Tips

3 Unexpected Small Actions That Waste Your Money

Saving is not a simple task, especially when you constantly need to spend to meet your daily life needs. Achieving your saving goals can be challenging if you overlook small actions that unintentionally waste money every day.

Administrator

8 December, 2023

221

Saving money is not a simple task, especially when you always need to spend to cover your daily life. You may find it difficult to achieve your saving goals if you overlook the small actions that unintentionally waste money every day.

Small, seemingly harmless actions can have a significant impact on your savings – Photo: Shutterstock

The Business Insider recently listed three common actions that many people do every day but often overlook, which unintentionally throw money out the window. Here are those three actions.

1. Wasting leftover food

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average household in the US spent $4,000 on food in 2014. Official statistics, however, showed that Americans usually throw away 25% of the food they buy each year.

If you also have the habit of throwing away a lot of leftover food like the majority of Americans, you are wasting an average of $1,000 per year. $1,000 is a significant amount if you consider what you can do with it: paying debts, saving for retirement, buying necessary supplies, or fulfilling some short-term goals.

Imagine if you can invest the above-mentioned $1,000 in a year, instead of dumping it in the trash. If your investment brings a 6% annual profit, which is below the average return in the US stock market, after 20 years, the amount of money you will enjoy will be $40,000.

2. Upgrading unnecessary electronic devices

Obsession with technology makes us spend more than we think. According to a recent Gallup survey, 44% of Americans upgrade their smartphones as soon as they are eligible, and they usually upgrade their phones once every two years. Not only mobile phones, many other technological devices are also renewed. With the rapid development of technology today, you will have many reasons to feel outdated or backward when using old electronic devices in just one or two years.

According to a study by the US Certified Public Accountants Institute, the country’s residents spend about 17% of their monthly mortgage or loan amount on technology devices. Assuming a person has a mortgage bill of $1,500, they will spend about $250 per month on buying electronic devices. If you can reduce the above figure by half, the amount of money you save annually will be $1,500.

3. ATM and bank fees

A study conducted by Tufts University shows that US households lose a total of $43 billion per year on costs such as ATM fees and cash payment services. On average, a family spends up to $1,739 per year just to withdraw cash.

According to Bankrate, an American will lose an average of $4.52 to withdraw money from an ATM that is not connected to their bank. If they withdraw money once a week, they will lose $253 in a year. Therefore, before pulling out your wallet to spend or shop, you should carefully consider the possible transactions that may incur additional fees. You will be surprised at the amount of money you can save each year just by paying attention to the above-mentioned small actions.