And while your personal finances depend on your income, it is certain specific unnecessary expenses that are impoverishing you without realizing it.
Why? This is because when we talk about personal finances, we tend to focus on how much we earn, and not what we spend.
Ant expenses that are making you poor:
As explained in the Rich Mind ebook, your current situation is not due to how little you earn, but to how poorly you invest, or use, what you have.
Certain unnecessary ant expenses impoverish you, which once eliminated or modified, will change your personal finances forever (if you ignore them they will continue to impoverish you, and the worst thing is that you don’t even realize it).
However, before showing you the unnecessary expenses, I want to make it clear that I am not asking you not to buy life insurance, or not to enjoy what you have worked for.
Rather, take this article as an invitation to review your personal finances, as an opportunity to control those ant expenses that are preventing you from achieving financial freedom.
With this clear, let’s review these unnecessary expenses that drain the money you earn, without realizing it.
1. Cable TV
How many television channels do you watch frequently? 3, 5… maximum 10? Then why do you need 120 channels and movie packages, and how much extra benefit do they offer you?
Cut your cable TV plan. If you are an inveterate consumer of movies for entrepreneurs and series, consider Netflix, a much cheaper alternative.
Are you one of those who pay for channels in High Definition without at least having a television with these conditions? Or worse yet, don’t know how your cable plan is set up?
If you want to learn to manage your money, review this bill and see if you are consuming this service to the maximum, and if not, eliminate or adjust this type of ant expense.
2. Bank commissions
Did you know that every time you withdraw money at bank ATMs you are charged a commission?
Did you know that each bank withdrawal you make by check has an additional cost? Or did you know that sometimes, by paying with your credit card, you save some consumption taxes?
To avoid this type of unnecessary and expensive, look for banks that charge cheaper bank commissions, that make contests for people who use their cards, or that even do not charge you commissions.
To start, investigate how much they charge you at your branch and analyze what options you have with other banks, in this way you will avoid unnecessary expenses and have available capital to use on other things of value.
3. Extended Warranties
These types of guarantees are those that are offered when you buy products, usually technology, and that additionally protect you.
While it’s important to take care of your purchases, some extended warranties aren’t just a waste of money.
Aside from being expensive, their terms and conditions (which you’ve probably never read) have a myriad of clauses that leave you unprotected. So the best solution is to be careful with your belongings and keep the guarantee that comes by default with the product.
4. Lease
We’re not saying stop paying rent or live on the street. The only question is whether that luxurious apartment in the most exclusive and expensive sector of your city is worth it.
By upgrading to a smaller apartment in another location, you’ll not only stop spending money on expensive rent, but you’ll stop thinking about how to fill those empty spaces that require money.
Finally, if you are paying very high rent, consider the possibility of acquiring a mortgage loan and buying your first home. It is preferable to pay installments that will have a return and not a lease.
5. Telephone and internet data
How many minutes, messages, and internet data do you have each month on your cell phone plan? Do you eat them all? Do you even know how many you have? Probably not.
Why not look for one that is more in line with your consumption habits, look for another company that provides the same service for a lower price, or cut back on services that you do not use?
Now, if you are one of those who do not have a plan but recharge your line every time the resources run out, I invite you to do the math and see that a monthly payment is much more profitable and not something sporadic.
6. Online shopping
Online stores are one of the biggest enemies of your personal finances, and most of the purchases you make there are unnecessary and expensive and they are rapidly impoverishing you.
It’s not just the shoes, clothes, and accessories, it’s also the premium services you buy and never use. In addition, these purchases come with additional expenses, such as shipping and taxes that we rarely take into account and that increase the value of the invoice.
Solution: The next time you go to buy something online, ask yourself if you need it, once you answer, wait a day to make the purchase. In this way, you avoid compulsive purchases that you do not need.
Additionally, you can start developing one of these ideas to earn money online.
7. Fast food
Fast food, restaurants, and office lunches are enjoyed more, the fewer times they are repeated.
If every 8 days you are eating hamburgers, pizzas, and Chinese food on the street, you are not only destroying your finances, you are destroying your physical health.
There is nothing wrong with eating on the street from time to time, going out to eat with your friends, or at a special dinner with your partner, but if this becomes part of your routine, it will not only become unfunny but will affect your finances.
The same goes for homes if you are thinking of ordering food from your house. The invitation is that you develop healthy habits that contribute to your quality of life.
8. Life insurance
There is nothing wrong with life insurance, moreover, they serve to protect the future of your relatives. The problem is with the type of life insurance you are paying for.
Regardless of the one you are going to choose, remember that its value will depend on your age, the risks you assume, and other factors such as your health and family.
The suggestion is that you look for alternatives, for example, your credit card, which offers insurance for being a cardholder, or pension funds that insure you for having an account with them.
If you have never done an analysis, you are probably paying for an expensive plan, or a plan that protects you from risks that you do not run or that offers services that you do not use.
Do your research first to make an informed decision.
9. Expensive gifts
Love, friendship, and affection are not shown by the price of your gifts, it’s that simple. A gift of thousands of dollars will not show how much you love a person.
If you want to impress others with your “broadness,” you are invited to further impoverish yourself with expensive gifts.
Also, the love of your life is not going to love you depending on how many zeros your gift is worth; And if he does, it’s time to reconsider if you’re the love of his life.
Alternative: Don’t fall into the trap of turning your relationships into a simple exchange of expensive gifts. Consider it better to give away experiences, these are worthless and are appreciated over time, while things lose their value.
10. Lottery tickets
The fact that you play the lottery not only implies that you have unnecessary expenses that are impoverishing you, but it also shows that you are not in control of your finances.
Why? Because you hope, in a miraculous way, to be rich. You’re not doing anything about it other than buying a ticket and hoping your luck and a few numbers will do the trick.
Are you of the opinion that the only way to get rich is to buy the lottery, and that if you don’t buy it, you can never do it?
How sad can be the fact that your wealth depends on a draw, and not on your actions and decisions? In short, buying the lottery is not only taking your money, draw by draw, but it reflects your lack of a millionaire mentality.
I invite you to review our Rich Mind ebook, where we teach you how to develop the right mindset to improve your personal finances. Remember that the amount of money you have in your bank account is nothing more than the result of the thoughts you harbor in your mind.
11. Coffees, lattes, and cappuccinos
How much money have you spent on a $3 coffee? Without a doubt, this is one of the most common expenses today, and in my particular case, it is a point that I must review.
Having a good coffee in a pleasant space is worth it, but its enjoyment is inversely correlated with its consumption habit. That is, the more times you do it, the less you enjoy it.
Do the following accounts:
- With two coffees that you stop buying on the street, you will save enough money to buy a bag of coffee and prepare it at home.
- The coffee you consume for a month on the street is equivalent to an inexpensive coffee maker to prepare at home.
- And finally, the money you spend on coffee on the street for two months is equivalent to a specialized coffee machine that prepares the same latte and cappuccino that you are buying.
Remember that there is nothing wrong with enjoying these pleasures in life, I love a latte, but when you do it every day, it stops being a pleasure and becomes an expense that impoverishes you little by little.
12. Subscriptions
These include magazine subscriptions, surprise gifts, and gym monthly payments, among others that you never use. For example:
- You are subscribed to 2 or 3 magazines that you barely browse and that you have access to their articles on social networks.
- You pay a monthly fee at the gym which you visit less than 15 times a month.
- You are subscribed to things that you don’t use, that are automatically charged to your credit card, that you pay for, and don’t even notice.
You work to pay for things you don’t use, or if you do, it’s partially. If you want to pay for a gym, earn that right consistently. Pay for a week and if you go every day, pay for a month, if you go most days pay for the next.
With the theme of magazines, stop wasting your money if you are not going to read them. Simply do not renew the subscription and access this content on their websites or social networks.
You could invest this money more intelligently in other things that will be of greater benefit to you.
The other 28 unnecessary expenses
After publishing this article, we realized that many other unnecessary expenses that affect our finances were missing.
This is why we decided to complement it with other unnecessary expenses that the same community of BuzzBongo complemented in the comments.
13. Have a TV in every room.
14. Having the lights on all day in places that we don’t need them in our house represents ant expenses in your utility bills.
15. Every weekend visit shopping centers and end up buying unnecessary things, that you don’t need, out of boredom.
16. Take a taxi when you can take the bus, bike, or walk. You can also share it with co-workers, or university colleagues, so that fuel costs are reduced.
17. Having bad health habits like cigarettes.
18. Buying stuff you don’t need from catalog magazines just to help whoever is selling it.
19. Buying items just because they’re on sale. You’re not saving 20%, you’re spending 80% on things you don’t need.
20. Drinking alcohol is not only bad for your health, but it’s also bad for your finances.
21. The constant outings with friends to places like discos and clubs where you spend money on expensive alcohol to find yourself in a recognized place.
22. Sending your pets to fancy nurseries, where they get “special care.”
23. Traffic tickets. The mere fact of not respecting the traffic laws a year has to take hundreds of dollars out of your pockets, so a smart decision would be to drive with caution.
24. Buy lunches at work instead of bringing food from home. The juice or soda you buy instead of buying it in packages and taking it to work each day.
25. Buy new cars. Although these are not ant expenses due to their cost, they are devalued too much. A car loses 25% of its value in its first year. In 3 years they lose 46%, which represents almost half of their value. Instead, buy a gently used 3-year-old car for half what it would cost you new.
Dave Ramsey, the renowned financial advisor, shows how buying new cars is one of the biggest reasons a person doesn’t get rich.
26. Not knowing how to make a monthly budget. Hardly anyone does, and at the end of the month, they don’t know where their money went. You have to keep track of any expenses. If you do that, you will easily realize your financial gaps.
27. End consumption on credit. The problem is not only interest but having things that you will surely have to continue paying months later when you stop using them.
An alternative is to have money for emergencies. With 1,000 dollars (in the United States) it will be enough to get you out of most of the emergencies that can happen to you, and thus you avoid using credit cards.
28. Any type of purchase you make on impulse and without planning it.
29. Buy brand products (especially food). Instead, opt for lesser-known but cheaper brands of similar quality.
30. Buy appliances or electronic devices that are not going to be used frequently.
31. Not worrying about finding new ways to save water (such as recycling the water from the washing machine for later uses such as bathrooms), or any other type of input that you use at home.
32. Frequently going to fancy, expensive, fancy restaurants or public eating places.
33. Buy high-end phones in installments. When you finish paying them they are no longer worth 20% of their commercial value, and better equipment with greater benefits and at a very low price has already come onto the market.
34. Take the car under the brand’s guarantee, you can go to authorized workshops and do the maintenance much cheaper.
35. Change your computer, telephone, or any electronic device because you feel like it when your equipment is still working in perfect condition.
36. Buy books that you are not going to read, that you keep in your library and make you feel bad because you do not keep your promises.
37. “Take advantage” of discounts on the internet, promotions, “cyber promotions” or any invention that takes money out of your pocket.
38. Paying for simple repairs or fixes to third parties, when you can learn how to do it yourself. Not only will you save on these types of ant expenses, but you will learn new skills.
39. Put gas in your vehicle at service stations that charge you more money per gallon. Find out which service stations offer a better price and you will save some money there.
40. Not buying plane tickets on time, for which you will have to subject yourself to expensive and flexible fares. Look for platforms that notify you when prices drop, that compare several airlines, and that allows you to make a better purchase decision when traveling.
Develop an abundance mindset and review your spending ant:
In short, deciding to abandon these unnecessary expenses that are impoverishing you without realizing it, will make your personal finances improve considerably.
Many other unnecessary expenses impoverish you without realizing it, which one would you add to this list? How are you wasting your hard-earned money?
