Saving Money: Unnecessary Expenses

Cheeky Employee

Like most, I suppose.  I am nervous when I look into the future.  My goals seem just out of reach as my wallet simply cannot stretch as far as I had hoped.  This is the first of a series into how to make your money last.  Humans feel the pain of loss more deeply than the joy of gain so first up is how to not lose that money in the first place.

Some things you just HAVE to have, but others just end up gathering dust or costing you more than its worth.  Here are a couple of unnecessary expenses that shouldn’t be that hard to cut.  This could save you millions!

Gym Membership

You probably have that little card hiding out somewhere.  It’s faded, it’s buried deep and it hasn’t been used in years.  You honestly aren’t sure whether or not it still works, but it’s still there.

Gyms have reported that they expect an average of 18% of their clients to show up regularly.  Are you one of them?  That means 82% of you guys are just sitting on your butts all day!  Yes, you intend to go, it has just been a busy… a really crazy… 8 years!  Don’t fool yourself!  You aren’t going tomorrow either!  Be honest and cut this cost if you are in the majority of naïve, hopeful, lazy, coach-potatoes.  Or just go for a walk instead.

Me?!?  I don’t even have a gym membership!

Quick Snacks

If you are like me, you have that little snack bowl in the corner of the kitchen and you keep that baby stocked with the best of the best cheap sweets, snacks, chips and chocolate.  Even though I am not against a little self-indulgence from time to time, we need to draw a line in the sand.  How much are you really spending on those treats and are they worth it?

Try to limit yourself.  Sweets are yummy and chocolate simply understands, but these things are costing us too much.  Maybe make a rule that you are only allowed to pay for snacks in cash or put the bowl up in a high and difficult-to-reach spot.  Let your natural laziness face off against your natural sweet tooth so that your wallet can come out on top!

I know this is a lot to take in, but little bit by little bit we’ll get through it.  Things add up.  If I stopped having a single coke worth R15 every day I would have saved R5 475 in a single year.  That’s over R100 000 before I even hit 40!  Makes you think… is it really worth it?