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Seven Things You Waste Money On

By Fejiro Onohwosa
13 May 2019   |   4:06 pm
Asides from the obvious saving tips like; checking for cheaper airlines, staying in cheaper hotels, ditching expensive bad habits, buying a used car rather than a new one etcetera there are tips t0help you keep your monthly expenses in check. In fact, you may be wasting money in extremely common but often overlooked ways. Here’s…

Asides from the obvious saving tips like; checking for cheaper airlines, staying in cheaper hotels, ditching expensive bad habits, buying a used car rather than a new one etcetera there are tips t0help you keep your monthly expenses in check.

In fact, you may be wasting money in extremely common but often overlooked ways. Here’s a list of seven things you probably didn’t know you could save on and how you can stop wasting your money on them.

Buying popular products

Generic brands have to be one of the most underused ways to save money,  from food to skincare, to toiletries.  chances are there are local or infant brands that sell the same products at a lesser price. Check the labels; in most cases, the ingredients are pretty much identical, but you don’t have to spend money on the big brand names.

Only using ATM cards

This may be very Convenient, but if you mostly use your card to pay for things, it’s a lot easier to spend more than you intend to because you aren’t seeing the money. You just press some buttons and the purchase made. You might not be so liberal with your funds if you had to watch the cash leave your wallet.

In-game purchases

After the creation of a game like Candy Crush, we know how hard this habit is to break. Those $1 or $5 purchases here and there will eventually add up to hundreds of dollars. Remove your credit card info from any sites or apps where you play games, and if you get really frustrated by a level you just can’t seem to beat, Google a how-to guide.

Making more than one trip to the grocery store per week

A good way to make yourself stick to a grocery budget is to avoid little trips to the store because you ran out of one or two items. Chances are you’ll end up getting something extra and this means more spending.

Not taking advantage of discounts

This is especially good money-saving advice if you’re a student. Student and college discounts abound, they just might be hidden. Just because a company or establishment doesn’t explicitly advertise student discounts doesn’t mean they don’t have any; ask an employee, or, if you’re making a purchase online, use a search engine to see if there are any student discounts or programs you weren’t aware of. This goes for other person-specific discounts, such as military or senior discounts.

Buying a snack at every stop

The problem with buying snacks on the road or at every stop is most of the time you do not keep track of how much you might have spent. All those soft drinks and snacks you pick up when driving or walking pass a hawker. Make a rule that you have to track all of those little snack purchases and you only get a small allowance of them per month.

Get in the habit of bringing plenty of fluids and a snack or two with you whenever you go out on your busy days.

Paying someone else for simple repairs

Basic repairs like; changing a flat tire, changing a bad bulb and changing sockets is something fewer and fewer of us learn, perhaps due to our increasingly busy and lazy lives. But, assuming you own a car, money is flying out your wallet if you take your car to a shop for every little complication, that is evidently and unnecessary waste of money. Especially when the great thing about the Internet age is that there are all sorts of easy and helpful DIY videos out there.

 

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