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Written by Samantha Rivera | With money as tight as it is for most families right now it’s important to know where you can cut corners and what you can do to save your hard-earned dollars. No one likes spending more money than they have to. What if we told you you could save up to $6,554 each year by making small changes to your spending habits? It’s not too good to be true because (unfortunately) there are many ways to waste money without a second thought. We’re going to tell you what 10 of these ways are and what you can do to fix them.
1. Bank Fees
The bank is supposed to be a completely free place where you can store your money (and earn interest) without having to pay anything in return. The truth however, is that banks sap away your money with fees for overdraft, having too little in your account, too many transactions in a day.
Solution: If you’re paying a premium for drawing out too much money and missing payments, it’s time to re-budget your spending. Optimally, you would stick to the 50-50 formula, whereby you limit your necessary spending to 50% of your after-tax income. The rest should be left for savings and repaying debts.
Estimated savings from overdraft fees alone = $225 per year (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
2. Late Fees
Whether it’s your bank, your credit card, the water bill or any other type of bill you probably pay a lot of money each year in late fees. That extra $5 every so often may not seem like much but it definitely adds up.
Solution: Keep a schedule of due dates for payments. If you have more than one credit card to manage, try to set up your billing cycles such that all of them align. save save save save
Estimated savings: $420 per year (calculated at $35 per month)
3. Cable Channels
Maybe you’re one of those people who watch all 200 channels in your cable package at least a few times a month, but chances are, you’re not. Of those 200 channels you probably only watch a handful regularly and pay astronomically for all the other ones you can’t even recall the names of.
Solution: Switch to an online television provider like Hulu. Subscription is only $8.99 a month, compared to the $50-90 you’d be paying with a traditional cable subscription. Online subscriptions let you watch on-demand; some major cable channels even offer free online streaming.
Estimated savings by switching from basic TV + premium channels to online streaming = $924