8 Expensive Things You Always Spend, Make You Less Rich

Our expenses are closely connected to our lifestyle, our habits, and generally our interests. It is also quite common how we tend to justify our expenses, but we can be very judgmental as we watch those around us spend their money.

However, you are not required to give up on buying things which make you happy, all you need to do is re-evaluate your decisions and approach. In other words, how to still get what you want, but at the same time preserve your budget.

The following are the 8 expensive things you always spend on:

1. Bottled water

Yes, water is one of our essential needs, but we are not obliged to spend money on bottled water. Even though tap water usually contains harmful bacteria, it can be drinkable if you install a water filter. A liter of bottled water approximately costs $2, and let us assume that the natural daily intake of water is around 2,5 or 3 liters. By switching to tap water, you save up to $5 dollars on a daily basis, or $150 per month.

2. Printer ink cartridges

Regardless whether you use your printer frequently or not, buying a new cartridge every time your old one is depleted, is an unnecessary expense. Cartridges are designed to be refilled, and you can either have someone else do it, or you can get your hands dirty and fill them yourself. A new cartridge – cost between $40 and $60 or higher. Refilling – cost only between $10 and $12, so you save around $30 by opting for a refill.

3. Cable TV and magazine subscriptions

Almost everything you want to read in your magazine is available online for free. As far as cable or satellite TV is concerned, you can stream an incredible number of shows or full length movies on Hulu.com, free of charge. Netflix offers a lot of quality material as well, charges only $9 a month for these services, which is still cheaper than your cable subscription.

4. Books

It may sound outrageous, how can buying a book be considered as reckless spending. Well, it can. Buying a book online, and reading it on an e-reader is a cheaper alternative, borrowing a book is another budget friendly option, and a membership in the library is perhaps the best one. It is hard to say exactly how much you save by buying books for an e-reader, but you save around 40 to 50% for each book you purchase.

5. Expensive Branded items

Let’s be honest, in the event you have developed a taste for buying globally renowned branded items, then your wallet is in serious trouble. There is nothing wrong with having your own style, or trying to mimic modern fashion, but paying significantly more, simply because of a particular trade mark is madness. A luxurious bag can cost $1000 or even more, but a military messenger bag f.e. will cost between $70-$100. The same applies for other branded items, if they drain your budget, condition yourself to look for cheaper alternatives.

6. Video games     

This is the same as with books – you do not need to own the game, you are only enlarging your connection to impress the Internet (the online community). It is alright to consider yourself a proud gamer, however, spending tons of cash just to let it the world know is absurd. Surely, you have friends who are also game enthusiasts – make an agreement with them, who will buy which upcoming game.

7. Lottery tickets

The number of people who play the lottery is ridiculously high. The only thing your lottery ticket does, is help the rich to get richer. Despite the fact that a single lottery ticket is approximately $3, the amount of money people spend to participate is large, since you usually buy more than one ticket. Instead of buying a ticket, put all that money in a piggy bank, and you are bound to be more satisfied after a couple of months, when you smash it.

8. Buying new things

Buying a new cell phone, a new car, a new console etc. the moment it appears on the market is yet another form of irresponsible spending, especially if you already have properly functioning utilities that are former models. Boasting with new items can be fun, but continually doing so is just sad. If your old iphone is still functioning, you do not need to spend $600 just to buy a new model. The same applies to your car – spending between $6000-$7000 for a new one is losing a fortune for no particular reason…….

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