When you pay for something super expensive, your budget immediately feels a hit. But there are smaller, more subtle expenses that get incrementally more expensive over time. Trulia points to a few common “money leaks”.
A money leak is basically an expense that increases over time and ends up straining your budget. Some of them are so subtle, you probably don’t think anything of them at all. For example:
Price creep: Cable and internet providers are frequent culprits of “price creep.” New customer pricing eventually expires and sometimes fees get tacked on incorrectly. If you aren’t paying attention, you could be paying far beyond your budgeted amount.
Food waste: … A study by the Natural Resources Defence Council found that Americans waste 40% of their food purchases — which equates to an average of $2,000 [$AU2,638] per year, per household. Meal planning and resisting the urge to buy in bulk can do wonders when it comes to cutting down on waste and combating this socially prevalent money leak.
Energy hogs: If your heat or air conditioning is overworking during the hours you’re away, you could be wasting hundreds of dollars each year. Other energy hogs that could be costing you big? Outdated appliances and incandescent light bulbs. Make a few small changes, and you could spend less all year long.
To pinpoint these creeps, look at changes in your budget over time. This way, you can see if your spending in any particular area has increased. If it has, it could very well be a money leak. For more detail, head to the full post at the link below.
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One response to “Pinpoint The ‘Money Leaks’ That Screw Up Your Budget Over Time”
Every time I find a way to reduce energy costs.. It gets totally nullified by the energy companies jacking up the price.. We’ve severely cut back on our energy usage by using LED lights that are automatically turned off at night and heaters that only turn on when it’s below 11c outside and turn off if we’re not at home etc (including the lights)… yet we just today got our electricity bill for $1100 for two people.. we reduce costs… they jack up the price.. we’re using less.. and paying more… we are in South Australia too where power cost is starting to get beyond the joke. Downside is that we are renting.. it’s an old house and I’ve been begging the land lord to fix the doors which are leaking out the hot air.. compounding the problem even more.