Are You Wasting Money? 20 Ways to Waste Money

When purchasing a new vehicle, the depreciation generally puts you upside down shortly after the first mile. Buying used, even when it comes to furniture and computers, will save a great deal of money. Furniture can be restored or slip covers can be used to glam up the furniture. Replacing or upgrading individual parts of a computer on your own is much cheaper than purchasing new or paying someone else to do the upgrades for you.

When it comes to food, dining out is much more expensive, even for one person, than cooking meals at home. Grocery shopping, cooking, and doing dishes may all be a hassle, but getting out of those chores is not worth the price. Considering most fast food meals for a family of three are anywhere from $15 to $20 each, it's definitely worth it to plan a grocery list and prepare meals at home. Frugal shoppers can prepare meals for as low as a dollar per person, per meal, meaning a family of 3 can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at home for 7 days on around $63 per week--what some people would spend in a day or two when eating out. Obviously, food prices will vary on location, making groceries higher in some places than others, but where groceries are higher, so are dining out costs.

These accounts do not offer the high interest other accounts do. While not really wasting money here, people who don't use a high interest savings account are not getting paid to save and therefore are missing out on a great chance to make more money.

Many banks are compensating their account holders for ATM fees, up to a certain point each month. Those who are not, should use credit union ATMs when possible as there are no fees. If possible, use a debit card for all transactions, eliminating the need for cash and ATM fees.

No matter the interest rate, carrying any balance on a credit card will cost money. Avoid it whenever possible by keeping balances low and making on time payments to avoid interest rate hikes.

Don't ever buy something without taking time to think about it first. Impulse buys can really add up and you may find you didn't want or need the item after all.

Learn to love generics. Many times, especially when it comes to food, generics are the same thing as the brand name items, with a different label. Buying brand name means you're not paying for the product so much as you are the label, so it's a great waste of money.

Before investing in taxable investments, place money in non-taxable accounts.

Replace your light bulbs with CF bulbs. Unplug items when they are not in use. Turn off lights when not in a room. Install motion detection lights outdoors. Turn your computer off at night. Turn your water heater down. Adjust the thermostat to 72. These are all ways you can save money on your electric bill. A high bill is not a necessary evil in life... power may be a necessity, but paying outrageous amounts for it, isn't.

Why pay $5 a pop to rent a movie at your local Blockbuster, or even $1 per night at your local RedBox, when you could get a library card for free and rent movies that way? Why buy a book to read from a local bookstore when you could use the same free library card to check it out and read it?