, or equivalents outside the United States), a manufacturer’s official rate schedule, an industry report, or a specifically-cited news article. Where we describe a practice (say, an envelope-style budgeting method or a subscription-audit checklist), we describe it in enough detail that a reader can reproduce it without needing to search elsewhere.

3. Editorial review before publishing

No article publishes on Spends Better without a review pass for factual accuracy and internal consistency. The reviewer checks that every quoted figure matches its cited source, that no claim assumes a fact not established in the article, and that the article’s advice is specific enough for a reader to act on it. If any of these fail, the article does not publish; it goes back to the draft queue.

4. Corrections

When we get something wrong, we correct it in place and add a dated “Corrected” note at the bottom of the article. We do not silently edit published articles to erase mistakes. If the correction changes the article’s central recommendation, we say so clearly at the top.

5. Updates

Every article that cites time-sensitive numbers (grocery averages, utility rates, subscription prices) is reviewed at least once every twelve months and re-checked against its source. Articles that pass review are marked “Updated on [date]”. Articles that no longer stand up to review are either rewritten or unpublished.

6. Sources we consider authoritative

For consumer-price data: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and, for utility-specific data, the U.S. Energy Information Administration. For consumer-finance regulation and protection: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. For international data, we prefer the source country’s equivalent (ONS in the U.K., ABS in Australia, Statistics Canada, etc.). For product data, we prefer the manufacturer’s official specification sheet or rate schedule over third-party aggregators.

7. What sits behind our bylines

Articles carry the byline “Manish Sharma” when they were drafted and reviewed through our in-house editorial process. When we work with an outside contributor, we credit them by name and link to their contributor page. When an article is sponsored, it is labeled “Sponsored” at the top and the bottom and does not carry an editorial byline.

8. Conflicts of interest

If an article discusses a product we have an affiliate relationship with, that relationship is disclosed inline in the section where the product is mentioned, in addition to the site-wide Affiliate Disclosure. If a writer holds a financial position in a company they are writing about (which is rare, since we do not cover investing), the article is either handed to a different writer or labeled with an explicit disclosure.

9. What we do not do

Contact this policy

To flag an article that does not meet these standards, or to suggest a correction: [email protected]. We read every message and reply to any that require a reply.