by Cody Hodge

Created on: February 20, 2009

We all do it. Its as basic as drinking water, or eating food, we don't go a single day without having it happen to us. When we go to the store we can't help but do it, and when we go out we do it then too. In the car we do it, and at any given time you can spot someone else committing the same sin that you are committing. What is this basic no-no that we all commit, and could possibly be hindering us from our dreams of financial independence?

We are all wasting money, and frittering away the one thing that we all work so hard for. How are we doing this? Well, when you go to the store and buy a magazine, or a 20 ounce soda you are wasting your money. When you pay with a credit card when you could be paying in cash, you are wasting your money!

Think about all the things that we buy that we don't really need. An air freshener for the car, or those fuzzy dice that are hanging from the rear view mirror, the things that are cool, but don't really do much. I'm not saying we shouldn't ever splurge for things that are just fun to have, but what does it do for your wallet? It just takes money out of it, and doesn't really provide much value in the long run.

Those are just little purchases too, think about the expensive things that people buy for a car that they don't need. Things like rims, or other add-ons that you don't have to have, but people buy because they think it will increase social status. When you buy things for your house, how large of a TV do you need?

Do you really need to buy a 50 inch TV because its all the rage? Do you need four TV's in your house, and three computers? You can save a lot of money by having maybe one PC, and one laptop. You can save money too by just having one large TV, and then have a smaller TV in the bedroom, or get a used TV if you need a larger TV in each room of the house.

You can save so much money every month by just cutting back on the larger purchases, and by not spending so much on smaller purchases during the day. If you buy a two liter bottle of soda, and not get a 20oz at the checkout, you can save almost half on your soda bill. Not only that, but the two liter lasts longer as well, meaning you will buy less soda. If you spend a dollar or less on a two liter by buying a store brand, you can pay maybe 80 cents a week, as opposed to $1.70 a day for the smaller bottle. You can save almost eight dollars a week right there.

Not only will you save money, but you will help your teeth by drinking less soda. That cuts down on your dentist bill which saves money there too. If you just took that eight dollars a week and put that into savings, you will have 32 dollars a month. That translates to 386 dollars a year just by not drinking so much soda! Also if you pay cash for that soda instead of credit card, you don't have to pay interest either. If you factor in the interest of at least nine percent on the money you pay for a daily soda before work, thats another three dollars a month, meaning your paying 35 dollars a month just to buy a soda before work.

When you really think about it, it is easy to save money on the things that you buy, and not have to cut out completely the things that you love to have. You can build your savings, and still have money to at least have a little bit of the things that you like to indulge in. Once you realize how much money you can save, you will start saving more, and still enjoy your life while you save money.

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