Ladvice, advice for men on how to stop wasting money. Top 10 spending habits burning a hole in your pocket:
Let’s look at some areas/ items that you are wasting your money on. No doubt 99% of you will be able to honestly say at least two items I list below are burning a hole in your pocket. Ask yourself if you can justify spending your money on them and become more aware just how much money they cost you.
Credit Cards/ Loans
The world is backwards. People must get things instantly, there’s no patience or sacrifice to buy the things you want/ need. People are in debt and will constantly struggle to repay loans. It’s a vicious cycle. You couldn’t afford it in the first place, or you weren’t willing to wait, budget yourself and save money to buy it without getting into debt. So now add on the interest the bank will charge you on the loan. How is that going to be any easier to pay?
Bills/ Paid Subscriptions
The less bills you have the better you will be able to save. Firstly, do up a list of your current bills. Some bills you might have. Netflix/ Spotify Subscription, Car Insurance Direct Debit, Phone Bill, Gym Membership Monthly Payments, Loan Repayments or Rent payments. Who knows? You might have more you might have less. In fact, you might have bills you don’t even pay any attention to. How about we look at examples of how to better manage these bills.
Rent/ Mortgage payments, I will leave that for another article.
Gym Membership, Only €29 a month! Wow! Sounds cheap?! Less than a Euro a day. Well actually €29 x 12 = €348 for the year. Whereas if you paid for the year’s membership in one go because you saved money, it would have only cost you €259. You’ve paid a penalty of nearly €100 by paying per month. (Calculated based on Flyfit Gym Membership prices)
Phone Bill, Lets go conservative and say you got an iPhone 8 on bill pay, You get the phone for FREE! Wow! Another amazing deal, but there’s a catch. You now have signed up to a phone bill for 2 years (24 Months), costing you €55 a month (Based on Eir bill pay plan offered by Carphone Warehouse). That’s €1320 over the two years. To Buy the same iPhone 8 outright, no bill. Approx €600 (it can vary and is listed cheaper in other places but I’ll be fair). You’ll say but that’s with no calls texts or data? Well on Three Network you can buy €20 credit a month and get unlimited data, unlimited texts, and free three to three calls. Now lets do the maths phone was €600 + €20 (Credit Per Month) x 24 months (Same length as the contract) = €1080. (The credit €20 x 24 months = €480) – You Save €240! By buying the phone and Credit!
Trying to Look Rich
So many people will spend money they can’t afford on things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like. There’s a difference between being rich and looking rich. I know for a fact there are people who have all designer clothes designer runners but will still have €0.00 in their bank at the end of the week/ month. Let’s flip the saying “Fake it till you make it”. How about “Learn it till you Earn it”.
For Example, Alexander McQueens – half of Dublin seem to have them? Since when did a €400 pair of shoes become the social norm. That’s a week’s wages for most people who are wearing them.
We will go into this topic in more detail in a fashion related post. Keep an eye out.
Nights Out
Start by imaging how much money you would have if you got all the money you ever spent on nights out back into your bank account. I’m not saying don’t go out. That’s ridiculous and unrealistic. Its great to go out and have some drinks and a laugh with the lads. Its not so great when you wake up the next morning having spent €150, dying with a hangover, not remembering a thing, having the fear, and embarrassed cause you made a tit of yourself.
I’m not saying don’t go out! Maybe just go out a little less? When you do go out do you need to get gargled (or whatever else your into) to have a good time?
Smoking
Smokers are jokers! This will be a tough one for a lot of people to take but the cost of cigarettes is going up and up every year. They’re also bad for your health! Let’s look at the stats, let’s say you smoke 3 boxes a week. Some of you probably smoke more. 3 boxes a week @ €13.50 a box is €40.50 cent a week, and €2,106.00 a year.
In App/ In Game Purchases
I’m guessing some of you play Fifa, or Fortnite. Have you used real money to buy Ultimate Team Packs or Special Characters? Was it/ is it worth it? If you play the games a lot and really enjoy it then maybe it was. BUT its definitely something you didn’t NEED to buy. Maybe you could have saved the money and avoided the loan or bank overdraft you’re after taking out? Every little bit helps!
Miracle Diets/ Fitness Products
Sooner the better people realise there’s no quick wins in this world. Adapt the attitude of if you want it work for it. Basically, you see all these ads on social media for miracle diets and how to get a 6 pack in weeks. The products are advertised by fitness models and they use creative camera angles to make it look as if client progress pictures so off miracle results. Don’t waste your money. Keep it, and start training regularly and eating better, consistency is the key. Check out our Fitness or Nutrition advice.
Gambling
We all love a dabble on football accumulators at the weekend hoping to pull off a 100/1 and make a fortune. Reality is the house always wins. Most of the time you’re only winning back a portion of the money the bookies have already taken off you. Another great point is, the more you win, the more you bet. Let’s say you win €200 off a €20 bet. Id be confident enough that you won’t withdraw €180 from your account and bet the same €20 next week
Latest Tech Products
Straight away this screams the latest iPhone, it costs about €1,300. Or Apple Airpods €130. There is so much more but I’ll walk through these as an example.
Let’s start with the iPhone €1,300. That’s a lot of money! You can be guaranteed it’s not too dissimilar to the last iPhone, or the iPhone before that. People buy it for the camera, or to brag or because their old iPhone is getting slower. Apple intentionally puts an approximate life span on its products to make sure people have to keep buying newer versions.
The Airpods. Remember when iPhones were compatible with a regular set of headphones? You could just plug them into the AUX port? Newer iPhones are only compatible with Earphones/ Headphones that use the same connection as the iphone charger….. Or! Bluetooth headphones. Coincidently, Apple Released the Airpods shortly after. Surprise, Surprise, sales went through the roof. For a product that yet again is proven to have a set lifespan as the technology degrades over time due to charging/ batteries begin to fail.
I’m not saying don’t buy them, but I am saying there are alternative options and flagging some issues why you may not buy them.
Wasted Food
As the Saying goes “Your eyes are bigger than your belly”. Maybe you don’t go to the shop and buy groceries, but how often is food thrown out in your house because it past its sell by date? Ordering a takeaway no doubt, you order more than you can eat. Leftovers from dinner, do you throw them in the bin?
People buy what they think they need not what they actually need. And all the wasted food adds up to wasted money.
Let’s address some of the questions/ statements above: Wasted Groceries, perhaps rather than buying one big shop each week, go to the shop a few times a week. It will remove the guess work and have less chance or wasting. Ordering a takeaway – I’d never say don’t order one, I love a Chinese but let’s try being more aware. Stop buying these Meal “deals” or special offers, they’re specifically designed to make you order more than you intended, and you end up spending more money, under the illusion you’re getting better value. In reality you’ve spent more money and you won’t eat it all. Leftovers from dinner, don’t throw them in the bin have them for lunch the next day? In fact, cook a little extra and try have leftovers, you’ll save money on lunches for the next day. Check out some of our Nutrition Related Posts.
We’ve Established it, You are burning a hole in your pocket!
Everyone does it. Marketing Campaigns, clever product advertisements, pressure to conform to social expectations and lack of awareness all contribute to wasting money. The Ladvice in this article may be hard to take in and you might say F*ck off! Ladvice are being unrealistic. Ladvice are not saying to do every single one of these things spend no money and live a boring life doing nothing. What we are trying to do is open your eyes to your downfalls and help you address the ones you wish to address one step at a time. Its not easy, we don’t have our lives totally sorted but we can try our best to do it as much as we can!
