7 small spending habits that are ruining your savings | Digital Asia
When it comes to spending money, many of us stress about our larger purchases. But you might be surprised to learn how much your smaller spending habits are actually hurting you. From buying bottled water, to always buying the cheapest products, these are the small spending habits that may actually be hurting you and your bank account.
Swiping your credit cards could hurt your bank account in the long run.
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- 44% of Americans have revolving credit card debt.
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- Isaac Brekken/GettyImages
Credit cards, while helpful at times, have the potential to be harmful. Credit cards are beneficial in terms of emergencies or establishing credit, but ultimately, with credit cards, you typically end up paying more than you spend.
Relying on a credit card is easy to do, and necessary at times, but according to The Balance, the reality is that credit cards encourage you to spend more than you can afford, borrow from your future income, and can lead to debt. Some may pay off their credit card in full each month, but that’s not the case for everyone.
According to The Washington Post, 44% of American families have revolving credit card debt.
Falling victim to sale items may actually be hurting you.
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- Retailers sometimes label merchandise as “sale” when it was never a higher price.
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- Daniel von Appen/Unsplash
How many times have you made a purchase simply because the sales tag caught your eye? Most of us are guilty of being sucked in by the sales tags.
According to Consumer Reports, consumers are deceived by retailers who label merchandise as being on sale that they never sold at a higher price.
Basically, items marked as on sale often times didn’t cost a penny higher prior to being labeled with the sales sticker. Try to do your research and compare prices amongst retailers before falling victim to sales items.
Using refillable bottles is a small swap worth considering to save money.
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- Refilling bottles and pitchers often costs nothing.
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- Shutterstock/Kelly vanDellen
Reusable water bottles are not only eco-friendly, but they’re also easier on your wallet.
Refilling a water bottle costs little to nothing, and the same goes for filtered pitchers. If you’re someone who often purchases bottled water, consider making the swap to save money and kick an unnecessary spending habit.
Not buying in bulk has its benefits and downfalls.
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- Compare bulk prices to regular prices to make sure that you are actually getting a deal.
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- Jeramey Lende/shutterstock
Some believe buying in bulk saves a tremendous amount of money, while others think the investment isn’t worth the payoff.
According to SmartAsset, most people do not actually save money by buying in bulk due to the cost of memberships to bulk stores, the limited selection, the cost of gas spent shopping at multiple stores, and the higher amounts of waste associated with buying in bulk.
While buying in bulk is right for some people, and isn’t inherently a poor spending habit, you should still compare sale prices to bulk prices before just assuming buying in bulk is saving you the most money.
Buying cheap products may not be the best idea.
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- Buying cheap can actually cost you.
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- Flickr / loop_oh
Buying cheap to save in the moment is a bad money habit worth breaking.
It’s highly likely that going with a cheaper product will end up costing you more in the long run due to maintenance, or ultimately having to replace it. While this isn’t always the case, consider the longevity of the product compared to the price before making a decision.
Paying for memberships or monthly services that you don’t use is a small spending habit you might be forgetting about.
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- Make sure you evaluate monthly subscriptions to make sure the money is worth it.
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- Shutterstock
Gym memberships and other subscriptions like food delivery services or streaming services are just a few examples of small spending habits that quickly add up. These are memberships and subscriptions that typically are on auto-draft, so whether or not we use them, we’re paying for them.
In “I Will Teach You To Be Rich,” author Ramit Sethi, suggests canceling all the discretionary subscriptions you can. “Then, buy what you need à la carte. Instead of paying for a ton of channels you never watch on cable, buy only the episodes you watch for $1.99 each off iTunes. Buy a day pass for the gym each time you go,” Sethi wrote.
Spending more money to use a coupon or get free shipping adds up.
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- Spending more to get free shipping or buying items in multiples for coupons will cost more in the end.
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- A. and I. Kruk/Shutterstock
We’re all guilty of placing an extra item into our online shopping cart to qualify for free shipping or buying multiples of items to ensure that we get to use a coupon, whether we really need the duplicates or not.
When this practice becomes a habit, spending in such a way can really take a toll on your wallet, particularly if you’re an avid shopper. According to Lifehacker, the higher the shipping threshold, the more we’re likely to buy. They also go on to note that in some cases, spending a little more to qualify for free shipping will save you money in the end, but only of course if the additional amount spent is less than the cost of shipping.
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