Guest Post by Richard Quinn
From the lofty perch of old age, and after a lifetime of thrift, I declare that I am qualified to comment on how not to waste money.
We’ve all heard the reports: Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, a large number can’t come up with $400 for an emergency, and there’s no money to save for retirement and other goals.
Most of that data comes from surveys where people are, in effect, saying they don’t have enough income. My curmudgeonly reaction: Stores, fitness centers and entertainment venues are packed with shoppers, many of them buying unnecessary goods and services. If three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, how can they afford to spend like this? It’s a funny thing: I have yet to see Warren or Bill in one of the many local spas.
Most Americans live like no other people on earth. We have more and bigger stuff: Larger houses, bigger vehicles, more shoes. And, in my not so humble opinion, we can’t tell the difference between needs and wants, between necessities and desires—and we sure can’t defer gratification.
All this leads me to one conclusion: We’re unable to control our spending or manage our money. Here are 16 things that this 75-year-old considers big money wasters:
1. Tattoos. They’re an admitted obsession of mine. What will they look like when you’re my age? From what I’ve heard, a good tattoo artist charges $200 an hour.
2. Vacations. Hey, everyone needs a break. But you don’t need to go into tuition-level debt to have a good time. Your kids will survive if they never visit the Magic Kingdom.
3. College. Picking a college involves many factors. Affordability is one that’s often overlooked. If the cost of the school you choose will land you in debt, you’d better have a plan for paying it off. Don’t mortgage your future, just so you can have a prestigious decal on your car window.
4. Restaurants. Eating out, or buying $4 designer coffee, is expensive and—wait for it—it’s also a luxury. Skip that daily $4 coffee and after 30 years you’ll have more than $121,000, assuming a 0.5% monthly return.
5. Opportunities lost. We do it every day by failing to grab the employer match on our 401(k) plan, not investing in a tax-free Roth IRA, failing to fund a flexible spending account to pay medical costs with pretax dollars, and withholding too much from our paycheck, so we’re essentially making an interest-free loan to the IRS.
6. Transportation. You don’t “need” an SUV or $40,000-plus pickup truck to get from A to B. My four kids grew up riding in our 1972 Duster. Now they, too, all have trucks or SUVs.
7. Credit cards. When people say they live paycheck to paycheck, does that include purchases put on credit cards that aren’t paid off that month? In that case, they’re spending more than their paycheck—and what they buy will cost them the purchase price, plus a hefty interest rate.
8. Lottery. The lowest-income groups spend the most on lottery tickets, wasting hundreds of dollars a year—about the same as that $400 emergency fund they don’t have. Not to worry: 60% of millennials think winning the lottery is part of a wise retirement strategy.
9. Clothing. My new condo has two bedrooms and three walk-in closets, two of them larger than the bathroom in my old 1929 house. The average adult spends $161 a month on clothing. We are obsessed with keeping up with the latest fashions and ensuring nobody sees us in the same clothes twice.
10. Shoes. Surveys suggest the average American woman owns more than 25 pairs of shoes, which they admit they don’t need. So why buy so many pairs? It seems shopping and wearing trendy stuff makes us feel good.
11. Tchotchkes and stuff. Clean out a house after many years—which my wife and I just did—and you often hear the words, “Where did we get that?” Though relatively inexpensive per item, tchotchkes and similar stuff cost money—and it all adds up.
12. Failing to look ahead. Henry Ford said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.” I still marvel that people spend so little time thinking about retirement. After working 30 to 40 years, they reach retirement with no plan and are shocked they can’t live on Social Security alone. Planning for retirement early in your career is essential for financial security—and it isn’t that hard.
13. No backup plan. I like to think ahead about “what ifs” and how I’ll deal with them. In my head, I have backups for the backups. I recently took out a large mortgage to buy a condo. Now I’m thinking, “What if I can’t sell the house to cover the mortgage? What if I must do some upgrades to sell the house?” I temporarily stopped reinvesting my tax-free bond interest, so I can build up more cash—just in case.
14. Holidays. Somehow, every December, financial caution goes out the window and we pay for it the following year. But my pet peeve are those inflatable characters on lawns that cost hundreds of dollars. Talk about blowing money.
15. Toys. One study shows that U.S. parents spend $6,500 on toys during a child’s upbringing. The spending is even higher for millennials, who favor “smart” toys—toys that do the thinking for the child. There’s something wrong with this picture. Hey, I’ll challenge anyone to a contest dropping clothespins into a milk bottle.
16. Haircuts. The average haircut reportedly costs $28.30 in a barber shop. Many men pay a lot more. Nowadays, nearly a third prefer a “salon.” I pay $12 at my local barber. But I’m still annoyed: My hair is disappearing, but the price is inching up.
This column first appeared on Humble Dollar and was republished with permission.
Richard Quinn blogs at QuinnsCommentary.com. Before retiring in 2010, Quinn was a compensation and benefits executive. His previous articles include One Last Thing, Over Coffee, Get the Point and Poor Judgment. Follow him on Twitter @QuinnsComments.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
At least the old fart didn’t mention guns, ammo ETC. Don’t buy shit ya don’t need with money ya don’t have.
Hi ragman – good to see you! Please post more often. We sure need guys like you, Dutch, even P, posting more often. Wisdom is something that accumulates over time, and it needs to be shared as it accumulates, or it is wasted. You have loads to share, dontchaknow.
My wife cuts my hair. It’s not hard.
#1 reason people have problems: They are RUN by their impulsive mind.
All of us have a committee in our heads. We have our impulsive mind, which usually runs the routine stuff. We have our deliberative mind, which is invoked to check on what the impulsive mind decides (because the latter is faster.) We have emotions and biases and filters. The two hemispheres of our brains are literally of different mind, one seeing things holistically and the other as kind of an assemblage of the parts.
All actions are chosen (including inaction, which paradoxically is an action.) The problem is, our impulsive mind is almost always our worst enemy. Especially when we’re surrounded by people whose entire purpose is to (1) make us unhappy so they can (2) offer to make us happier by selling us what they’re hawking.
We are surrounded by “Look, over here, the grass is greener…..”
People are addicted to acquiring stuff to offset their unhappiness and dissatisfaction.
People are also addicted to pleasure, the chemicals your brain releases to get you to reproduce and do other of Nature’s required activities, but that are now hijacked by salesmen and ad agencies to get you to Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy….
Pleasure is an addictive drug. And like heroin or booze, you get tolerant to it so you need Bigger Hits of Pleasure to get the enjoyment you once received from small things.
It is DESTROYING people. From the INSIDE. And we’re doing it to ourselves.
This is the Age of No Self Control.
We’re going to pay an astonishing price for it.
Absolutely. Only it’s worse than that.
I think schizophrenics simply hear the voices at the same time. Most of us only hear the one that is dominant at that moment. When we dither, or are indecisive, it’s two or more voices vying for control.
Ever been driving and you can’t recall navigating the last number of miles? That’s your impulsive mind keeping everything running. Unfortunately, it also makes you want to do things that are REALLY not in your best interest.
All the great Prophets heard voices. They weren’t schitzo, they were listening.
Most don’t.
If you find yourself doing something and routinely discovering it brings unhappy outcomes, but you keep doing it anyway, you’re an addict.
Addicts are RUN by their impulsive mind, and when their deliberative mind says, “wait! Let’s think about this first” then the impulsive mind steamrolls the deliberative mind, forcing it to come up with rationalizations for why the impulsive action “makes sense.”
“I don’t have a drinking problem. You need to stop being bothered if I have a couple drinks.”
“Pot doesn’t make me lazy.”
“Video gaming is good for my reaction time.”
“Pron doesn’t interfere with my desire for you.”
“I’m not fat. People who diet all the time are less healthy, I read it on the Internet.”
“Members of the opposite sex all are rotten. No one appreciates the real me.”
“It’s no big deal if I run a balance on my credit card; that’s what they’re there for.”
“I know I was going to pay down my cc balance, but those shoes are on sale and they’d go great with that new dress.”
Rationalizations are toxic. But they are the means by which our worst mind is able to keep steering us into one ditch after another.
Obtain control of your impulses. It’s the only way to live life traveling on happiness path, as far as I can see.
One word. Flobee
I did not know what a Flobee was….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowbee
Hell I’ve had one for 25 years. Daughter got it for me for Christmas when she was in college. Still have it and the kids tease me about it. Grand sons think it is peculiar. It has saved me a lot of dollars over the years.
well spoken.
Too much house.
Too much car.
Revolving credit card balances.
These are the three I see ruin people.
forwarding to my daughter… thanks for posting!
That weekly mandatory bag of weed is a killer financially that at least half of em’ purchase. Can’t forget the ETOH either.
getting through hard times with a bag of weed is easier than getting through good times without
mandatory item for End of Days prepping and good for barter, along w/whiskey, when everybody else is out of their rabbit-ass mind anyway
Heirloom seeds.
Blurble blurble blurble. Blurble.
Troo dat
🙂
It’s not the weed. It’s the damn munchies afterward.
Potato chips, manna from heaven.
All good points, and it’s almost amazing how many are oblivious of how their decisions affect their later years.
Well in other news I see the ” Royals ” had their mud baby. Stucky ,do something about this damn Abomination !
Maybe you’ve got a mud baby, Bibi. Did you ever go back to see the black chick you were dancing with?
There are a million ways to stop wasting money, that includes paying for cable to hear about “The Royal Niglet” and the royal panty wastes that spawned the little bugger.
We should THINK about how much money we waste every month, you can do without a lot of the crap for which you shell out that hard earned cash.
CHIMPTASTIC!!
We be kangs an shit.
For real.
Betty prolly having a cow over this.
Four big money wasters: eating out / expensive vacations / Christmas gifts / toys.
Advice to young people – when you have kids – don’t even start the Christmas present trap. Have some nice family meals, a small gift for each person. Don’t make any holiday a big deal.
We never knew what a family vacation was. Usually, my ‘jefito’ would take us down to the levee off Delta in the Sunland Park area. An old Piggly Wiggly or package store nearby provided the sandwich meats and my father’s beer. We could wade in the 2 to 3 foot deep water so long as we didn’t go too far into the river. It was always fun to examine the small minnows at the waters edge. there were never many cars there and a shade tree was always available and yet, every school boy in El Paso grew up with that memory.
In Florida, where dad was stationed three times, vacations were always at a trailer park on a lake where where he could fish for bass, crappie,bluegill and catfish. I loved it, turtles and snakes everywhere.
Happy to say I passed that with flying colors. Hmmmm does that mean I am not your everyday American? Hell I already knew that.
That’s a good start. We retired before either of us were 60. I I still gots a ways… not fur, massah, but a ways.
I could give him a few tips on saving for retirement.
Mags- You are smarter than the average bear, most folks are clueless. Write a article about your money saving tips. 🙂
Most of us don’t think about thrift as we once did.
Loved this. Probably because I abide by so many of them.
Learned it from Ma. Frugality.
Dad, too, especially the part about saving.
I found out later (around 40-45), that there are times when if you enforce strict frugal actions and opinions, you’ll be tagged as a tightwad. Cheapskate.
So, at times, I loosen up and spend more freely, at group events, as long as it is infrequently.
Heard a great put down on e, for dogging a cheapskate, when all others in the group are paying their share…
“Jimmy, you’re so tight a flea couldn’t make it up your ass. On the rare occasions you pull a twenty spot out of your wallet, I swear I see Andy Jack’s eyes blinking, being exposed to the light of day, from the dark recesses of that vault of a bill fold you haul around in your ass pocket! Pony up more cash, you cheap bastard!”
Renting a mini-storage! Hows that for waste’n moolah?
Beer. I like beer. Trouble is, the more you like beer, the more beer you’re going to like. I stopped drinking beer. I miss beer…
Oh; and CIGARETTES! Where I live, a PACK goes for over $12.00! My state legislature never met a tax or fee it didn’t like!
Jeebus H. Krist Tom, where do you live?? That is righteous bucks for a pack of smokes.
Kept a budget each month in handwriting in a book where I entered income and expenses, assets and liabilities every night or two since graduated college in 1979..still have books in my safe going back 40 years..believe me that focuses you are your money and you learn where to save…do my own taxes so learn where to save there too…married a women who bought into system…knew my approximate net worth every month…always paid off cards, paid 120 college debt payments on time…..kept all cars 15 years but bought new, boy you learn to appreciate that first 30,000 miles …retired at 51 still doing good at 63, still do my nightly system….persistence and discipline win the financial race
Right on Jerry, you have the secret: “Write it down, figure it out”. When you do this you see the reality of your income and expenses. I’ve done it all my life, learned it from my Mom in the desperate 1940s in UK post war austerity.
If memory serves me correctly, seems I read where the multi-millionaire J.Paul Getty kept a small notebook in his pocket and recorded every dime he spent.
Did he say, “The meek may inherit the Earth….. but not the mineral rights” ?
My boss’ system was much simpler, he used the bumper sticker accounting method: I spent most of my money on women and wine, the rest I wasted.
good shit … I bought Quicken in 1993 … Have 26 years of practically every dollar spent … Linked to my investment accounts to boot … Two peas in a pod!!
It’s just as stupid in Canada. Pack goes for $12 to $15.
I used to drop off the occasional case of canned goods at the local food bank. One day they were open. I had to run the gauntlet carrying the box past about 30 smokers. No smoking was allowed inside, but the reek of the cigarette smokers was so over-powering I almost gagged.
I realized I was an enabler. As long as I was giving them free food, they’d somehow manage to find the money for a pack of expensive smokes. They can’t afford food, but they could find the money to feed their addiction.
If I could give up my cigarette habit after 24 years, so could they. That was the last time I contributed. Fuck ’em.
Amen on the fuck’em. I used to donate all kinds of things. One year I had an abundance of vegetables in my garden. Called up a local men’s homeless shelter and asked if they could use some. They asked,” you mean as in fresh vegetables?” When I told them them yes I just picked them they turned me down—they just wanted stuff in a can that they just had to warm up and eat. Too fuckin lazy to prepare and cook. Haven’t offered any since.
Retired at 54 y.o. You are spot on.
‘Preppies’ that want to bug-out; Bwahaha, I’m already here – there. Maroons.
Good people ought to be armed as they will, with wits and guns and The Truth.
Here you go, bend over AmeriKa. Your Cocksucker In Chief’s administration has enabled the constant flow of illegal immigrants into the country which is the real reason you wont be able to retire. The author of this article misses this point, that the standard of living has degraded more so because of lower wages not enabling people to save for retirement.
You know that big red, white and blue dick you were getting shoved up your ass with the Clinton’s, Bush’s, Obama’s, now that dick has changed to orange. So bend over bitches and remember in 2020, VOTE HARDER!
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/may/8/feds-release-168k-illegal-immigrant-family-members/
B.O.A. you are a dumbfuck. You confuse the symptom for the disease. Let’s see if I can possibly dumb it down enough for you. When did we first start hearing about an invasion? It was way back in the Bush 2 era after he stole the election and needed a distraction. The economy was tanking and promised to go into the toilet after the Democrats let the air out of the market.
The market and the economy have been on life support since 2000. Uncle Sam has been handing out cash in accordance with Helicopter Ben’s plan to stimulate buying. At this point, cities are considering handing out cash as basic income. When the currency is handed out like Monopoly money, you know something is rotten in Denmark.
Illegal immigrants are a distraction, a convenient scapegoat and explanation for the low wages and high unemployment. The truth is that there is no economy, we are spending oodles of cash building and continually upgrading an arsenal that would make Hitler feel like the leader of a banana republic. America is not the world’s policeman so much as the world’s hitman.
America is also the world mobster dealing in porn, drugs, theft and death. She collects the vig from other mobsters in charge of puppet states. Where foreign rulers balk at paying the vig, America invades to liberate the country and secure its democracy – the right to vote for America’s puppets.
Now tell me, you dumbass, if this invasion is anything more than a farce and a distraction to keep American subjects of “the Kingdom” in line.
Or just maybe the disease is the symptom..
For most people articles like this are like pissing up a rope. People don’t want to discipline themselves.
Speaking for my situation (as a married 50+ dude with four kids 12-20) … unfortunately the rest of the family (total of 6) doesn’t always comply because of leniency from the wife):
1) Tatoos – None
2) Vacations – Never once to the GIANT money pit, Disney
3) College – state schools – good ones, but not horrifically priced
4) Restaurants – been out to dinner with whole family less than 20 times
$4 coffee – EXTREMELY limited purchased coffee, brew it at home … outside purchases – extremely limited
5) 401k – loading up as much as I can
6) Transp – now into buying used cars – will NEVER buy another new one
7) CC – fucking Duuuhhhh – paid off every month in full
8) Lottery – a bit of a weakness – but only play when jackpots are high and odds are honest
Game odds 1 mill to one … only play if jackpots are over $1 mil for $1 games (and VERY conservatively)
9) Clothing – 161 per month per adult?? – lucky if I pay 161 per year personally – rest of family …. not as good
10) Shoes – ditto
11) Clutter – ditto
12) Solid game plan – but no guarantees
13) Def back-up plans
14) Holidays – could be better – but again, unable to rule with an iron fist, unfortunately
15) Toys – ditto — but this stage is almost over
16) Haircuts – cut my own … fam gets ‘fancy haircuts’ at pretty good rates
All that being said …. if the whole crew would live like me … would be in a much better spot, but with the rest of the crew knowing that that they will hear it from me if they start to wander too far, shit pretty much stays in line (and doesn’t get out of control).
Lottery odds are NEVER in your favor. Never.
And the odds of picking the right numbers NEVER change, regardless of the pot.
I remember in a recent Friday Fail someone holding up their lottery ticket to the tv with the winning numbers displayed; EVERY number on the ticket was one number off of the winning numbers.
Seemed like there should be a prize for that. What’re the odds…….
Dont forget vindictive ex-wives & scumbag lawyers… a terrible combination for cleaning out retirement plans. Avoid them at all costs.
Then there are asshole un/under insured drivers that can change your or my life in the blink of an eye (or the nod of their head.) The same bottom feeding scumbag lawyers will be involved in this one too.
Plans B, C, D, & E were insufficient for the latter, but the latter got rid of the problem from the former after most of the damage was done.
Just cant depend on nuthin’.
Tatoos: Never. I’ll return my skin to my maker in the condition it was given to me, except for some scars and a black dot where the crazy girlfriend stabbed me with a pencil.
Vacations: Once a year to the hideout to clean up the property and repair the house.
College: 59 credits CIS and Robotics at a community college. Then they bait and switched the courses so I needed to go for another year to get the degree. Told them to go f**k themselves and achieved engineer status on my resume with work in the trenches. Never needed the degree.
Restaurants: Not much. Mostly super market healthy foods. You can find them if you look, but they cost more than the Frankenfood crap.
Lost Opportunities: Nailed the retirement thing with an IRA. But Uncle Assam will tax a portion of it from pre-Roth part.
Transport. An old XJ with 315,000 mles on it. Runs like a raped ape and old enough I can do all my own repairs.
Credit cards: 0. 0% interest paid in 25 years.
Lottery. $5.00 0nce a year
Clothing: I lost some weight and wearing pants from 30 years ago. As long as it’s clean, wear til holes appear.
Got a speedy sticher and repair my shoes.
Stuff: Shopping? Clean up day in a wealthy town. Curbside bargains. Got too much free stuf and am unloading this spring.
Looking Ahead: Can’t control for the attack helicopters and armored vehickes when they come for my stuff. If you prep more than you can carry with you, you’re wasting the effort.
Backup Plan: Hideaway in the Badlands
Holidays: Everyone gets a card with a Morgan dollar for Christmas.
Toys: See “Stuff”
Haircuts: Do my own.
Robert (QSLV)
7 Ways to save money and cut expenses.
#1. Take your dinner to work instead of eating out every freakin’ day!!!
#2. Buy a good, used vehicle with cash, maintain it properly, then drive it until the wheels fall off.
#3. Get free food at your local food pantries.
#4. Cut your own hair.
#5. Combine errands and shopping in one trip.
#6. Shop at thrift stores.
#7. Buy a deep freeze or check Craigslist for a free one and buy food when the grocery store puts it on sale.