You are wasting money if any of the signs below applies to you.
You can read part 2 here.
- Unable to pay off the monthly balances on credit cards
This habit applies for frivolous purchases or shopping sprees when you are not following your budget. 0% introductory rate on credit cards can put you in a deep hole of debts when you only make the minimum payment amount. In the end, when the introductory offer expires, the interest rate jumps to more than 15%.
- Ignoring refurbished goods or open-box items
Many items are returned for the dumbest reasons such as I don’t like the color. These items are often brand new without any defect, but are sold at a deep discounted price.
- Impulse shopping
This mistake is way easy to make. Just because an Apple watch looks good on your friend’s wrist, it does not mean you should get one for yourself.
- Not participating in your company’s 401(k) match
Typically, your company will match 100% of your 401(K) savings for up to 6% of your salary. That’s a whopping 6% guaranteed earnings right there. Where else are you going to 6% of the guaranteed money?
- Eating out too often
Eating out is costly nowadays. An average bill in an average restaurant per person costs about $25. If you do that every week, that is $100 per month. How about changing that to every other week? Then, you can save that $50 and put it in your 401(K).
- Gambling
That also includes buying lottery tickets as well. Casinos and lottery tickets are out there to make money and not to make you rich. Do you think someone would open a charitable casino and invite you to go and make thousands?
- Not using coupons correctly or at all
Coupons can save you money; however, just because you can save $3 on bacon, you need to hoard 5 packages of bacon, which you may not typically eat. This is particularly true for the perishable items. When you buy too much, the perishable items end up being thrown away because they don’t stay fresh for very long.