People really love to overspend their money.
Why is that?
I account for every nickel.
The line "it's just money" is also tossed about while someone is making a ridiculous buy.
I mean yes, have fun, treat yourself.
But pay attention before you toss it down the drain.
A savings account is a good thing. Not 10 iPhones.
Redditorcaloriedeficit101wanted to talk about all the ways we should be saving coin instead of throwing it away.
They asked:
"What in your opinion is the biggest waste of money?"
Let's see where people like to spend the most.
Useless Bits
happy snow GIF by MasholandGiphy"Gold flake covered food."
TheShoot141
"Looks tacky. Has no nutritional value. No enhanced flavor. It's one of those "because you can" status symbols, but it's a stupid one."
buttgers
The Scam
"Ticketmaster’s fees. F**k that company."
JuanPancake
"I worked in that industry - specifically a company who started with the goal to do the same thing without the fees. You learn very quickly that 'Ticketmaster's' fees are not actually Ticketmaster - Ticketmaster is happy to be the bad guy face for the venues and often the performers themselves simply wanting more money than the face value of a ticket costs."
"Promoters and venues are used to Ticketmaster being the bad guy and looking like it's getting all this crazy money, but it's really going to places you think are the good guy. Live events are a luxury item. Ticketmaster makes people think they are fair priced items and there's an evil gatekeeper."
conipto
Foot Love
"Name-brand shoes for toddlers and pre-schoolers. They’re not gonna stay clean and they’ll grow out of them faster than you think."
nollyson
"Brand name clothes for kids in general. I always shopped secondhand or target and old navy. They grow too fast and completely wreck everything, especially my son, the knees in his jeans only lasted like a month I swear."
katindra
Claims Death
"Unused gym memberships. Subscriptions to services I rarely (if ever) use. Insurance, when as soon as you make a claim, your premium increases."
Teacher-Investor
"The thing that gets me is when the claim is demonstrably not your fault but it still goes up. Like I'm sorry fate decided to f**k me with circumstances completely beyond my control, can you not f**k me for that too? Your literal sole purpose is to solve my financial issues during this not elevate them. I pay you to stop me from being messed with."
bob0979
Every Other Year?
electronics GIF by South Park Giphy"Buying new electronics every year just because it’s a new model."
Primary_Asparagus_58
This is so true. I'll say it again... we don't need every new IPhone. It's an updated camera!
Not soo rare...
Fashion Style GIFGiphy"Diamonds because of all the artificial scarcity, I was told if anything buy precious stones. That’s why if you look at royalty they always have rare or precious stones."
MarcoNoPollo
Bad Peak
"Often out of season fruits (like strawberries in the winter) are really expensive and taste like water."
qquackie
"I saw some Ontario greenhouse strawberries at Farm Boy for $6/lb and put them back, picked up some American strawberries for $4/lb and they're surprisingly tasty! Not peak summer tasty but definitely worth the $4."
mamoocando
Product Share
"Buying products from the Kardashians. Literally from any celeb."
Redittoranian
"Haven’t tried Rare Beauty, but I swear by the Fenty foundation, all the other brand I tried made my face all sweaty and wet after some time. This one stays a while and leave my face soft. Cannot say about other Fenty products tho, but love the foundation."
Nyctangel
"I bought Lady Gaga branded Oreos once because I wanted the Oreos (though I am a fan of LG nonetheless) and I felt stupid handing them over to the person on the till."
cragglerock93
Picture It
"From what little I understand of it I’m going to say NFTs."
Daydreamer631
"At least with crypto, when you lose big all you do is lose your house. When you lose big with NFTs, you lose your house, and also 'own' a picture of a monkey forever to remind you that you’re financially incompetent."
DanF**kingSchneider
"They may take my house, but they'll never be able to take away my NFT picture I took of my house."
nonnativetexan
Burn me Baby
Back To Black Dirt GIF by Amy WinehouseGiphy"Funerals."
EatingUranium
"I told my hubby if I die before him find the cheapest box available, heck build it if they allow it, for my body. I’m getting cremated anyway! I said no fancy crap, just burn me and fulfill my wishes for my ashes. He agreed to the same. I don’t wanna thousands spent on me when I’m alive and especially not when I’m dead. I don’t care!"
dawny2scotland
Big Day
"Weddings. A family member will have spent over $60,000 on her wedding that is this summer. They don’t even own a house. And 65% (after gifts from both parents) is credit card debt . If you have the money spend it on what you want but I just find it incredibly narcissistic to get yourself in so much debt because you need your ‘big day.'"
lidder444
Smoked
"Cigarettes."
AimlessCreator
"This is only gonna make sense to ex-smokers or who people who never were. I quit between 2 and 3 years ago. I'm sure that this time it's for good. The trick is waiting for it to make you physically sick. I can smell a lit cigarette from like a block away now and it makes me so nauseous."
"I got extremely angry and stressed a few months ago and bought a pack on impulse, smoked one, and hated it. I think I'm in the clear now. But. There was a time in my life when I did still smoke, and that I was so broke that there were more than a few times where I had to choose between a pack of cigarettes or food. I would choose the cigarettes every time."
fokkoooff
Good Health
"The medical industry. Not the actual providers, all those middlemen, managers, CEOs, and companies (with all their shareholders)."
brushpickerjoe
"Absolutely criminal. I have a friend who used to be an EMT and was similarly paid; she works as an Amazon delivery driver now and makes more with the added bonus of less stress. Thank you for your service, but you all deserve a 10x raise. The US healthcare system needs to be burned and rebuilt from the ground up."
Lev0nia
Mealtime
youtube lol GIF by Guava JuiceGiphy"All the food delivery services. It’s obscene how much more expensive it makes a meal."
chadwicke619
"I received a DoorDash gift card a few months ago. I can't bring myself to use it, the pricing is just insane. If I won't get in my car to go get the food then I just don't want it badly enough and can go without."
bumpercarbustier
Border Issues
"Invading a neighboring/foreign country. As we are seeing right now Russia is doing a marvelous job of creating so many financial problems for itself and its people in the very near future. Like Monday near future."
deejayhill
"Military conflicts just aren't economically viable anymore. Between electronic documentation and media and public opinion, and MAD, there's no way anyone can see going to war as a good long-term decision."
Red-7134
cheap, but not good...
"Not having money. Stick with me here:"
"When you need shoes, you buy cheap and they don’t last. Fast food is convenient and cheap, but not good. You end up renting and can’t build equity. Being financially unwell is a waste of money."
smack4u
"So much this. People who say that poor people are poor because they don't know how to manage finances or don't invest can suck a fart. Poverty is a vicious cycle. You can't invest in things that will improve your life long term because you need what little money you have to survive right now."
mascottaricotta
Air Pressure
"Paying to have nitrogen put in your tires. It’s a total scam!"
VTX1800F
"Costco installed my tires, and they filled them with nitrogen for free. It definitely took a lower temperature to set off my car's TPMS, but it wasn't a huge difference, around 10 - 20 F. Useful if you live in a colder area (if it's free)."
NoBreakfast4061
Roll with it...
Dice Vegas GIF by The WeekndGiphy"Spending money on games, had a friend who spent over $1000 on Genshin Impact… and he doesn’t think he has a gambling addiction."
Rykona26
Entertainment Issues
"Cable."
Excellentbees
"It's not a waste if you watch a lot of sports."
"Most sports are still not on streaming services, and the illegal streams are usually pretty hit-or-miss as far as picture quality, and the possibility of them getting shut down in the middle of your game and needing to find another stream. There are non-traditional cable options, like YouTube TV, Sling, etc, but those are still basically cable. They're just over the internet and with more transparent pricing."
JMS1991
Walk Away
"Shoes for babies. It won't be walking for months why the fuck does that screaming pink blob need Jordans when it can't even hold it's own head up yet?"
"Baby shoes interfere with them learning to walk. They need to be able to use their toes to help balance. My son got a pair of baby shoes as a gift, but we sold them, unused. How do you like that, Hemingway? (Actually we donated them to a thrift store)."
CrabbyBlueberry
Save your coins. You don't need all the things.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
I update my status much less often these days...
"Posting about almost every aspect of your life on social media."
"I posted some pretty cringe sh*t as a kid that is still floating around somewhere, and that was before social media became big."
"I can't imagine what it's going to be like now."- video_2
facebook update GIF by Christina LuGiphyParenting should be a personal choice.
"I hope mommy bloggers who post constant pics and details of their children."
"Robbing children of privacy for likes and money is sickening."
"Don’t even get me started on ones with sick kids."- nikki_therese
Everyone was watching it... back then...
"I think people are just starting to regret naming their kids Danerys and Sansa."- Wazula42
game of thrones boom GIFGiphyFelt "kute"... will regret later
"Quirky misspelling of names."- Virghia
Natural beauty is destined for a comeback
"Too much plastic surgery, fillers and Botox on young people."- factchecker8515
"Those eyebrows."
"Holy sh*t, there’s no way that your kids won’t be horrified by those weird eyebrows."- Delica
Eyebrow Raise GIFGiphyHere's hoping actions will one day have consequences
"Ignoring criminal acts by politicians."- Max-lower-back-Payne
Contemporary views of education
"The destruction of public education."
"Squeezing and outright sabotage of public schools, prohibitive costs for secondary education."
"The normalization of being undereducated either through apathy or because of forces outside your control."
"The idea that opinion is equal to fact and that sticking to your original viewpoint is heroic."
"'Yeah, your studies may say that, but this is how I FEEL about it'" and similar arguments."
"The reason we are no longer a minor species of omnivorous hunter-gatherers is our ability to pass along knowledge to others."
"Each generation building on the achievements of prior generations is the path to progress in health, quality of life, equality, production and so much more."
"Worse yet, technology now is at a level where if the masses are uneducated, they are also powerless."
"Small groups of people with specific knowledge have become outrageously powerful and this gap in individual power will only get worse with advances in fields like AI and robotics."
"If we allow whole generations to grow up undereducated, it will be very difficult for them to understand and affect their world."
"I feel the exponential growth of wealth gaps across the world is a symptom of this deliberate enforced ignorance."- GrymEdm
Some things we'll laugh about, other's we'll look back on in disdain and horror.
And Ironically, we'll probably be enjoying another current fad which will be outdated in another five years.
Having no social life comes with its advantages.
"I'm not very social even without a pandemic."- phorq
Season 5 Friends Tv Show GIF by FriendsFear of big crowds... and everything else.
"Social anxiety."- mungiga123
"Agoraphobia."
"Extreme health anxiety."
"It sucks since its unnerving but I took every precaution in the book to not get sick."- _Lost__Light
Horror Reaction GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphyYou tell me!
"I really have no idea."
"I've been on building sites with people taking zero precautions, worked in London for a while, delivered into hospitals during lockdown, been surrounded by people who then go on to have covid a few days later."
"Not a clue how I haven't had it yet."- sammykoejoe
Best perk of a home office!
"Working at home and having no social life or sex."- I-P-Freely4ever
Pure, dumb luck!
'Neither me or my kids have been hit."
"The secret, I have no idea besides lure luck."- Hugh-Mahn
St Patricks Day Illustration GIFGiphyI can stay perfectly entertained at home!
"Don't go out."- To_enrich_my_life_17
Dilligence...or common sense?
"Wear masks, go out when you need to, get all the covid shots you are entitled to, stay away from ill people."- kitchen_clinton
The Grand Mask GIF by The Grand HealthcareGiphyOne can't help but sympathize with those too afraid to partake in outings and activities they enjoyed prior to the pandemic.
But hopefully the fact that they've avoided catching an illness which has taken the lives of over six million people worldwide is the comfort they need to feel good about their decisions.