You know how I’m always saying how the little things add up? Saving a few pennies or dollars here, will add up to big savings later?
Well, sometimes the little purchases you make can erase the savings you may have discovered. So today I thought I would share my list of seemingly harmless purchases I wish I had never made.
DVDs. We went through a stage in our lives where we were always buying $5 and $7 DVDs from the discount bins at our local discount department stores. We splurged on television seasons that went on sale. Am I ever going to watch “The Man with Two Brains” again? Really? Am I going to drop what I’m doing to watch “The Office – Season 2.” Unlikely. I wish I had remembered that video stores and Netflix would be more than happy to let me rent these videos instead of emptying my wallet and cluttering up my cabinets.
Fiction Books. I love reading, but as I’ve gotten older (and more frugal), I wish I had not bought as many fiction books as I have. I love the idea of owning non-fiction books I can refer to again and again for input. But once I’ve read a fiction book, I rarely ever go back to read it again. I would be far better out checking these books out from the library.
Kids’ Character Pajamas. Thomas the Tank Engine, Lightening McQueen, Curious George – my kids love them all. But the character pajamas are always overpriced and they seem to wear out twice as fast.
Fast Food Meals. If I could take back all those times I ate at fast food restaurants out of sheer laziness and gluttony, I would be about 30 pounds lighter and hundreds of dollars richer. Sometimes the “value” meal, isn’t really of value.
Kitchen Gadgets. I collect kitchen gadgets in the hopes that I’ll eventually want to use my kitchen. But instead, these little overpriced do-dads have done more to crimp my budget and clutter my drawers than they have to inspire my inner chef.
These are just some of the smaller purchases I’ve made that - upon reflection – were dumb little wasters of money. When I look back at all of these things, I realize they were impulse buys – bought because I thought they would make my life easier, make my children happy, or make me happy. In the end, they just cluttered my life and left my wallet emptier.
Related posts on Northern Cheapskate:
