Ten Money Wasters to Eliminate from Your Life

It's a fact: if you've got water gushing and flooding your kitchen, you'll find the main valve and shut it off immediately. But a leaky faucet could be left to drip for months on end with that tiny trickle of water adding up to gallons and gallons of wasted water over the course of time.

The same applies to expenditures: it's easy to focus on the big ticket items when trying to balance your personal finances, but often it's that trickle of expenses that adds up to big bucks in the long run.

Here are ten money wasters to stop spending your hard-earned dollars on:

1. Bottled water - Yes, it's convenient but it's also wasteful. Not just in money spent, but in cost of and energy expended for the packaging and distribution. Not to mention that 40% of bottle water is equivalent to tap water--which is close to free! But the cost is nothing to sneeze at either: At one bottle per day over the span of year, your bottled water costs are over $500.


2. Daily Coffee Shop Beverage - Whether you choose Starbucks, Peet's or The Coffee Bean, you're paying a price for your premium caffeine habit. A large (I mean "Venti") size regular brewed coffee at Starbucks is almost $2. If your coffee tastes run to more exotic "cino" type beverage, the price tag will be even higher. But for the sake of argument, let's say you merely indulge in one large regular coffee per day. That $2 pittance adds up over the course of a year. Stick with the communal office brew and save over $500 annually.


3. Pre-packaged Foods - Sliced cheese, apples bites or packaged salads all offer the time-saving benefits of convenience--but is it worth it? Let's take a package of baby spinach for example. At less than $4 it doesn't seem like a budget buster, but at a price of 65 cents per ounce that works out to a hefty $10 per pound vs. $2 per pound for the non-packaged version. Is it FIVE times more convenient? I don't think so.


4. Vending machines - Even if you don't wait for a sale, a can of 12 oz. soda sold in units of 12 at your local grocery store costs at least 20 cents or 40% less per can less than a single vending machine purchase. Buy on sale or via two liter bottle and your savings increase. That goes for buying those mid-afternoon snacks of peanut butter crackers or favorite candy bars in bulk.  Keep a stash and keep your cash!


5. Rental car insurance - In most cases you are covered under your own automobile policy, so paying that extra fee when renting a car could be a waste of money.  Plus many credit cards offer secondary protection as well.  It makes sense to check with your insurance agent to see if you're covered while driving a rental instead of forking over the extra cash at the car rental counter.


6. Premium gasoline - At an average of 20 cents per gallon more than regular, higher octane gasoline is an unwarranted and unnecessary extravagance for most vehicle owners. Unless your car's engine is knocking, there's no benefit performance-wise to premium. Just an annual waste of money to the tune of $100 or more.


7. Late fees - If you're the forgetful type, your memory deficiency is wasting your money. At $20-30 a pop, this isn't chump change. Setting up online billing and auto-payments can go a long way towards saving money as well as keeping your credit rating intact.


8. Credit monitoring - Speaking of keeping credit ratings intact, there's an entire industry that grown around this--and for the most part it's a money waster.  You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report, but many people inadvertently stumble upon sites that provide the initial report free (with FICO score costing extra) and a "free" trial period of their monitoring service.  Make no mistake:  keeping tabs on your credit score is a good thing and can save you money in the long run by making it easier to obtain credit at a lower interest rate, but if you utilize a credit monitoring service to do so and forget to cancel the "free trial" (and they are counting on you to do just that!), you're wasting your money.  Another money waster are those identity guard services.  Basically all they do is put fraud alerts on your credit reports--something you can do yourself for free. 


9. Not Returning Unusable Items - You loved it in the store, but after getting it home it's the wrong color / doesn't fit / doesn't work, etc.  Maybe you've waited too long, maybe you've lost the receipt, maybe you just can't be bothered to take it or send it back.  Chance are you've got a closet full of never used items you'll never wear or never use that you should have returned for refund but didn't. 


10. Paying Full Price - Whether you're the type to stand in line for the newest tech gadget or buy the latest fashion as soon as it hits the stores, you're wasting money.  Exerting a bit of patience under the price drops will save you lots of money in the long run.  There are so many retailers and service providers offering deals, discounts and coupons that it makes sense to spend some time doing some research and price comparisons.  Yes, time is money but you know what?  Money is money, too! 

What makes your "money waster" list?