The Tiny-Regret Ledger

For fourteen days, log any purchase below €5 that disappoints and choose exactly one primary cause from a fixed list: poor quality, wrong timing, duplicate function, unclear promise, or simple indifference. Add an “uncodable” option so reality is never forced into a cupboard that is already full.

Before the first entry, write the hypothesis you want to test—for example, that unclear promises will appear more often than price complaints. At the end, count categories and review the uncodable notes without rewriting the hypothesis to match whatever column happens to be tallest.

The exercise may support a personal buying prompt: identify what an item replaces and restate its promise before paying. It cannot diagnose general consumer behavior. A shared version should report only category totals and the protocol dates, never receipts, merchants, or the identity of the disappointed biscuit.

Most tiny regrets begin before the payment screen.