People Break Down Which Things Are A Complete Waste Of Money

People Break Down Which Things Are A Complete Waste Of Money
Image by 1820796 from Pixabay

For those people lucky enough to have disposable income, it can be stunning how easily we let it slip away.

Simply put, the line between needs and desires becomes blurry without us even realizing it.

That is, until we look at our bank statement at the end of the month, suppressing the tears and horrified shrieks that want to leap out of us.

But with the help of a recent Reddit thread, perhaps there is hope. Maybe taking stock of exactly which unnecessary places that money is going can help us dial it in.

Redditor Rice_Liar asked:

"What is the biggest waste of money?"

Of course, many people mentioned the common vices that have long been dubbed the easiest way to throw your earnings right down the tubes.

The Next One Will Hit, I Know It

"Scratch off lottery tickets. I visited my uncle, and he asked me to help him sort the scratch tickets he had bought that year (I guess if you collected enough non-winning ones you could turn them in for a small prize?). He had stacks and stacks of tickets. Took us forever to sort them."

"He was proudly telling me about the times he'd won 50 or 100 bucks, but it clearly didn't even begin to break even with the total amount he paid for them."

"I still buy one every once in a while for fun, and know that a lot of people enjoy the thrill of them and don't mind spending a few dollars for it, but seeing how many he had with no worthwhile return except a rare win has definitely stuck with me."

-- yarnfrog

Burning Money

"I just quit smoking and I have to say tobacco, in the Netherlands the pack of tobacco I used to smoke (John player special) costs 14,40 euros or $16.95 dollars according to google u pay that much multiple times a week for something that kills you."

"Any smokers here wanting to quit but can't, just buy a vape pen it makes it so much easier."

-- Gymonx11

Designed to Fail

"Gambling. Most of the time it goes tits up and has ramifications for other people in your life." -- Mgreengo

"Worked at a casino. I saw behind the curtain. You will lose. The only way to win is to accidentally win a jackpot (that you somehow didn't spend over the jackpot amount to win) and walk away never to return." -- Femmefatele

Others discussed those unneeded luxuries that we get lulled into thinking we absolutely need.

For Olympians Only

"buying a house with a swimming pool. Unless you're an avid swimmer, you'll only use it irregularly 2-3 months a year. Requires constant maintenance that cost up to 5k a year."

"If you build the swimming pool after you've bought the house, that's around 30k for a 600 sq2 ft pool. And it most likely will not increase your house' price at all."

-- sagganuts18

The W-Word

"Stupidly expensive weddings" -- FairySpice12

"Napkins - $1"

"Baby Napkins -$5"

"Wedding Napkins- $20" -- OntarioIsPain

More Car Rackets

"i'd argue buying a new car"

"moment you drive it off the lot, you just lot 5 grand in value minimum"

"so much more value in buying used"

-- [deleted]

How Did They Do That?

"Starbucks. $6 for an iced coffee that usually isn't that great." -- kdub1523

"The $6 'coffees' are usually a drink with a million things added so it doesn't taste like a coffee" -- Main-Argument-5898

Pure Excess

"Most common vitamins. They are either in ridiculous excess of amounts needed and the body just passes them out through urine, or they are extremely badly sourced and are next to useless."

-- 357noLove

Money Pit

"Leasing a car."

"I'm paying you upfront for the 'privilege' of paying monthly to borrow your car that I can't drive more than a certain amount and then have to give back."

Yea…no."

"I can understand if you absolutely have to have a car that's otherwise out of your budget, but the entire thing just seems like a sham to me. No idea why anybody does it."

-- Plantayne

Go For Plain

"Brand name clothes. I'll never understand fashion. Ever. Paying so much for a brand name when you can get it 50% cheaper made from the exact same material."

"You can still dress nice without paying a premium. Heck some of my most expensive jeans wore out faster than cheapos I got from Walmart."

-- evoLS7

And many people took notice of all the money they spend on transactions surrounding our online lives and our relationships to all the new gadgets that make our heads spin.

People Who Made A Lot Of Money From Something Totally Random | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Monthly Black Holes

"Subscriptions to stuff you don't use anymore." -- StructureMoist

"I feel like you don't need all the streaming services. For me, I have netflix, prime, Disney and Spotify. I pay for prime and Spotify and my boyfriend has Disney and netflix. We share the accounts. I use all of them about about same amount, Spotify the least but I miss it a ton when I don't have it." -- Zanki

Money From An Unseen Source

"Donating to popular streamers they have so much money and they are most likely to not read your donation" -- fiskars12345

"I much prefer to give my money to smaller streamers because they're always so sweet and I like supporting them" -- mintmoonstone

Give It a Few Years

"Latest mobile phones every year with allegedly 'revolutionary' must have new features!" -- MarcDarcy

"I generally skip 3 or 4 generations. Then buy a new phone after I've wrung every last ounce of life out of the old one." -- Majik_Sheff

But It Seemed So Fun For Those Few Seconds...

"buying video games that you'll never play" -- Zack4044

"But it was 75% off, how could I pass up those savings" -- 98raider

"There goes my angry upvote of the day." -- Nidrew

So maybe it's time to face the harsh realities of the monthly statement and see where the big omissions can be.

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