Some people are bad with money and they waste it constantly on stupid crap that they can’t afford and they are sad all the time and have no friends… That’s not you.
You’re smart, but even smart people sometimes do stupid things with their money. Smart people are often forgetful, or lazy, or busy, or have enough money that they don’t worry about wasting it. Bad idea! Wasting money is always uncool. Here are a 10 stupid ways that even smart people waste money… and a few ideas for how to stop the leak.
We know that you already know all of this stuff, smarty-pants, so consider this list a reminder…
1) Forgetting To Pay Bills: Smart people are often forgetful. “Did I pay the credit card bill? I don’t know, I was busy curing cancer.”
Late fees suck! Here are some ways to avoid them:
- Pay all your bills at once on a specific day each month.
- Set up auto bill pay with your bank (not with your credit card company).
- Ask someone for help getting organized.
- Set up a Google alert.
- Use fewer credit cards so there are fewer bills to pay.
- Don’t use credit cards at all.
2) Bank Fees: Overdrafting fees and excessive ATM and other bank fees are easy to accrue and can be hard to avoid, even for smart people.
Here’s how to get organized:
- Go to the ATM once a week.
- If you find yourself always using another bank’s ATM, switch to that bank.
- Build up a small cushion in your checking account so you don’t have to worry so much.
- Pay attention to how long it takes your bank to process deposits.
- Keep an eye on your balance.
- Switch to a bank that offers ATM fee refunds or that has a large free ATM network.
- Switch to free checking.
- Don’t buy things that aren’t in your budget.
- Add things like coffee, lunches and snacks into your budget. They’re easy to forget.
3) Tickets: Some of the smartest people we know can’t seem to avoid traffic and parking tickets. Speeding and parking illegally is a huge waste of money. Here are some tips that will help you avoid giving your hard-earned cash to the man:
- Dispute parking tickets in court. Bring photos and other evidence.
- Don’t park illegally! Easier said than done, we know.
- Speeding doesn’t save much time, but it will cost you money in tickets, insurance and gas. Stay with the flow of traffic; don’t be the fastest guy on the road.
- Never, ever, ever argue with a police officer or make up stupid excuses. Look remorseful, but don’t admit that you did anything wrong.
- If you do get a ticket, and you have the opportunity to attend “traffic school” so that it won’t be reported to your insurance company, do it.
- Don’t talk on your cellphone while driving. Don’t send txt messages while driving. Just drive.
- Drive less! Take public transportation if you can. You don’t have to worry about where to park a bus.
- Avoid the city of Chicago, especially during the “street sweeping scam” season.
- Pay for parking instead of getting a ticket. If a parking ticket is $75 and parking was $20, who is the sucker now?
- Don’t forget to feed the meter! Set an alarm on your phone if you’re forgetful.
4) Memberships: How many memberships do you have that you don’t use? Gym memberships, museum memberships, cultural center memberships, Netflix memberships… Enough with the memberships!
Here are some questions to ask yourself about your memberships:
- “Does it save me money?”
- “Does it support a charity or non-profit? Is it tax deductible? Do I actually deduct it?”
- “Do I use it?”
If you don’t use that gym membership—cancel it. Better to be fat and rich than fat and poor.
5) Subscriptions: Do you have a large pile of magazines that you’re “going” to read? Cancel them. You’ll never notice they’re gone.
6) Letting food spoil in the fridge: Yes, we know you meant to make it for dinner, but then Betty called and you went to see that new movie and… and…
- Plan your meals.
- Buy things you can freeze.
- Buy dry goods in bulk and produce less often.
- If a bunch of food is about to go bad, invite all your friends over and cook for them rather than waste it.
7) Wasting Energy: It’s just so hard to turn the lights off…
- Use powerstrips to turn off lots of things at once.
- Don’t leave your computer on constantly for no reason.
- Turn out the lights.
- If you’re going to sleep with the TV on, don’t sleep with the TV, the XBox 360, the stereo, the Wii, the CD player, the lights…
- Insulate your home.
- Plant trees on the sunny side of the house.
- Don’t leave the air on when no one is home.
- Turn the heat down during the day.
- You don’t need to leave the lights on for the cat. Cats can see in the dark.
8) Letting your money sit in a checking account: You could be earning interest in an online savings account. Why just let all your money sit in your checking account? Stop that!
9) Buying DVDs you will never, ever watch, or books you’ll never read, or clothes you will never wear…: When buying something ask yourself: “Will I watch this more than once?” or “Will I actually read this?” or “Do I really still like Rush?” If you answer yes, buy it. If not, don’t.
10) Paying too much for cable: Ask yourself if you watch all the premium channels you pay for. If not get rid of them. Also, ask yourself when was the last time you called up your cable company and threatened to cancel? You should do this every year. It keeps them on their toes.
We have a lot of smart readers, but no one is perfect. Tell us how you stopped your money leaks!
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Here’s one: Don’t ever let them “attach” anything to your purchases at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. The cables that come in the box are junk, but you don’t need to buy $100 Monster cables at Best Buy. You can get something just as good for 1/10 the prices at monoprice.com.
Being smart means you’re too busy to pay bills, too busy to cook (but not too busy to grocery shop), too busy to read magazines or books (but not too busy to buy them), and too busy to watch movies or cable TV?
Again, I concede, I was way off with “lazy/disabled/middle of nowhere” thing. I should have also included “an area with poor urban planning”, which is to say, most of America.
I wasn’t out to insult the drivers out there, but to point out that owning a car is very, very expensive, and it’s at least worth considering the alternatives. And it’s definitely worth keeping in mind if you’re relocating and calculating the difference in wages and cost of living.
And another thing I noticed after going carless is that my sense of distance changed. I used to drive just to get to the store around the corner. Now, walking a couple of miles isn’t that big a deal, and I’ve learned to be efficient with my errands. The added bonus is that I only buy what I can carry, so I’m less likely to buy stuff I don’t need at the grocery store.
If this is what “smart” people do to waste money, I’d hate to see what stupid people do…
This list was fine until you titled it as for “smart” people. Because you’re not very smart if you do these things.
I called my cable provider (Cox), threatened to cancel, asked if there was any discount at all they could give me, and I got nothing.
What gives?
@Rupan: I know what you mean – I don’t live in Detroit, but biking to work in power suits and heels just doesn’t sound like fun.
Many small cities, like mine, don’t have decent public transportation. And I really enjoy the luxury of hopping in my car and going wherever I want to on my own schedule. Maintaining my car is really the least of my expenses, and I really can’t see going without it for the $50 a month in insurance and the $60 or so in gas I spend.
My shoe and bag habit is a much worse financial drain – but I still don’t go into debt over it.
Because you’re not very smart if you do these things.
@swalve: You’re not very smart about your money. You can be smart when it comes to other things and be dumb with money.
@brendanm14: What titles ya got?
@spinachdip: you know what gets me? when someone who only owns a bike is constantly hounding people for rides.
no lie – i know a kid who literally has an anniversary party every year b/c he stopped driving a car. problem is, he plays drums in a band. not exactly easy to load a trap set onto the back of a bike. so, he spends half his day coaxing people into giving him rides to his gigs. now get this – he gives me flak one day b/c i offered him a ride & my 2-door coupe doesn’t have room for his drums, his bike & him. why do you need to bring your bike if i’m giving you a ride, asshole? b/c i need it. wish you told me you didn’t drive a bigger car when you offered to give me a ride.
oh, sorry dick. i’ll be sure to keep the leeches in mind next time i’m looking to buy.
“Don’t leave your computer on constantly for no reason”
pfffft. those torrents aren’t gonna seed themselves!
I am only guilty of 6 & 7.
Letting food spoil… I sometimes buy food & then just dont feel like eating it & I put it off for too long (right now I have several red baron pizzas in the freezer I should throw out). I get some food free so it didnt cost me anything (had to throw out 3 lbs of hamburger & some breakfast sausage yesterday).
Its laziness…. its easier to stop off & get some fast food on the way home from work than to cook. Yeah, I realize fast food is very expensive, but it is one of the few luxuries I allow myself.
I also am lazy about turning down the AC when it gets a tad too cold. This last month’s electricity bill was over $60 (its usually at about $32) …. I was quite pissed at myself.
Everything else like cable, subscriptions, bank fees, paying bills late, traffic tickets, extra $ languishing in checking account, buying things i wont use like dvds books etcetc….. I am pretty anal about so I am not guilty of those.
“Don’t talk on your cellphone while driving. Don’t send txt messages while driving. Just drive.”
I wish I had a dime for every person I’ve seen in Chicago driving one-handed, the other hand keeping a cell phone plastered to their ear. Let me count the ways:
1) Mommy in a Prius on the Lake Shore Drive on-ramp from Ohio. Her car went BAM! on the curb, PSSST! from the tire, and she stared straight at me as if it were my fault (I was in the right lane). I had to tell her through an open window that her left front tire was flat thanks to making her car jump 2½ feet off the curb (yes, that was a curb). She STILL had her cellphone plastered to her ear, young kid in back seat screaming.
2) Cabbie decides to turn left .. front the rightmost lane. Too bad I was doing 30 MPH in the left lane, going straight. I applied brakes, loud dying-cat noises emerge from my wheels, cabbie (still holding phone to ear) doesn’t even look in my direction but SLAMS the brakes. I guess he was looking at the cop on the corner waving the cab over so he could write an expensive ticket.
3) SUV makes lane crossing while navigating two-lane left turn. I’m on a scooter. I lay on the horn (with both my brakes under my full weight). SUV driver, with cellphone plastered to left ear, doesn’t notice, and completes the left-lane-to-right-lane crossover mid-turn. She yells at me for giving her the finger and cussing at her. Yeah, it was only *MY* life at risk. Thanks.
Not even a hands-free device would have helped. DWD (driving while distracted) should be a criminal offense.
I like number 6. Give your friends food poisoning! Good times!
@Murph1908: You are so right. I was pulled over MANY MANY times for speeding and NEVER got a ticket. I always agreed with the officer and told him how stupid I was and I would never EVER do it again. Worked every time.
Now in my wee bit older age, I just try to not speed TOO much…I do live in California after all so its not like I can drive the speed limit.
Library, people, LIBRARY.
Free books, movies, music, books on tape or CD, free museum passes.
Go, LIBRARY!
@Eyebrows McGee: “Cats can see in the dark.”
My cats can’t! But they only have one eye each.
Good gods, do you play catch with them using darts?!
Wait, so can cats see in complete dark? We always leave one light on for them. Figure if I can switch it off then in a couple years, we’ll buy them that BB gun for Christmas they’re nagging us about…
Maybe it’s just me, but I like to have air in my apartment all the time.
I is smart! I is pay $10 a month for cable, make up for not as many picture numbers with Blockbuster mail service.
@mac-phisto: People still give him rides after attending his, “Hey I ain’t gotta car!” parties?
wish you told me you didn’t drive a bigger car
Why would anyone assume that someone drives a big car? That doesn’t make any sense. He needs someone to cart around his stuff but can’t be bothered to ask if that person’s car is big enough?
@vonskippy: If you start saving $100/mo at the age of 20 and you invest it in the stock market with average historical returns, by the time you’re 60 you’d have $867,896. Save $200/mo and you’d have a cool $1,735,792. Smart people understand the power of compound interest.
“Don’t forget to feed the meter.”
Meter-feeding in most areas is its own violation, often with fines similar to letting the meter expire.
The municipality’s point of having a meter that allows a maximum of, say, two hours is that you move your car after two hours so someone else can park there. And around here (D.C.), I get a major fix of schadenfreude watching people learn this for the first time. Read the signs!
@Rectilinear Propagation: yeah, no kidding. he charges a $20 cover for those parties too. the guy’s pretty much just an asshole. classic “i’m doing you a favor just by being here” kind of guys.
moral of the story is, before you ditch the expense of a motor vehicle (or any expense for that matter), make sure your life can accommodate the lack thereof.
& don’t be an asshole.
What do you guys mean by “calling up the cable company and threaten to cancel”? It sounds like a good idea but what exactly should I say? Could you guys elaborate?
Bah! Capitalism isn’t a meritocracy, it’s an MBA-ocracy.
@racermd:
I also live in the same area. My job transferred me to a new location that made the bus ride over three hours long each day. I moved to a better apartment in Saint Paul (Cathedral Hill area – I love it!) and now the ride to work takes 30-40 minutes. Still have a car, but it stays parked unless I need it for emergencies/longer trips and also if I find a better job that may require a drive to commute.
The public transportation system in Mpls/St. Paul is pretty bad, but I agree it’s getting better each year. I did notice the drivers do kick off unruly passengers more often and it’s much safer to ride now..
Here are my tips for saving money:
- Grow a garden, even if it’s on your window sill, then if your veggies spoil, it didn’t cost as much.
- If you have a cell phone check if the cost of getting more minutes is less than your home phone.. why have both?
- NEVER through clothes away (unless they are worn out), everything comes back into style eventually.
- Replaces all your bulbs with energy efficient ones, I save $20/mth after I did that.
- I make HUGE batches of food and then freeze. It gives me more food on hand and a full freezer takes up less energy than an empty one. (side note: buy good tupperware to freeze it in, cheap stuff needs to be replaced too often and eats up your savings) I bought a pickling pot to make chili in, my last batch yielded 80 servings. It worked out to about $2-$3 a serving (including tupperware).
- Make your own beer/wine.. super cheap. I can make wine at $3 a bottle… word of caution: you tend to drink more when you have a crap load of wine laying around.
- Don’t be stingy with certain items, I used to buy all my clothes at walmart until I noticed nothing lasted more than a year. I pay 3x what I used to pay for clothes but they last 5-10 years.
- Some satelite companies allow family members to share one bill. My parents, sister and myself all have dishes and share one package. My parents pay the bill and my sister and I pay my parents. Read the small print to find out.
Definitely learn to cook.
About the parking thing – everybody knows that certain spots are hotspots for getting parking tickets, but not many people realize that there are also cold spots. If you can find one of these spots(and this thread assumes you’re smart, right?), you can park there for an extended period of time with little risk. For example, if there’s a 10% chance per day you’ll get a $20 ticket in a cold spot, you’re looking at ~$60/month. That’s cheaper than a monthly contract in most metropolitan areas, and there are also ways of increasing the likelihood that the ticket, once written, never gets entered into the system or gets entered improperly. I’m not going to divulge my secrets, though, because they’re saving me about $90 a month currently, and I don’t want the loophole to be closed.
Replacing bulbs with CFLs, canceling your home phone, and engineering proper ventilation for your house so the AC doesn’t run constantly are also good tips that are pretty much universally applicable.
Regards the move-car-don’t-just-feed-the-meters-past-the-posted-limit comments, traffic cops aren’t psychic. They know who’s been camping past the (say) 2-hr mark because they chalk your tire.
The trick is when the traffic cop isn’t looking wipe the mark away. If you’re good, you can do it w/o it looking wiped. If you’re not, roll your car forward a foot or so after you wipe. Or back and forth, depending on how clean the road is.
@trai_dep: LOL, no, they came that way from the shelter. Actually, the first one, who was an abandoned kitten, was SO UGLY between the starvation and the mangled missing eye that the shelters wouldn’t take him and we got him privately through a friend who was an ER vet because she didn’t want to see him put down. Then when we thought he needed a buddy, we saw this one-eyed cat at the shelter who was past his “kill-by” date (they only kept them 30 days at that shelter) and we said, “Well, we already know how that works” so we went and brought him home too. They’d kept him alive extra long because he is the SWEETEST cat on the planet, but being an adult with one eye and no tail, he was kind-of a hard sell to adopt out. His primary goal in life is to curl up next to sleeping people and purr like crazy.
But yeah, there’s a bit of special care. They’re a little more anxious than normal about making jumps, they’re a little leery of wandering around in the dark, and we have to be careful when they get colds (because they get eye gunk and when you only have 1 eye you have to watch in case that turns to an infection). Also if you’re throwing a ball for them and throw it past the no-eye side, they have NO IDEA where it went and the game is over.
@spinachdip:
Ok – I LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Outstate Minnesota really means, if it doesn’t happen in Mpls/St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth, International Falls, St. Cloud – it’s only their imagination!
My husband works 20 miles west of our town, and the closest towns I can get a job are: 40 miles east, 30-50 miles north or 30 miles south………….
Unfortunately, bicycling and/or motorcycling in the Northern Plains is not an option from say October to as late as May……..unless you really like being found frozen as stiff as a popsicle!
I’m guilty of all ten from time to time. Some I actually have been working on for two reasons saving money and saving the environment. Some of the bills are unavoidable, unless my boss pays me more and I don’t have to dip into overdraft. All of the recommendations are awesome and some I will definately put into practice.
Apparently those energy-saver bulbs use less energy. Not sure if the increased price of the bulb makes up for the difference. The company says they do but I always take what a company says about their own product with a grain of salt. You could probably save money and use up less energy (for the eco-friendly consumer) if what the box is true though.
To help not let fresh fruit/veggies spoil. We make a weekly menu and only buy what we need every weekend for the following week. It helps. Yes, it occasionally sucks going to the grocery every week, but nothing goes bad and we don’t over spend.
Only guilty of the food one. Pretty happy right now, no debt. Always pay credit cards off on time. And even though i want a new car, the 20 year old one is running fine. Another good tip is to not buy new cars. Used cars are much cheaper and you can haggle to a much lower price. This actually goes for anything. Try to get it used, browse craigslist and especially forums. Some people on forums are very flexible with their prices.
Here’s a good idea – we always feel we have a lot of money when we are holding $100 cash on hand, right? Well, that is the same and KNOWING that we have that same $100 in our checking account, but it’s sure easier to spend it with that VISA. If your out to go buy clothes, food, stamps or even a coffee, pay in cash. Cash in hand is a lot harder to let go than that VISA card. Also, actually MAKING a budget helps. If we budget X amount for __, then we know: Well, I can’t buy that because I only have $26 bucks left in that envelope for the monthly budget.
The thing they don’t tell you about the energy saver bulbs is that they have a small amount of mercury in them, so while they do save some energy in the short term, in the long term the disposal is going to be an issue.
Use E-savings instead of regular savings accounts. Most banks have an electroninc savings program that pays higher returns than regular savings. The catch is that you do your transfers etc. electronically to save utilizing a real person. Cheaper for the bank, better return for you. Ask your bank about E-savings.