Americans are experts at wasting money. Many people spend money that they do not have to spend every day and many businesses have popped up to help us waste our money as quickly as possible. Fortunately, once we are aware of the money we are wasting, most of us take steps to reduce the amount that we are spending unnecessarily. Here are some of the most common ways that we waste money and how to correct our habits to save more.
Loan Payments
Many people are wasting money on payments for loans, including credit card balances. When you carry a loan, you have to pay the lender a significant amount of money in interest for borrowing the money. You may also have to pay additional fees and charges associated with the loan. In many cases, if you make a payment late or try to pay off the loan early, you will have to pay a penalty fee. It is much better to create the discipline to save up for what you want and pay for your purchases with the money out of your bank accounts.
Insurance
Unnecessary insurance is another way that we waste a lot of money. Insurance companies use fear to get you to sign up for as many insurance policies as they can con you into signing up for, whether you really need them or not. On top of that, once you do have to make a claim with the insurance company, you may find that the incident that happened is not covered by your policy. There are many different ways available to save money on insurance, but the most effective way is to refrain from purchasing insurance policies that you do not really need.
Cable Television
Cable television can be very expensive, especially if you subscribe to a variety of premium channels. Some households have hundreds of channels piped into their homes via their cable box, along with on-demand programming and music offerings. While it can be entertaining to have so many programs to choose from, most working adults are not home long enough to watch television enough to justify the cost. Now, many cable companies are placing full episodes of their shows online or providing them to Netflix so that you can pay only for the shows you intend to watch. Cutting the cable allows you to save money and find other sources of entertainment that would be better for your health than sitting on the couch watching television for hours.