30 Things That A Lot Of People Don't Realize Are Just A Waste of Money And Time—Shared By People Online

"War. What is it good for?"

Sophia

• Published in Interesting
• August 9, 2023

In a world where financial stability remains a distant goal for many, the importance of saving money becomes all the more evident. A striking 58% of Americans find themselves caught in the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, a harsh reality that underscores the urgency of reevaluating our spending habits to ensure a more secure financial future.

Taking proactive measures in this direction involves a close examination of our expenditures, pinpointing areas where we can cultivate savings. A certain discussion initiated by Redditor u/gejiw94601 on the r/AskReddit subreddit delved into this subject, sparking a thoughtful conversation this month.

The question, "What do you consider the most wasteful expenses?" garnered an impressive 2.6k comments, igniting a discourse on the intricacies of budgeting, consumer tendencies, and wise financial management.

The collective wisdom that emerged from this discussion provides us with invaluable insights into the common traps that deplete our funds. One recurring topic revolves around excessive spending on dining out—a seemingly harmless habit that gradually erodes our financial foundation.

The inclination towards impulse buying also received significant attention, as well as the appeal of brand-name items often overshadows more cost-effective alternatives, exemplifying the psychological pull of consumerism. Similarly, unused gym memberships and habitual trips to coffee shops were identified as subtle yet persistent drains on our finances.

Scroll on to see some of the best responses!

Here's the question:

1. "Weddings."

Crazy expensive day. Guaranteed at least one relative will kick up a stink. Massive pressure to be The Happiest Day of Your Life. Everything doubles in cost if you say its for a wedding (dress, suit, cake, venue)

Just do the quick registry office paperwork, have a surpise party and run away for a long honeymoon with the money you saved.

2. "Buying ridiculously expensive clothes to flex."

3. "Those that are donated to house of worships, for pastors to buy private jets & catholic priest to play dress up."

4. "NFT artwork."

5. "War...what is it good for.......?"

6. "Cigarettes. $13+ for a pack of cancer."

7. "Giving your money to the Catholic Church. "

You’ve got to be f*****g kidding me.

8. "Donating to rich twitch streamers."

I’ll probably never understand why people do it.

9. "Gambling for sure."

10. "Donating to politicians."

11. "Buying pro-grade stuff you don't need is wasted money."

My dad once told me to not spend excessive money on tools at first. Buy them for dirt cheap, learn which tools you really need, and when they break, replace them with quality ones.

12. "Coronations and monarchies in general."

13. "Diamond rings."

14. "Twitter verification."

15. "Cryptocurrency."

16. "Celebrity meet and greets."

I have a friend who is not very well off financially, and is complaining about money to me once a week. Yet she always seems to have money to pay for a celebrity meet and greet at least twice a year. Some of them are only a couple hundred dollars, but some can get really expensive, really fast. For what? A picture next to a famous person? They neither know you, nor do they care about you.

17. Astrology

18. Overdraft fees

19. "Third-party delivery i.e. DoorDash/Uber Eats/GrubHub."

The fees + tips are exorbantly high, and a normally affordable fast food meal becomes the price of a sit-down restaurant meal or more.

This is from first hand experience lol

20. "Playing the lottery."

21. Starbucks

22. "Unnecessary plastic surgery."

23. "Gold Food, or more accurately food that are covered in something called gold leaf."

In my eyes, food are worth buying if they provide a great amount of nutrition for considerably good prices. After all, you probably avoid paying 50 million dollars just to buy a few molecules that are useless to your health and needs

And then there's gold leaf food, sure the food looks fancy but at the cost of ludicrous amount of money! And with the gold having no usable nutrients at all, it just not worth it to buy such expensive food for relatively small amount of nutrients

For instance, Industry Kitchen(hopefully that's the name of the place) at NYC serves a pizza with a gold leaf covering for a whopping price of $2000. While at my home country which is Indonesia, Domino's serves an American Classic Cheeseburger Pizza(idk that's a thing) which is the most expensive pizza I could find on the website costs around $7 which is just baffling to me

24. iPhones

25. "Cod points or any other online game currency bs."

Yeah its cool at first but meh after you realize you spent $20 for basically nothing.

26. "Bottled water."

27. This

28. "Fireworks, i love them, but it's like 50$ per second for the good ones."

29. "Any dating apps subscription - like find out who liked you now for only a billion dollars!"

30. Tipping

Let's face it—many people buy these things just because they can afford to, and hey, life is short anyway so why not spend it on things you want? Unfortunately, though, the same cannot be said for those who are always working hard to make ends meet.

At the end of the day, it's all about what makes us happy—with purchases or not.

How about you? What would you add to this list?

Comment down your thoughts, or share this article for all your family and friends to see!

Sophia