Five ways to waste money, don't follow the crowd

1: Becoming car poor
    
      Don't decide you can have a car payment all the time and trade cars as soon as the old one is paid for. This sets up a perpetual interest paying machine going out instead of coming in. Buy a three year old vehicle if you can't pay it off in two or three years ,then keep the car for awhile once it's paid for.

  2: ATM surcharges
        
      Paying somebody to access our own money is one of the craziest ways to waste money. Get an account that reimburses you for these fees or plan your cash purchases for the week and just go make one withdraw.

3: Throwing away coupons

      Check the backs of store receipts and the local paper for coupons and you might be surprised what you can find here. It only takes a few minutes before tossing these in the garbage and saving around a thousand dollars a year is not an unreasonable goal.


4: Buying magazines one at a time.

      This is an easy one. Lots of magazines that sell for five dollars an issue are only fifteen to twenty dollars for a whole year. Make the  decision to save that extra forty bucks. It may only seem like it's five bucks but over time that's money that could be compounding for you instead of against you.
      
5: Not trying generic

       There are lots of products,  aspirin, tissue, cereal, etc. where there isn't much difference between brand names. I agree that sometimes there is as well. Try a generic name once in awhile and if you don't see a marketable difference you've just found some permanent future savings.