Do you feel like sometimes money just disappears and you don’t even know where it went? Do you feel like you’ve done everything you can to get your money under control but it doesn’t seem to be working? The problem may be leaks. Little leaks in our budgets that are small enough that they don’t really get noticed, however when combined they really do take a chunk of your budget with them.
So what are your wasteful spending habits? Do you know the answer to that or do you think that you don’t have any? I’m willing to bet that you do. If you want to take one more look at your budget here are 10 things that you are probably wasting your money on:
- Subscription services. I once signed up for a game Pass Program for my son because there was a free 14-day trial. I completely forgot to cancel it but it was only $8.99 a month so it wasn’t throwing off any red flags. But that $8.99 per month, quickly becomes over $100 a year. Luckily I caught it about 6 months later and the company did reimburse me because we haven’t used it. Do you have any subscription services that you forgot to cancel?
- Restaurants. How often do you go out to eat? How often should you have made food from home instead? I bet you already know the answer to that question. Many of us waste a lot of money on restaurant food.
- Coffee. I know that just about every money-saving website talks about this but it’s the truth. Stop driving through the coffee shop every day when you can make it at home for mere pennies.
- High-priced clothes. Are you the type that will only wear name brand clothes? You know what? I am! The difference though is that most name brand clothing can be bought either second hand or on clearance for a fraction of the money that it typically costs. Be willing to step outside of the box when buying these items and you will save big.
- Name brand foods. Do you refuse to buy generic groceries? I will be honest there are some products that I have to have the name brand but most of the time my family and I are happy to choose the generic version. I used to have a friend who worked for a major soy sauce company and he confided to me that they actually bottled the name brand soy sauce and another generic brand simply by putting different labels on it. There was nothing different than the product.
- Bottled water or soda, etc. Do you buy soda bottled water and other similar single serve drinks? Do you recycle the container afterwards? Many states charge a redemption fee or these items and unless you take them back to recycle them when you’re done you won’t get that back.
- Driving too much. Are you taking little trips everyday instead of combining all of your trips into once or twice a week? The amount of gas savings that can happen if you combine trips is quite noticeable. In addition more wear and tear on your car always cost more money.
- Leftovers. Do you find yourself tossing out leftovers instead of using them? You can save hundreds of dollars a year by creating meals using leftovers the next day.
- Leaving the lights on. Make sure you’re turning off your lights and shutting off Electronics and Appliances when not in use to save on your electric bill each month.
- Keeping stuff in storage. You have a storage container that you have to pay for month after month? When was the last time you even looked at the stuff in it? My bed is that you can actually get rid of a lot of that stuff and save yourself a monthly fee.
