Dec 13, 2010 Greg Johansson
It's all about the Hamiltons - At.morey.tota
There are many things that we get used to doing, which do not necessarily make us bad people but end up turning us into bad spenders. Have you ever considered the amount of money you spend on your daily habits? It is relatively easy to calculate the cost of your daily living.
Here is a collection of some poor habits that you should avoid. You will still end up wasting colossal amounts of money even if you go for the cheapest options.
Soft Drinks
Many people take at least one soft drink per day. If we take the conservative average of $1.5 per bottle, you will use $547.50 in a year. In addition, you will have packed your body with lots of harmful substances that will end up costing you more money.
Gossip Magazines
There are many gossip magazines and you cannot possibly read all of them. So let us take an average of two magazines per week at $3.50 each. This is already $7 every week for fifty-two weeks. Even if you go for a discounted subscription, you will still have paid a lot of money by the end of the year.
You may choose to read the online versions. However, will you remain hooked up to your computer instead of boarding a vehicle to attend that important function?
Coffee
Perhaps you are so used to hearing about the dangers of caffeine that you have become accustomed to it. Consider the cost instead. At an average of $3.95 per cup, you will spend $1,442 in one year. The cost is still $1,031 even if you do not include weekends when you will not be at work.
Playing the Lottery
Perhaps you get comfort in the fact that you will help someone in need even if you do not win a lottery. But have you asked yourself how much actually reaches that person in need? Would it not be better to spend that dollar directly to the person?
If you spend just a dollar per day in the lottery, it translates to $365 per year.
Text Messages
Do not fall for that unlimited text messaging package unless you really send loads of messages. An unlimited text messaging option will cost you an average of $240 per year.
Other habits that will cost you lots of money in the end include smoking, watching porn, playing online poker, lack of car maintenance, and eating fries.
While people are interested in saving both money and time, they usually lose on one or the other. For instance, people tend to pay more to get convenience. While walking out of your hotel to buy a candy bar will require more time, you will spend less than when the candy bar is delivered to your room. If you would like to make financial savings, there are some costly products that you should do away with.
SMS
Cell phone carriers make a 6000% profit on text messages although you think that you are paying less for sms. The text messages are only 160 characters long because they use a secondary channel of data for coordinating voice communications.
600 text messages still contain less data than a minute of phone call. This means that if the rates of text data were applied, just a short telephone call would cost $120. You should therefore not be glad even if you pay only 10 cents per text message.
Bottled Water
The fact that a documentary film has been made on bottled water suffices to tell you that something is wrong. There are estimates that bottled water cost 4000% more than tap water. One plastic bottle requires five bottles of water to make. According to some estimates, prepackaged water costs more than one gallon of gas.
Approximately 40% of bottled water is taken from municipal taps. So, just fill up that bottle at home and carry it along.
Movie theater popcorn
Movie studios make more money from your ticket than the theaters do. The theater owners will therefore try to raise more money through the sale of snacks. The popcorn you buy at the movies costs 1,275% more.
As much as 40% of the profit that theaters make comes from such concessions. That is why they charge lower prices for the movie ticket to encourage more people to come. This provides the opportunity to sell more concessions.
Brand name drugs
Brand names cost relatively more while the essential ingredients are the same as the generics. The costs of generics have dropped while the brand names have increased. You should also check the respective costs of the generics themselves, for there is a great difference.
Other overpriced products include pre-cut vegetables, hotel in-room movies, hotel mini bar, greeting cards, a glass of wine, and a cup of coffee.
The little differences soon add up to significant amounts.
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