13 Ways Americans Throw Away Money

#1
utvolpj

utvolpj

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#1
1. Unused gift cards
2. ATM fees
3. Traffic tickets
4. Candies
5. Lottery tickets
6. Tobacco
7. Alcohol
8. CC interest
9. Casino
10. Soda
11. Wasted energy
12. Wasted foods
13. Bad health

How many are you guilty of? I could only come up with 4 off that list that affect my wallet

13 Ways Americans Throw Away Money - Yahoo! Finance
 
#2
#2
utvolpj said:
2. ATM fees
7. Alcohol
8. CC interest
11. Wasted energy
12. Wasted foods
Click to expand...

Those are the ones that stick out on that list. The ATM fees are rare but they do happen from time to time. Biggest one on the list is the credit card intrest. Once I pay off the one card I have, I am not going to use a credit card unless it's and emergency.
 
#6
#6
utvolpj said:
5. Lottery tickets
7. Alcohol
11. Wasted energy
12. Wasted foods
Click to expand...

5 - Only when it's like $200M.
7 - I buy a LOT of beer. Guess that means I drink a lot, too.
11 - I think watering the lawn and running the AC count as wasted, so guilty.
12 - My wife's extremely picky about leftovers, so I suppose this counts, too.

As for CC interest - I buy everything on AmEx (for the points of course), pay off the balance at the end of the month so I don't carry an interest. I also don't buy anything on my Best Buy or Lowe's card unless it qualifies for 0% interest. Same way with my car and our new flooring. Only interest I'm paying is on my mortgage.
 
#7
#7
Alcohol isn't a necessity so it kind of is. I took it as more "these are things you can cut out if you need extra cash" rather than absolutes. Of course that kind of excludes their #1 item
 
#9
#9
utvolpj said:
1. Unused gift cards
2. ATM fees
3. Traffic tickets
4. Candies
5. Lottery tickets
6. Tobacco
7. Alcohol
8. CC interest
9. Casino
10. Soda
11. Wasted energy
12. Wasted foods
13. Bad health

How many are you guilty of? I could only come up with 4 off that list that affect my wallet

13 Ways Americans Throw Away Money - Yahoo! Finance
Click to expand...

1. Unused gift cards - Throwing Away
2. ATM fees - Throwing Away
3. Traffic tickets - Throwing Away
4. Candies - Not throwing away
5. Lottery tickets - Throwing away (well, for the vast majority)
6. Tobacco - Not throwing away
7. Alcohol - Not throwing away
8. CC interest - Depends on the rate and the person's investments
9. Casino - Split category
10. Soda - Not throwing away
11. Wasted energy - Needs to be more precisely defined
12. Wasted foods - Throwing away
13. Bad health - Not throwing away

That said, I am "guilty of" 1,2,6,7,9,10, and 13.
 
#10
#10
PotS said:
5 - Only when it's like $200M.
7 - I buy a LOT of beer. Guess that means I drink a lot, too.
11 - I think watering the lawn and running the AC count as wasted, so guilty.
12 - My wife's extremely picky about leftovers, so I suppose this counts, too.

As for CC interest - I buy everything on AmEx (for the points of course), pay off the balance at the end of the month so I don't carry an interest. I also don't buy anything on my Best Buy or Lowe's card unless it qualifies for 0% interest. Same way with my car and our new flooring. Only interest I'm paying is on my mortgage.
Click to expand...

Smart man. Wish I was there now but that's what I am working towards.
 
#12
#12
I got 3 consistently. Cc & alcohol & food. Its hard not wasting food with a 3 year old.
 
#13
#13
tri_vol said:
I got 3 consistently. Cc & alcohol & food. Its hard not wasting food with a 3 year old.
Click to expand...

Boy do I know the feeling. My two and half year old is the worst at wasting food. You never know if he is actually going to eat or not.
 
#14
#14
PotS said:
Only interest I'm paying is on my mortgage.
Click to expand...

same here. Took some time but it was well worth it in the end. It actually made our relationship better to sit down, get all debt on the table and figure out how to attack it.
 
#15
#15
Thankfully, my house is paid for. I owe two more years on my truck and 4 (ugh) on the wife's. Hope to hold onto those vehicles a loooong time.
 
#18
#18
utvolpj said:
1. Unused gift cards
2. ATM fees
3. Traffic tickets
4. Candies
5. Lottery tickets
6. Tobacco
7. Alcohol
8. CC interest
9. Casino
10. Soda
11. Wasted energy
12. Wasted foods
13. Bad health

How many are you guilty of? I could only come up with 4 off that list that affect my wallet

13 Ways Americans Throw Away Money - Yahoo! Finance
Click to expand...

7. and 10. Yes. 11 - Is it considered wasted energy to continue to root for the Vols and hope they can win against a team that actually matters to me? (if so, then guilty).
 
#19
#19
If I didn't spend money on my eight items from that list, what the heck would I do with all that frickin' money laying around?
 
#22
#22
utvolpj said:
1. Unused gift cards
2. ATM fees
3. Traffic tickets
4. Candies
5. Lottery tickets
6. Tobacco
7. Alcohol
8. CC interest
9. Casino
10. Soda
11. Wasted energy
12. Wasted foods
13. Bad health

How many are you guilty of? I could only come up with 4 off that list that affect my wallet

13 Ways Americans Throw Away Money - Yahoo! Finance
Click to expand...

1. Unused gift cards - essentially. i get them for gifts, drives me nuts.
7. Alcohol - Beaucoup bucks
11. Wasted energy - probably
 
#23
#23
I am guilty of most of those. I am putting all of my financial eggs into one basket towards the family buisness though. Hopefully next year I can waste lots of money (not saying I will). It would be nice to be able to pay of some debt. One debt I will take on is an Arctic Cat Wildcat. Sometimes wants have to be met too and I want one of those BAD.
 
#24
#24
PotS said:
5 - Only when it's like $200M.
7 - I buy a LOT of beer. Guess that means I drink a lot, too.
11 - I think watering the lawn and running the AC count as wasted, so guilty.
12 - My wife's extremely picky about leftovers, so I suppose this counts, too.

As for CC interest - I buy everything on AmEx (for the points of course), pay off the balance at the end of the month so I don't carry an interest. I also don't buy anything on my Best Buy or Lowe's card unless it qualifies for 0% interest. Same way with my car and our new flooring. Only interest I'm paying is on my mortgage.
Click to expand...

We're very similar. Only interest I pay is mortgage and I pay my Green Card off every month.
 
#25
#25
utvolpj said:
1. Unused gift cards
2. ATM fees-never paid any
3. Traffic tickets-not in a long time
4. Candies-don't have a sweet tooth
5. Lottery tickets-3 bucks/week
6. Tobacco-never used a tobacco product in my life
7. Alcohol-Yippee!!!
8. CC interest-Nope
9. Casino-Went once and lost 80 bucks in 5 minutes. Not going back
10. Soda-Don't drink them anymore. Been 8 years
11. Wasted energy-Mostly my kids fault.
12. Wasted foods-This one is definitely a tragedy for me
13. Bad health-Even with a somewhat poor diet, my health is well above average

How many are you guilty of? I could only come up with 4 off that list that affect my wallet

13 Ways Americans Throw Away Money - Yahoo! Finance
Click to expand...
3 for me
 
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