It Is Financial Power to Know What Not to Spend on Because Marketers Today Are Shrewd Than Ever
“It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” Wise words from Charles A Jaffe.
Aluxers, there are many ways in which our money gets depleted unnecessarily. Expenses that we believe are good for us but turn out to be a complete waste of money.
Let’s save some of our hard-earned money and highlight some of the areas that definitely don’t need another dollar from you!
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If you’d buy this information better through visuals and some decent narration, here’s our YouTube video on this topic:
With that sold, let’s spring right into the first thing you should not spend your money on.
1
Premium Packages
This is the easiest money trap to fall into and has little benefit to you.
Here’s an example: You sign up for an internet contract which will cost you x amount per month. It’s in your budget and you’re happy with the offer. Then the salesman attempts to coax you into buying their “premium” package. On this package, you have a few extra benefits – like a birthday voucher, a Christmas card, and a free coffee every 3 months. You get the idea.
Your “premium” package is really a waste of money and you don’t need those “perks.”
These premium packages are only beneficial on a grand scale, but for the average Joe, they’re just a drain on your finances.
If down the line you feel that you’d like the upgraded package, by all means go for it, but no doubt you’ll be quite happy with what you have.
2
Business Coaching Programs
Aluxers, click onto any YouTube video and you’ll be slapped in the face with someone telling you how they made their millions, how they’re living their dream life, or how they lost all their weight – but in order to find out how they did it, you need to cough up!
If someone is making money from selling “how-to-business” programmes, it’s usually a bad investment.
Look out for clicky attention grabbing headlines like:
The last… you’ll ever need…
Earn money by doing this simple thing…
Eat this for fast weight loss…
Save your money! Don’t spend it on these programmes. Rather seek out professional, accredited programmes with reputable agencies or companies.
3
Mentorship
This could be looked at in two ways. If someone is seeking payment for being a mentor, then they’re not being a mentor for the right reasons.
And if someone is buying a mentorship, vs earning a mentorship, then they’re also not in the right position for that guidance.
Like Oprah Winfrey once said, “A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” With that in mind, do you think paying a mentor would reap the same result? Nah, they’re just getting paid to do a job. A true mentor won’t want payment. They want to see you flourish and have confidence in your ability to do so.
Stop paying for this service Aluxers. However, do feel free to bring a decent cup of coffee for your mentor and yourself and acknowledge their contribution when you are successful in the future. It’s the least you can do.
4
MLM Schemes
Also known as Multi Level Marketing or pyramid schemes and we touched on this in our video, 15 Topics You Should Know By Now.
As we mentioned there, the latest MLM is the sale of essential oils and diffusors with the alure of being your own boss. They attract those hoping to supplement their income, and sadly, it never quite pans out the way people hope.
It’s great that you want to be your own boss but going out and buying 50 boxes of this revolutionary skincare range, and trying to sell it, is not your answer.
And Aluxers, if someone gets in touch out of the blue and wants to catch up over coffee, rest assured, you’ll be asked to buy a lipstick that won’t leave your lips till your death, a detox tea that promises to make you skinny and of course, the essential oils that will cure every ailment under the sun.
5
Driving Everywhere!
Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”
We are so quick to hop in our car to drive everywhere, even just to the shop down the road. It’s a habit and like any habit, needs to be unlearned.
You should not be spending money on unnecessary fuel and wear and tear of your car. Every mile you put on your car, you’re a mile closer to needing your next service. A mile closer to needing new tires. A mile closer to changing brake pads.
Aluxers, we don’t need to drive this point home.
6
The Home You Can’t Afford
The term to describe this is house poor. Described by Investopedia as follows: “A situation that describes a person who spends a large proportion of his or her total income on home ownership, including mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance and utilities. House poor individuals are short of cash for discretionary items and tend to have trouble meeting other financial obligations.”
Buying too much house is what brings many people down.
If you want to know if you can manage to pay off the property, remember this. Your entire mortgage payment should not exceed 28 to 33% of your income.
Being impatient for your “perfect” property can cost you a lot of money. Buy what you can afford now and save yourself the heartache of having to give up on the property you fell in love with that was just not in your budget.
7
Time Share Holiday Programmes
Time share is an arrangement where many joint owners come together and secure the right to use a property as a holiday home and share the time spent there.
This is an area that does not need your money, you will be throwing away your money. It’s an on-going expense.
It’s easy to get sucked into the hype about time share. You think you’ll go on vacation every year and of course, you can sell it if you don’t want it anymore. Good luck with that! It’s like trying to close a bank account – near impossible to do!
MarketWatch.com confirms that timeshares are usually marketed to lower income people, and they’re the ones who usually buy them. Truthfully, your money is better stored under your mattress!
8
Being Penny Wise / Pound Foolish
You’ve found this great deal – the store 30 minutes away from you is selling 18 rolls of toilet paper for a bargain. So, you drive to take advantage of this great deal!
You’ve now wasted fuel, time, wear and tear of your vehicle. Plus, when you arrive, there is a line of people snaking around the block – all trying to buy the toilet paper at this bargain price. And then, guess what, they’re sold out.
While you were out trying to save a few dollars, you’ve wasted way more than that initial saving. And, if you do manage to get inside for the coveted TP, you end up spending what you would have saved on other items you didn’t intend on buying.
9
Things You Don’t Understand
Aluxers, we can be so quick to jump on the band wagon with things that we don’t understand. And it ends up costing.
Get rich quick schemes come in all sorts of disguises, and you need to be vigilant.
For example, there are several Apps that you can purchase that promise to help you invest in the stock market and make you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. They’re called High Yield Investment Programmes. Stay away.
People are always looking at ways to make a quick buck, and there is so much noise online promising a great return on a “small” investment. To the untrained eye, it would seem like the opportunity of a lifetime – but sadly – they don’t usually pan out the way you hope.
Like we said previously, your money is safer underneath your mattress!
Not understanding things is one thing, but there are a lot of those we don’t want to acknowledge. Check out the 15 Brutal TRUTHS People Don’t Want to Hear
10
Bulk Fresh Food Buying
In our video, 15 Reasons Why Money Won’t Solve World-Hunger – we highlight just how much food is wasted each year.
We waste 1.4 billion tons of food a year. We toss out “ugly” looking food, we over dish and we let things go off in our fridges.
When we buy these unbelievable food specials, we are buying more than we can use. We use a little and the rest gets thrown away.
Buy 2 get 3rd free!
3 for the price of 2!
Sounds like a deal and you end up with 3 punnets of baby tomatoes. You can only consume one punnet before the rest go off. You would have been better off buying one punnet of baby tomatoes, eating them and then buying when you needed more.
Tristram Stuart, expert on the social and environmental impacts of food, says “Cutting food waste is a delicious way of saving money, helping to feed the world and protect the planet.”
11
Trying to Impress People
“Those that care, don’t matter and those that matter, don’t care.” An apt quote often misattributed to Dr Seuss, was originally uttered by Bernard Baruch. He was an FDR presidential advisor and he used the quote when drawing up seating arrangements for a dinner.
The words ring true Aluxers, why spend your money on trying to impress people who you don’t give a sh*t about anyway, or vice versa?
You’re not cheese – you’re never going to make everybody happy! So, don’t waste your time and money on this fruitless exercise! Real friends don’t care about your material belongings, they care about your integrity, your heart and you! Just you.
Coming up – we’ll highlight another area that should never see you hand over any amount of cash, regardless of how lucrative it may sound.
But, next – these 2 items could cost or save you money -depending on the way you handle them.
12
Water and Electricity
Wait, what? Aluxers, using anything in excess equates to wastage. Not only does it waste money but also the item in question.
Every drop that leaves your taps costs you money and makes that much less water available in the dam. Make every drop count.
In countries that experience droughts, they can tell you how households are rationed to 50-litres a day per person, how water is switched off for several days because the dams have run dry, or the dregs are coming out the taps – which is very unhealthy to drink.
Don’t spend money on unnecessary water usage and the same goes with electricity. You can drastically reduce your monthly electricity bills by switching off lights, switching to energy saving bulbs, boiling just the right amount of water for your tea and wash your laundry in cold water.
You could easily save a decent amount of money by not spending it on water and electricity that you don’t need!
13
Paying for Casting Calls / Screenings / Potential Jobs
If you’ve spotted the most insane potential job and they’re asking you to pay to apply, run away as fast as you can!
The most common of these paid casting calls are for modelling and acting jobs. Here’s how to spot a scam before you get caught and you’re out of pocket.
- The advert states you must use their own photographer for your professional photographs.
- You have to pay them a fee before they will work as your agent.
- It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Act now before it goes away forever!
- Cash payment only
- Work guaranteed – if not – refund guaranteed.
These are all ways to try and get your money. As the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted.
14
You’re Cheap
In the Afrikaans language, there is a saying that goes – “goedkoop is duurkoop”
What that means is “cheap is expensive.”
Sure, you might be saving a few dollars initially, but what is it costing you in the long run? This is especially true when you purchase things like paint for example. If you buy cheap paint, you’ll end up needing to do a few layers to ensure you get good coverage.
Other examples include shoes, bras, mattresses, dish soap, toilet paper, knives, and pet food. Be sure to watch our video, 15 Things You SHOULD Spend Your Money On to make sure you make the correct buying choices to avoid costing yourself down the line.
15
Things You Won’t Remember
Aluxers, have you ever eaten a treat and thought, that was so not worth the calories? It’s the same kind of sentiment we are going for here.
Why would you spend your hard-earned money on things you won’t even remember?
So, you shouldn’t spend your money on X – not because it’s saving you money – but because X is just boring and forgettable.
Is it something you do all the time? More out of habit then anything else? Do you think that something different will happen this time and that’s why you keep going? Aluxers, if it’s not bringing you joy and draining your finances, stop worrying about FOMO and cut your ties.
We want you to have fun and enjoy your money – just don’t waste it on experiences that do nothing for you.
Question:
What experiences do you find are just a drain on your finances that you’d love to give up? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
