Ten things Americans waste money on

http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/10-things-americans-waste-money-on


Interesting Blog.

I do buy things on Deal websites for restaurants and I've only not used one.
We do get appetizers. :nod:
I try to find the ATMS with the lowest fees if I need one.
I do have a better cable package because a lot of the shows we watch are on cable stations
I've cut WAY back on my coffees out compared to how often I used to get them.


So Americans and Non-Americans, are you guilty of some of these?

I almost feel like patting myself on the back!  It's pretty easy here to get to an ATM with no fees.  The thing on that list I'm guilty-ish of is the kids clothing.  I don't buy "designer" but I do try to get better quality because it lasts longer.  I have a hard time limiting how many girls things I buy for DD too.  DS gets hand-me-downs but DD doesn't.  And girl clothing is so cute!  DD is a little fashionista sometimes so that doesn't help.  I've gotten a few coffees lately; which is unusual for me.  

We get appetizers maybe half or less of the times we go out to eat at a real restaurant.  Sometimes I will order an appetizer as my meal.  Applebees has a few things that make up a pretty tasty dinner.  I'll just add a salad or something like that to round it out. 

I pay $160.00 for my cable because most of the stations I watch are on cable and about once every 3 or 4 months I will go to Starbucks for coffee. That's about it. I'm pretty good with money. I have to be because I'm retired and l only made $40,000 a year when I worked.

The only shipping I have is a Prime membership and I split the cost of that with another. I buy so many packages online, good deals sometimes and also there are things there I can't get anywhere within a reasonable distance from me.

We don't do / have any of those things, except sometimes I order an appetizer as my main course. 

The only one I am guilty of is paying 50 cents for an ATM fee once a week.  I don't use much cash so I get a little cash back at the grocery and the credit union charges me 50 cents.  I would use at least that much in gas going to a fee free ATM.  I do very occasionally get a Starbucks Latte but it's never more than once a week.  

My cable bill is high but I only pay 20 dollars extra, 10 dollars for the next speed up on the internet which I need because I work from home. and 10 dollars for an additional digital package which has several channels that I do watch regularly.

Does Amazon Prime count? We order so much - and watch Prime videos rather than streaming from other services or having premium cable - that it seems like a steal.

The other stuff doesn't apply.

The coffee.....if you count k-cups as a waste of money. I use k-cups regularly because, otherwise, I wouldn't drink coffee. It doesn't pay to make a full pot of coffee because I'm the only one who drinks it. Rick will drink a k-cup of iced coffee every once in a while, but that's it.

And let me add that we recycle our k-cups through single-stream recycling. I use the used grounds in our composting.

I have never used an ATM in my life. We don't get appetizers (unless we're at a restaurant that has really good French onion soup and then I'll get it as my main course). We pay our cards off every month, simply to avoid the fees.  We don't pay for speedy shipping at all.....I can wait. And Dear Richard would have a bird if I overdrew the checking account!

I pay atm fees sometimes because I need cash for something but usually just go to the bank or get cash back at a store.

We get appetizers a lot of the time because they are yummy things that aren't an option with your meal. We rarely ever go out to eat so if we want an appetizer, it's not a waste to us.

Winchester said:

 
The coffee.....if you count k-cups as a waste of money. I use k-cups regularly because, otherwise, I wouldn't drink coffee. It doesn't pay to make a full pot of coffee because I'm the only one who drinks it. Rick will drink a k-cup of iced coffee every once in a while, but that's it.

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You can also use regular coffee in the little filter that comes with your Keurig.  I can't always afford the k-cups so I buy my ground coffee and make my own coffee, it does save me money.  It is still quick and easy.

We don't do any of those things. I do by Keurig coffee pod. I get what is on sale that I have a coupon for. We only use it later in the day if only one of us wants coffee. So I think I can say that we don't waste money on any of those things that are talked about.

CC Interests and Gym Membership. whoops

SwampWitch said:

 
We don't do / have any of those things, except sometimes I order an appetizer as my main course. 

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Same here!

okay, i'll start at the top of the list in the article...

no, i don't pay interest on my credit card. because i pay it off every month. i simply don't charge on the credit card (or pretty much buy anything) if i don't already have the money to pay for it. exceptions would be my current house/mortgage, and the new lawn tractor w/snow blower attachment (purchased with the one year/0% interest offer, and am right on track in payments so i'll have it paid off before the end of one year).

deal websites. two things come to my mind right away -- first, that 'it's only a deal if i need it/will use it'; and second, it's only a deal to me if it's of sufficient quality that it won't break or wear out unduly fast. other than that, i do my 'looking into' every item before buying -- whatever the item is and where ever i buy from. special offers, like the type mentioned in the article, are pretty much never something i'd be interested in.

appetizers. now i'd buy an appetizer or two as a meal, but i wouldn't buy a meal as well as an appetizer. but more importantly, i rarely eat out. in the past year i've only eaten out twice, and both times i bought a burger from the 'king's deals' menu at burger king -- and no fries or drink. total cost was $2.15 each time, including tax.

atm's -- i never use them.

overdraft fees -- not here. i'm exceedingly careful to never incur bank fees, because that's a waste of my money.

i have amazon prime, so i can get free 2 day shipping on most items. but most times i'll take the 'no rush' shipping because i then earn $1 credit towards digital purchases -- i always use these credits for kindle books, once i've got several dollars earned. in general my goal is free shipping for all my online purchases. however, sometimes i find the best price for an item comes with an additional shipping cost -- but the total cost is still less than other online retailers. i will say that i've paid for next day shipping for medications for my snick -- as she's on at-home/hospice care now, and i don't drive so cannot get to a pharmacy. other than next day shipping for snick's medications occasionally, i can wait for any online purchases to get here when they get here.

designer baby clothes -- does not apply to me.

no gym membership here.

cable packages, and i'll include satellite tv packages. i stream my tv shows and movies. my initial set up cost some money, which i had calculated before i made the 'leap' to streaming exactly how long it would take for my monthly savings (by streaming) to offset my initial set up cost. so i'm years into the 'savings every month' category now. i do pay for both amazon prime (which includes amazon instant video) and hulu membership/subscriptions. amazon prime includes so much more than just the amazon instant video though. i do pay $20 extra each month for higher speed internet, specifically for the streaming.

no coffee here. i gave up coffee about 5+ years ago. the cost was too high, and i didn't need the caffeine.

Credit card interest:  I try really hard not to carry balances.  Or, to get cards with high interest rates.  But I work in the financial end of things so this is something I do pay attention to a lot.  I also don't spend a lot on frivolous purchases.  Used to when younger but I've gotten to the point where I don't feel compelled to buy for the sake of buying anymore.

Deal site: I think they are all scams, so nope, not shopping there.

Appetizers: Depends. For your average mid-range place or chain, I don't.  If I'm going to an extremely good upscale restaurant, I might since I always want to try everything!

ATM Fees: Hardly ever. I stick to my own bank, and their ATM's are pretty much everywhere in NY & NJ, where I work and live.  If I'm going to be traveling I make sure to take out enough cash in advance of leaving.

Overdraft Fees: Not ever have I utilized this.  Again - finances are my business lol.  I don't bounce.

Speedy Shipping:  Not unless it's FREE. I could care less when something gets to me.

Designer Baby Clothes: No babies in circle of family and friends in eons other than very recently.  I went to Carters and got everything on sale.  

Gym: What's that????

Premium Cable:  This one I'm guilty of.  We've been researching other ways to get our programming but so far aren't willing to give up Bill Maher or now, the new Patrick Stewart sitcom "Blunt".  We hardly go out and spend money on entertainment so we feel this as cash well spent.

Daily Coffee:  Ok, I'm a coffee snob.  At home however, I buy pretty regular grounds - very generic and make sure it gets brewed right.  At work, I do splurge on really good coffee in the morning.  I dislike the Kurig and all types of those pods (other than my Nespresso at home - which isn't used on even on a weekly basis).  In order to compensate, I've stopped buying a drink to have with lunch.  I don't like sugared things anyway, and we have a water cooler at work and the water is frigid from it so I've been doing that instead.

I do buy things on deal websites but we also use them. We bought a night out for $39 that included bowling, shoe rental, a pizza and game cards for the arcade. We split with another couple, couldn't beat that deal, the bowling was that much alone. My husband also buys oil changes on the deal sites.

I live on disability so my income is fixed, and not that big. But I admit, I do splurge sometimes. For ATM, if I know a free one is near, I will use it, but otherwise since I don't drive, I'm limited to the fee charging ones. 

I don't buy coffee every day. I have 2 cup maker that is perfect, and I only drink coffee on the days ending in Y so I save money.   I am considering a Y membership, since it's literally 25 feet from my apartment building. and I would qualify for a scholarship because of my income and disability. Haven't decided if I will use it enough to really make it worth while. My cable is basic, and I have netflix, so I have enough to watch. When my contract ends I'm stopping the cable service and just doing a streaming stick and WiFi, and losing the cable. Speedy shipping-never unless it's urgent. Over draft charges--never get them. My account is set up to refuse charges unless the full amount is in the account. no money=no shopping. Designer clothes? I splurge occasionally for my 14 year old. But she'd never forgive me if I told her most of them came from goodwill or resale shops. We get new occasionally because she's a teen. But it's only for holidays or gifts. Not every day. And when she was a baby, she got the cheap ones because I'm not washing baby puke/poop from an expensive item of clothing.

As for my cat, he's spoiled rotten and I spend too much on him. It's an addiction. But right now his favorite toy is a bottle cap. He's been playing hockey for an hour now. 

Sometimes, you DO need speedy shipping.I always try to get free shipping, but sometimes you need a part, etc. for something you use daily.

We do get appetizers, but we also make them part of the meal by ordering cheaper and smaller main dishes. And we share the same one, not separate apps for DH or myself.

If you like coffee, then that's your thing, and, as long as you budget it as a luxury for yourself, what's wrong with that, IMHO? For example, Mom never traveled, was thrifty with everything else, but her one luxury was a weekly Bingo game. Apart from grocery shopping, this was the only time she got out of the house. If you go by these lists, Bingo would seem like a terrible waste of money to many people. However, as frivolous as Bingo may seem to most people, it gave an elderly woman entertainment and a night out with friends, many of whom she "Bingo-ed" with for decades. I'm all for saving money, but I think you need to have one or two little luxuries in life. If you budget wisely, you can do that. With some people, it's coffee; others, it's traveling.

We don't do or use any of these things, either.

I do drink a ridiculous amount of coffee, but I never buy it out. My big insulated cup is perpetually glued to my hand. A big can of the store brand Columbian Supremo lasts me three weeks and I probably spend more on replacing the milk and sugar supplies each month than on the coffee.

As others said, I'll sometimes get an appetizer and salad as my meal when we go out to eat, which is very rare. After being in the business for decades, poor or annoying service can completely ruin my dinner. I hate the 'Hi, my name is Muffy, I like the potato skins and wings and the cheese sticks....' spiel. Ugh. Imo, servers should be seen and heard as little as possible. Friendly, yet unobtrusive. You are my waiter, not my best pal- unless I make the 'buddy' overtures. My drink should be automatically refilled when it is halfway empty (I'll tell you when you can stop bringing them), and I'll let you know if I have a question or need something (although good waiters anticipate those needs). Just leave me in peace to enjoy my food and my seat mates. And god help you if I see you yapping away on your cellphone when we are sitting with empty drinks and plates that needed cleared 10 minutes ago. I could write a book on how corporate standards have ruined the dining experience in America. Sadly, I guess that is parallel to most other businesses these days, though. Oops, didn't mean to go off on a rant about eating out, lol! :anon: We don't do it a lot.

We are looking into streaming TV, but still haven't made the plunge yet. Comcast is my mortal enemy and I would gladly duel a couple of the customer service people to the death if given the opportunity.

The Gym:

We operate on a cash only basis- no credit cards, no online purchasing. DH makes a withdrawl directly from the bank twice a week and we are good about sticking to our budget. Occasionally, we'll use the check card, but very rarely.

None of them for me either.

OK.. I buy coffee.. But apart from that, none of them.