9 common mistakes that make you lose money

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It costs you more than you think.

1. You succumb to impulse buying on sales

Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays, Christmas and New Year's sales are all organized for you. Even if you don't need another coffee maker, a second set of perfume, and a sixth smartphone case, you still buy it. Because with a huge discount.

What to do

• Deliberately disconnect from sales news.
• Remember that many sellers set fake discounts. Do you really want to be cheated?
• Make a list of what you really need and only purchase these things.
• Choose products with an exclusive discount on one condition: first, conduct a thorough inventory of what was purchased during last Black Friday.
• Allocate a certain amount for purchases during sales and do not exceed the limit.

2. You don't follow sales

The opposite situation: you do not look where and what you can buy cheaper. And in vain. Many shops run sales days when fresh, quality products can be purchased at very competitive prices. And this is a good saving.

What to do

Subscribe to the newsletter of the stores you visit most. Or download a special application that will collect the most profitable offers and tell you about them.

3. You prefer to buy ready-made food rather than cook yourself

Cutlets, salads, side dishes from the ready-to-eat department in supermarkets will cost you at least twice as much as if you made them yourself. Or at least bought a semi-finished product.

What to do

Cook it yourself. Train yourself to write the menu for the week. Then the food will not be monotonous, and you will not want "something tasty" in the evening.

Buy only the food you need to prepare your dinner. This will save you a decent amount and switch to a healthy diet.

4. You are throwing away food

Yesterday's pasta, slightly stale bread, dried cheese, an open jar of peas - all this goes to the basket to make room for new purchases? This means you are spending more on food than you need to.

What to do

Try an experiment: don't go to the store until the refrigerator is empty. And fantasize. Coming up with your own dish and feeling like a chef is priceless. Here's how you can use stubborn foods:

• From unfinished kefir, excellent pancakes and pancakes are obtained.
• Butter can be made into a delicious sandwich addition. Combine it with Dijon mustard, crushed garlic clove, and chopped herbs.
• Dried cheese can be grated and added to boiled potatoes fried in butter.
• Make delicious croutons from dried loaf or bread. Cut whatever you want to go to the trash into slices. Combine the egg with sugar (to taste), dip the bread into the mixture and fry in a pan with butter. Hot croutons are very good with herbal tea or coffee.

5. You blindly follow trends

A fluffy knitted hat, an oversized coat, a long scarf, a leather backpack … Things that are at the height of fashion today will become irrelevant tomorrow. Therefore, you will have to completely renew your wardrobe again.

What to do

Exhale and calm down. Chasing trends is definitely not worth it. Choose a wardrobe based on what is right for you. And do not throw out old things - in a couple of years, a sweater or skirt may become super fashionable again.

6. You lack patience

Sellers have learned how to warm up interest in products and create excitement. Recent examples include selling seats in queues for the iPhone X. On the day of release, a popular product always costs more, and after a while it becomes cheaper. But those who are not ready to endure pay more.

What to do

Calculate how much you can save on waiting. This applies, for example, to going to the cinema: on the day of the premiere, the ticket may be the most expensive, no discounts will work. A week later, you use a coupon or opt for a budget morning session. Or just wait until the movie can be watched online in a digital cinema. Such little things add up to large sums.

7. You easily give in to sellers' persuasion

“But these socks at a super price, be sure to take them to your purchase”, “This coffee maker will only fit the coffee that we sell”, “You urgently need to issue an additional guarantee or insurance for the product. What if it breaks with you? - all these phrases are familiar to many of us. Sometimes it is difficult to resist the pressure of sellers. But it is necessary and possible. After all, in this way, junk goods and unnecessary services or something at an inflated price are often offered.

What to do

Engage in self-education. Read everything you can about coffee that is suitable for coffee makers, additional guarantees, insurance and other subtleties related to the product you want to buy. And decide if you need all this. Also, learn to say no firmly. You will not offend the seller with this, but you can save money.

8. You carelessly read financial documents

Many of us have debit and credit cards or loans. But did everyone carefully read the agreement that they signed with the bank?

It is possible that it contains expenses that were not announced to you by a friendly employee. And they will be an unpleasant surprise for you. Like, for example, financial liability insurance, which is connected by default for some credit card holders.

What to do

• Train yourself to carefully read everything that you sign.
• Improve your financial literacy.
• Remember, thinking about the next "super advantageous offer" that free cheese is only in a mousetrap.

9. You are not creating a financial cushion

Everything happens in life, including force majeure. You can get fired, your company suddenly goes bankrupt, and you have a mortgage and a few more small loans.

What to do

Train yourself to save. You can use the pitcher method or any other method available to you. The main thing is that you really save for a rainy day or for some other large purpose and do not spend money ahead of time.