We’re all wasting a lot of money every day on so many unnecessary things. Which things are we talking about? You’ll find 17 things to stop wasting money on so that you can start saving in this article.
Buy Bottled Water
A single bottle of water in the U.S. will cost you a couple of dollars. But bringing your own water in a reusable bottle out and about with you will save you so much money. Even still, so many of us insist on buying bottled water when we’re not at home.
Leave the Lights On
Utility bills, such as energy bills, are some of the priciest household expenses. To save money, we should turn off the lights that we’re not using. But even though we know it’s wasting money, many of us leave lights on throughout the night and during the evening when we’re not at home.
Eat Out
The statistics from Gitnux show that “Americans eat out approximately 4.2 times a week on average.” Eating out with this frequency sets us back hundreds of dollars each month. If you want to save money each day, make more home-cooked meals instead of going to restaurants.
Impulse Buys
When we buy things on impulse, we often pick up things that we don’t need and can’t really afford. Impulse buying is becoming a problem, and many of us can’t resist the urge to buy things on a whim. Buying something you didn’t plan to every time you go shopping quickly becomes expensive.
Brand Names
Whenever we go shopping, we’re faced with two decisions. To get the brand name good and pay more for it, or to get the non-brand name good and pay less. Why do we always opt to pay more just for a name when we could pay less? This decision is costing us more money than we could imagine.
Coffee
Figures from the National Coffee Association show that “the average American coffee drinker drinks just over 3 cups per day.” Many of those cups are bought from local coffee shops. Spending money on coffee-shop coffee every day really adds up. You can’t beat the price of making your own coffee at home.
HVAC System
Leaving your HVAC system running all day when you’re not at home or leaving it on too high at night while you’re sleeping is costing you a lot of money each day. To reduce the cost of your utility bill at the end of the month, you must regulate the temperature you leave the system on.
Ignoring Coupons
Too many of us are throwing away valuable money-off coupons. Instead of taking advantage of discounts that could save us money, we’re paying full price for basically everything we buy. If you have a coupon for something you need, make sure you use it when you next go shopping.
Lunches
We’re all guilty of buying lunch from a nearby fast food restaurant at lunchtime instead of bringing something from home. That’s OK as a one-off, but what about if we do this every day? Then we could be wasting hundreds of dollars each month on lunch alone.
Shopping Bags
Many grocery stores charge for plastic shopping bags as an environmentally-friendly incentive. How often do we forget our reusable bags at home and end up paying for plastic? Keep some spare reusable bags in the car to prevent having to pay money for shopping bags.
Parking Tickets
Paying for parking tickets each day will cost us hundreds of dollars by the end of the month. Instead of paying for parking at parking lots, park further away in free parking spots and walk to the places that you have to get to. Leaving home a little earlier will help you save money.
Convenience Stores
The goods at convenience stores are always more expensive than those at large grocery stores, but this doesn’t stop us from buying them. Instead of paying more for a few things at convenience stores, we should shop at fewer shops and buy in bulk so we can save money.
Online Shopping
According to Forbes, “The global e-commerce market is expected to total $6.3 trillion in 2024.” So many of us are wasting money online by buying things that we don’t need. Before you shop online again today, stop and think about whether you really need the item.
Overbuying Groceries
When we go into the grocery store without a list and a meal plan, we will end up buying things that we don’t need. Then the food doesn’t get eaten and we end up throwing it in the garbage. Food in the garbage means money down the drain. So make sure you make a list and stick to it.
Comparing Prices
When out shopping, we should take note of the prices of the items we usually buy. This will stop us from paying too much for our regular groceries. When you visit a different store and find your groceries at a more competitive price, take advantage.
Public Transportation
“According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, transportation remains one of the highest annual consumer expenditures, totaling $12,295 annually as of 2023,” says the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy. But spending money on public transportation when we could walk or bike to where we need to go is wasting money.
Drugstore
Buying brand-name drugs from the drugstore is very expensive. We can always buy unbranded drugs, which work just as well, but somehow we always gravitate toward the more expensive option. This choice can be very expensive if we pay regularly for certain prescription medicines.