Saving money is hard, so make it easier on yourself by making sure you are not spending your money on things that aren’t worth the repetitive price tag. Are you wasting your money on any of these stupid things?Coffee – The average cost of a 16 ounce grande Starbucks coffee is $2.10. The average cost to make 16 ounces of home brewed coffee is $.08. If you exchanged your daily coffee for home brewed you save $2.02 a day. That’s around $60 a month or $730 per year.
Movies – If you and 3 friends decide to go to a movie you will likely each spend around $8 for a ticket. When the smell gets to you, you will probably buy some popcorn. That will cost around another $8 each.
That’s already $64 to go see a movie (for the four of you), not including gas to get there.If you and your friends stay home, rent a redbox movie for $1.20 and make a batch of homemade popcorn with coconut oil for about $5, you will save about $58.80. If you did this twice a month instead of going to the theaters you would save $1,392, or $348 per person.
Fast food – Eating at fast food restaurants is not only dangerous for your waistline, but also for your wallet. Even if you eat a salad at a fast food you will spend $4-$7. You can make a great healthy salad at home for about $1.50. If you changed a fast food salad once a week at $4 to a DIY salad for $1.50, you could save $130 per year.
Bottled Water – It may be the cheapest and healthiest drink you can buy, however, the cost of bottled water is far higher than if you brought your own water bottle from home. The average cost of bottled water sold in a 16 ounce bottle is $7.50 a gallon.
Thats 300x higher than the cost of tap water. If you spend $1 every day on a bottle of water you are spending $365 a year on water. If you fill a reusable BPA free bottle you will save more than $350 a year.
Laundry detergent – Buying and using name brand detergent can cost you more than $0.19 a load. If you do a load of laundry each day it could cost more than $70 a year. Homemade detergent can cost you under $.02 a load. Homemade could save you more than $60 a year. Soap nuts are another option for super cheap and healthy laundry.
Shampoo – Shampoo costs anywhere between $1-$20 a bottle. If you use middle-of -the-line shampoo you may spend $4 a month. Thats $48 a year. Baking soda makes a great shampoo and costs only around $0.50 a box. If you use a box a month thats a $42 saving.
Cleaning supplies – All purpose cleaner will cost you around $3 a bottle in most stores. You can usually expect a bottle to last about month. Thats $36 a year. Vinegar is a much healthier, cheaper option. A bottle of vinegar can give you cleaning supplies for 2 months and will only cost about $2.50. Thats a saving of $21 per year.
Car wash – You can pay upwards of $8 for a decent drive through car wash. A bottle of dish soap will cost you around $2 and should contain enough soap to wash your car once a month for a year (probably a lot more than that, actually). Your car will be just as clean and you will have benefitted from using a little elbow grease. If you clean your car once a month that’s a savings of $94.
Unused gym membership – The average cost of a gym membership is $55 a month. Thats adds up to $660 a year. Thats a lot of money if you don’t ever go. There are lots of great exercises you can do at home without going to the gym. You will be saving on gas as well!
Magazines from the store – A store-bought magazine will cost around $5. Usually you can subscribe to the same magazine for $15 for the year or less. If you bought a magazine every month that’s a savings of $45 a year.
Cable TV – The average cost for cable TV is $80 a month. Netflix will cost you about $8 a month. Thats $864 of savings per year. You also won’t have to watch commercials urging you to spend your money on more stupid things!
Your cell phone plan – Ok, you don’t have to get rid of your phone, but you may consider swapping out your plan. The average data plan costs about $140 a month. There are several cell phone providers that give you a no-contract data plan for under $40 a month. You could be saving $1,200 a year. In other words, think twice about getting that cheap or free phone bundled into a 2 year contract.
Leftover Food – According to National Resources Defense Council about $165 billion worth of food is discarded each year. That’s about $529 per person per year. Remember to buy only what you need and no more. Have at least one leftover night a week so you are not just throwing away cash.
Are you a stupid spender? It’s time to reevaluate if you are. Making these 13 simple changes to your spending could save you more than $5,000 every year. That’s a lot of saving!
-The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2014/07/03/5-low-cost-alternatives-to-your-pricey-cellphone-plan
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/just-how-big-is-the-markup-on-movie-food-87128526582.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/bottled-water-costs-2000x-more-than-tap-2013-7
http://bargainbabe.com/how-much-cheaper-is-homemade-laundry-detergent
http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/01/02/the-heavy-price-of-losing-weight
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865587935/10-things-Americans-waste-money-on.html?pg=all
http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-money-wasters-2012-9?op=1
