There's a Netflix movie, Dear Frankie, sitting on top of the DVD player in our family room. It's been there for five months, which means that so far, this DVD rental has cost me $25.
Perhaps it is time to rethink Netflix.
We're all supposed to be cutting back these days but for me, little things like this slip through the cracks. Oh, and OK, sometimes I'm resistant or just plain lazy. Tops on my list of stuff I waste money on:
• Iced coffee. I drink it year-round, one cup every morning, purchased from a coffee shop or Dunkin' Donuts. Iced coffee is basically day-old coffee (due to be dumped) poured over a mountain of ice cubes (free). For $2.50, on average. I should make my own, but it somehow it doesn't taste nearly as enjoyable.
• Suntan lotion. Of COURSE I coat the kids in it like I'm basting a chicken (if I were to baste a chicken, that is, I don't really cook). But we always end up misplacing the tubes, so we have about 10 opened suntan lotions all around the house.
• Princess DVDs. They are beyond dippy. Sabrina learns nothing from them, except things like you need to marry a prince to be happy in life. That is so silly. Everyone knows the only thing that will make you happy in life is money, and lots of it.
• I was kidding.
• The organic produce co-op. Every two weeks, we get a big brown bag filled with organic fruits and veggies for $24.50. This bag contains some good stuff, like organic blueberries and carrots. It also contains stuff like eggplant and kale. I have no idea what to do with either of them (see above, re, chicken basting), except to give them away to my mother-in-law who I feel truly deserves produce such as eggplant and kale.
• Bed Bath & Beyond. Anytime I go into this store, I find about ten things I never knew I needed but suddenly must have in order to go on living. Facebook actually has groups like "I [Heart] Bed Bath & Beyond for Life!!" and "I Have Way Too Many Bed Bath & Beyond Coupons." Hmm.... Do you suppose Bed Bath & Beyond is actually a cult? BBB, I am on to you.
OK, spill, what do you waste money on?
Photo by Brendan Kidwell
Books - I never have the time to read them anymore....although they do look pretty on my shelves!
ReplyDeleteToys - I'm a sucker for buying my kids little bits and bobs. I actually need another whole house to fit them all in I think!
Jeans - I dread to think how many pairs I have! I have them for fat days, regular days, post pregnancy days, smart ones, casual ones, never worn ones! I need help!
Great post!
Toys-mostly for Noah. Little Cars cars. He has them all. So stupid.
ReplyDeleteOffice supplies-notebooks, pens, planners, post-its. Love them. I do use some of them, but never have enough office supplies. It's a teacher thing, I think.
My toenails. I don't paint them myself anymore. I could, but I prefer not to. $30 just to have someone paint them is so stupid, but I put it in the pampering column.
Purses/diaper bags/bags-I have purchased 6 of different types this summer alone. And I love them all.
That's about it. I'm actually a bit of a cheapskate.
Too many clothing items for Gabe. Honestly, he could change three times per day and still have too many clothes!
ReplyDeleteBananas, yes, bananas. They go black before anyone in our house eats them up! (So, I'm starting smoothies in order to use them up!)
That is it for now...We've been focused on fixing up our house and that in itself has been eating up our savings...Er what savings?!
Hey thanks for helping me to rethink the whole Netflix idea. I have been thinking about doing it for a while, but now I realize that it would just be a waste of money. I too, would keep them forever - not really a good deal!
ReplyDeleteClothes for my daughter - that is my biggest money pit. I buy her more clothes then she can possibly wear before she grows out of them (which is pretty often these days).
Pens, office supply stuff - I am obsessed with pens. I have no less than 142 in my house right now, but still continue to buy them. And don't get me started on sticky notes, colored paper, notepads and other stuff that clutters my house and does get used once in a great while.
That's all that comes to mind at the moment. I bet there is more though.
I buy cooking magazines while I'm in the hospital with Ivy. As if I am ever going to cook while in the hospital and when I am home it takes me a good week before I am feeling like a house wifey type person (or a person at all, actually) by then the next magazine is out and we are most probably back in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteAlso kids clothes. If I have a crap day I go searching for cool kids clothes. Ivy and Noah have more than enough but a bad day usually means retail therapy online afterwards.
The other thing I love to buy is photo frames. It would help if I then printed out photos to put them in.
I love Netflix, except I think my sons keep knocking my chic flick down and the Sci fi's up?? (Ok, I sometimes knock my husband's dorky movies down too) Anyway we just finished a weekend of project make a 3 bedroom ranch into a MEGA house by getting rid of STUFF. I'm about to run to Goodwill while no one is looking. Its obvious we bought tons of toys and too many VHS Disney tapes. Oh and the banana thing too, but I freeze them when they are too ripe and throw them in the smoothies, makes it even thicker.
ReplyDeleteI go to Sonic every morning and get a large Dr. Pepper with extra ice. EVERY MORNING. They know me by name, my drink, and my kid's watermelon slushes when they are with me. The manager comes out every so often to see how we are doing! Sick, I know....
ReplyDeleteA few months ago, I forgot my debit card and told them nevermind, and they brought out our drinks anyway for free!!!
and lip gloss. I hardly ever wear makeup, much less lip gloss, but it is a sickness.
and bandaids. I buy all the cute ones and pay way too much.
Ok, I'm done. for now...
Lotto tickets. I know I will never win, but that faint glimmer of hope keeps me going back each week.
ReplyDeleteT-shirts. I don't often find t-shirts that I really love, so when I do, I tend to buy 3-4 of them. Was cleaning out my cupboard the other day and couldn't believe how many there actually were. Time to STOP.
Alternative remedies for eczema for my son. The intention is good, but they never seem to work and I'm left with a bathroom full of half used tube of expensive goop.
I too am into the iced coffee. I get one a few times a week. I also spend too much money on groceries and eating out - I like good food!!
ReplyDeleteEllen,
ReplyDeleteI think you are opening a can of worms, here!
.Hair thingies for Faith- although I make hair bows I still find cute thingies and have to get them! She has boxes and boxes of them, they are everywhere!
.Craft items ON SALE! Paper, pens, bobbles, ribbon, cloth, scrapbook thingies...It's aweful!
.Clothes for Faith of course.. but I ONLY buy cheap, clearance or thrift store.. so doesn't that get me off?
.I am also a sucker for ANYTHING with Hello Kitty on it.. Faith loves her and I just can't resist. I think I would probably buy H.K. toilet paper! My girl actually has a fav. character and it just makes me a fool!
Ellen, we are all aweful!
I have the opposite problem. I am a frugal thing almost to the point of pathology--I try not to waste money on much. In fact, I have accounts for the boys and an emergency fund that I contribute to as often as I can manage--I am the queen of cheap!
ReplyDeleteWe do a lot of our shopping at the thrift store--and when we need shoes, socks, and underwear (stuff I won't buy used), we wait for a sale. We go to the library for a lot of our DVDs and tapes (we still have a tape machine) as well as books, so we aren't paying the Blockbuster or the Netflicks or racking up the bookstore bills either. When we eat out, a lot of times we'll go to where I work (I wait tables) and we get a nice employee discount--the boys love it because it's where I work and everyone is nice to them, I can take it or leave it (I spend enough time there), but it's really more for them, anyway!
All this cheapness comes from being in a place where my parents were about to mortgage their house to help me out when we lost one income with no notice and had trouble getting the insurance to pay out. I was pretty frantic and I have since vowed that I will always have a nest egg in case of emergency. So I suppose you could say I "waste" money on the savings, because I really do try to put a little of every check in the bank as much as I can manage. I'm at the point where I have enough of a pile to think about starting saving for a new(er) car!
My daddy loves to garden and my momma loves to can, so we also get a lot of home grown food, fresh in the summer and in the jar in the winter. Also, momma has a few chickens in a coop by the garage, so we have fresh eggs as well. And daddy loves to fish, so we eat good for not too much money, too--which means I can put more in the bank!
Here's a hint from a fellow iced coffee lover--if you put the leftover brewed coffee in the refrigerator just as soon as it cools down (and don't ever leave it on the "Mister Coffee"--take it right off that burner), it really does taste swell even from home! I have hot coffee in the morning, but when I am working a late shift, I start my evening with an iced coffee--it gets me motivated!
Hey there, Just wanted to say that I love the way you write and I love your blog! I totally have a weakness for ice coffee as well. I do try to make my own sometimes, but you're right -it just doesn't taste the same as buying it!
ReplyDeleteBooks..Me and my partner LOVE books. We have loads of books which we sometimes get to read. I really should do a sort out and sell them on Amazon. I think I have enough books for a bookstore by this point. :)
ReplyDeleteThats it.. I'm actually not a money waster. When I was young, there wasnt a lot of money as my mom and dad werent rich. They couldnt afford to buy expensive stuff for me and my sister Rebecca. I learned a lot about money from them.