Yahoo Finance Avocado Toast and 4 Other Spending Habits to Re-Examine in the New Year
You always hear that if you'd only give up your expensive coffee habit, your life would be so much more financially comfortable. Lately, the poster child for extravagant and unnecessary purchases has been avocado toast, and, of course, smoking has long been pointed out as being a cancer on one's financial health and actual health.
Of course, what some people find wasteful, others find crucial to keep in their lives. Still, it can never hurt to take a look at what you're spending your money on -- and where the money might go instead.
Avocado toast. So maybe you love your avocado toast. Plenty of people do. Judging from an unscientific random search of menus across the United States, you could easily spend $10 on an order of avocado toast. You can find it cheaper and for more, but $10 is a typical price.
What you might save if you change this spending habit. $3,650 a year, assuming you're an extreme avocado toast eater and are buying it every day. Over $3,600 a year would probably pay your rent or mortgage for a couple months or maybe a year of your utilities. You may just want to switch to regular toast, at least for some days of the week.
[See: 8 Big Budgeting Blunders -- and How to Fix Them.]
Eating out in general. It isn't only avocado toast that can burn your wallet. Amanda Austin, an Erie, Pennsylvania resident who runs a dollhouse business called Little Shop of Miniatures, says that when her husband recently gave up buying breakfast and started eating breakfast at home with her, they ended up saving $700 a year. His daily breakfast order had only cost him about $2.70. But with five workdays a week and 52 weeks a year, that adds up.
"I calculated that [eating breakfast at home] only costs us 45 cents per person each morning," says Austin, who adds that she and her husband have hearty breakfasts that usually include eggs, sausage, cereal and tea.
What you might save if you change this spending habit. Granted, Austin's husband is eating a breakfast now that costs 45 cents a day, which is cheap but isn't nothing. Over a year, that's $117 worth of breakfasts (not counting weekends). So you'll always want to remember to do the math if you replace an expense with another one, even if it's cheaper. If you subtract $117 from the $700 that Austin's husband spent on breakfast, it's closer to $580 that the Austin family is actually saving. But, still, it's impressive.
"I understand that many people don't like cooking, but breakfast is one of the cheapest and easiest meals to make at home. Save your eating out budget for the other meals," Austin advises.
Subscriptions. You could be oversubscribed, says Chris Whitlow, CEO of Edukate, a workplace financial website headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
"Maybe you have Netflix, Spotify, Pandora, cable or satellite TV, satellite radio, a couple magazines, a beauty box subscription and a gym membership. Do you know what it all costs?" he asks. "There are likely cheaper alternatives and things you really can live without."
What you might save if you change this spending habit. Well, you could save a lot, if you have a lot of subscriptions. Not to pick on Netflix, but a typical monthly subscription is $10.99 a month. If you use all of your subscriptions, then great. But if there are some you can get rid of without noticing it, it can only help your finances. Removing Netflix from your financial picture, if you're wondering, will probably save you $131.88 a year.
[See: 12 Shopping Tricks to Keep You Under Budget.]
Switching out disposable items for reusable. Kathryn Kellogg is a consultant and public speaker in Berkeley, California, and has a blog called GoingZeroWaste. She says we could save a lot of money if we didn't buy things we ultimately are going to throw away.
"I thought about all of the products I threw away, like paper towels, tissues, razors, convenience food, plastic baggies, and I swapped them out for reusable products. Instead of paper towels, I use tea towels. I use handkerchiefs instead of paper tissues," she says.
And by convenience food, she means all prepackaged foods and fast food.
"I've even cut toilet paper usage by 60 percent by adding a bidet attachment to the toilet," she says.
What you might save if you change this spending habit. Initially, it won't feel like you're saving anything because you may have to spend on the reusable items. Bidet attachments, for instance, can be found for as little as $35 (an actual bidet can cost into the hundreds or more). But eventually you'll notice the savings.
Kellogg says, "I bought a stainless-steel safety razor for $50, but I haven't had to buy a razor in three years."
And while many people would probably have trouble adopting all aspects of Kellogg's lifestyle, probably everyone would enjoy saving the money she does. Kellogg, who says that all of her trash for the past two years can fit into a 16-ounce mason jar, estimates that by reducing her purchases on disposable items, she has saved $6,000 a year. That's a lot of mortgage and rent payments. You might be able to buy a nice used car.
[See: 10 Ideas for Dating on a Budget.]
Not saving money at all. Probably the worst spending habit you can have is to not spend at least some of your money on a savings account. Numerous surveys have shown that a good chunk of Americans don't have much saved up for an emergency. Last year, for instance, the personal finance website GOBankingRates asked over 8,000 Americans how much money they have in their savings accounts; 57 percent stated that they had less than $1,000.
What you might save if you change this spending habit. A lot, a little -- it's up to you. "Adjusting your direct deposit to move a little bit from every paycheck can make a big impact," says Adam Weisner, based out of Woodland Hills, California and head of client services at PurePoint Financial, a financial services company.
"Most people don't realize that if you set aside just $40 every other week, you'll have more than $1,000 saved by the end of the year," he says.
And then just think -- with the money you save, you can spend that on avocado toast.
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