7 Fast Ways to Waste Your Money
1) Buy credit life insurance – this type of insurance is not a good value for the money! Credit life insurance promises to pay off your debts if you die, but it costs much more than regular life insurance and the coverage is extremely limited.
2) Use credit cards regularly – if you’re using credit cards regularly and carrying a balance then you’re borrowing money at a very high interest rate to pay for things you can’t afford. I’m guilty of this myself and am working on paying off all our consumer debt this year so we can save thousands in interest charges.
3) Pay fees for your checking account – look for a bank in your area that offers free checking (they’re out there – I promise!) and switch. If you really don’t want to leave your current bank, show them the better deal from the competition first and ask them if they can match it.
4) Buy extended warranties – experts say that extended warranties are never a good deal because they cost more than they’re worth, the warranty work may be unreliable, the warranty may not cover what you think it does, the warranty underwriter may go out of business, and the extended warranty may overlap the original warranty. For example, if you buy a two-year extended warranty that runs concurrently with the product’s one-year warranty, you end up getting one extra year of coverage but paying for two.
5) Shop at a convenience store – if you ever buy anything other than gas at a convenience store then you’re paying too much. With the exception of fuel, and sometimes milk which is often used as a loss leader, items sold in convenience stores are priced higher than at supermarkets and grocery stores to cover the “convenience” cost.
6) Buy lottery tickets - the odds of winning any sort of a large payout are astronomical and the smaller payouts are merely intended as incentive to keep people buying tickets. Put the money you would normally spend on the lottery in a jar instead and you’ll come out better at the end of the year.
7) Lend money to friends – if you’d like to give money to your friends then you should do that, but consider it a gift and don’t expect to get it back because like the lottery, the odds are not in your favor!
This is probably the BEST post I’ve seen anywhere!!! Just 2 weeks ago I closed a bank account that was charging us $20/month fee. And quite a few years ago we were suckered into buying the credit life ins when we bought a house — it wasn’t until about 2 years later that we realized how stupid that was, and immediately cancelled it. As for the credit cards – think my motto for this year will be “pay off all credit cards by 07 two thousand eleven” — I’d better get with it, July will be here before we know it!
Thanks for the reminders. I recently changed my checking account where I’m actually MAKING money using my debit card as a credit card. I get a %age back for each transaction. It’s not a HUGE amount, but it adds up as I don’t write too many checks. Can you imagine? I receive money for each and every deposit and since I print my own statement out each month, I get 25 cents for printing it. This way the bank doesn’t have to print it and mail it out. They’re actually making more by having me do that…but every penny counts for my family of 5! plus 4 cats, a zillion fish, a parakeet, and 3 mice. gee, my cats are in “heaven” with all of the mouthwatering “entertainment”. ha
Hot diggity – that’s awesome Tami! I love it