Most people waste far more money than they think. Little expenses that seem harmless at first glance but that can add up to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Take a look and see how many of these money wasters you are buying.
Subscription Television
People all over the country are realizing just how costly subscription television is. If you have a cable or satellite TV subscription, now might be the time to get rid of it.
The average bill for cable in this country is 100 dollars and, if you subscribe to higher packages, this bill can easily top 200 dollars. At the low end, 100 dollars a month is 1200 dollars a year. Invest that money and in 10 years, you could have over 16000 dollars in the bank after just 10 years.
You of course need entertainment though, so what can you replace it with. If you want to save the most money, look into free apps like Crackle or IMDB. If that doesn’t do it for you, spend just a coupl of dollars on apps like Hulu or Netflix.
Streaming will change the way you watch TV, but it is well worth it for the savings. Besides, you might like being able to watch your entertainment on demand instead of waiting for it to air.
Fast Food
The fast food industry thrives on our laziness. If you eat fast food at lunch every day, you are probably spending at least 8 dollars a day for a brown bag full of grease.
Over the course of a week, that is 40 dollars or 2000 dollars over the course of a 50 week work year. Invest that money and you would have over 26000 dollars in 10 years. That is a nice addition to your retirement savings.
Replace that fast food meal with a healthy meal from home. The most economical way to do this is to re purpose leftovers from the night before. A piece of chicken gets shredded for a chicken taco and a leftover hamburger patty becomes the meat in your spaghetti sauce.
Coffee
If you brew your coffee at home, good for you, keep on brewing. If you buy gourmet coffee from a chain, you should stop and start making your own.
At up to 5 dollars a pop. store bought cups of coffee really add up. Treat yourself 5 days during a week and you are looking at 100 dollars a month. That is over one thousand dollars a year just for coffee.
Over the length of a few decades, that is tens of thousands of dollars plus interest.
Product Warranties
It never fails that you are checking out with even the most minor piece of electronic equipment and you will get offered a warranty. You have to remember one thing, they would not sell them if they did not make money on them.
Sure, a few people will luck out and be able to cash in on a warranty but for most, it is a waste of money. When considering an extended warranty, consider the value before you commit.
Take a television for example. That 500 dollar flat screen comes with a manufacturers warranty of one year. Is a 2nd year of warranty for 100 dollars worth it? Probably not if you consider the fact that this TV will only be worth about 200 dollars by year two.
In most cases, a warranty is wasted money.
Name Brand Products
With one notable exception, diapers, name brands are overpriced and you will do better with the generic.
This is true with everything from clothing to groceries. When you consider that most generics are made by big brand names, you can see that they are the better value.
Give generics a shot and you might be surprised at just how equivalent they are to the major brands.