Friday, August 21, 2009

How to Waste Your Money

This is Kody:
I ran across an interesting article online and I thought I would share it. Here are 20 ways to waste your money, and my comments about them :)

1. Buy new instead of used. Umm, I don't remember the last time I bought something new. Check.
2. Carry a credit-card balance. I have one Amazon credit card that gets me a blu-ray twice a year. Check.
3. Buy on impulse. I'm gonna have to work on this one. Is buying used on impulse that bad? 1/2 Check.
4. Pay to use an ATM. Never do it. Never. Check.
5. Dine out frequently. We only do this on vacation, which is usually to save our host money. Thanks Brandon and Amy for El Gallo Giro and introducing us to The Golden China Buffet (best custard rolls ever!) We never eat out at home. Check.
6. Let your money wallow. Oops. No check. Not enough money to invest yet.
7. Pay an upfront fee for a mutual fund. Mutual fund? Us? Not quite. Check.
8. Pay too much in taxes on investments. Maybe it's a good thing I don't have investments because I would be wasting a lot of money. Check.
9. Buy brand-name instead of generic. Nike. Gap. I just bought a pair of Jordan shoes (see picture to the right) for $12. I like brand names. No check. No check for my kids either.
10. Waste electricity. I'm bad at this. I love light. I need to unplug everything when we leave for a long time. I'll work on this. No check.
11. Pay banking fees. Check.
12. Buy things you don't use. I'm pretty good at this. We bought a slushie maker for $2 at a garage sale. Greatest invention ever! Check.
13. Own an extra car. Check.
14. Ignore your local dollar store. Ummm, check and check.
15. Keep unhealthy habits. Is High Definition TV an unhealthy habit? Check.
16. Be complacent about insurance. I could probably look at my bill a bit better. 1/2 check.
17. Give Uncle Sam an interest-free loan. Check.
18. Pay for something you can get for free. Check. Sometimes. We still get TV through an antenna.
19. Don't use a flexible-spending account. Check. Wish I had one.
20. Pay for unnecessary services. Oh check.

I think I did pretty well. How did you do? Check out the whole article HERE

3 comments:

Britni said...

I'm not sure how much I agree with this list. I think it's pretty subjective because for us dining out is one of our favorite things to do (granted we don't actually pay for it very often) and it's our way to reward ourselves with good food. I wouldn't say we waste money if we're enjoying the things we're wasting it on (food, pedicures, brand name stuff).

Pat Newton said...

I'll add one more to the list--don't waste money on garage sales when they are useless--like this weekend! We still spent money, but basically didn't buy anything. that's wasteful.

Newton 5 said...

Don't forget all of the gas you use going from house to house Mom.