Economic Sinkholes - Part 3

In my previous two articles I spoke of common economic sandtraps, or sinkholes we all commonly find ourselves in wether it be the Scratch Off Lottery, or Infomercial Impulse Purchases, or buying Brand-Name Groceries, or Unused Gym Memberships.  We all at one time or another find ourselves involved in habits that are economically unhealthy.  Here are two more habits we may want to avoid.

 “Bundled” Services.  We are all often tempted by the “limited time” offers that come with Bundled Services.  Discounts if you buy the 500 channel package, or unlimited text messaging for just X more dollars.  But, is it really a value if you never watch those channels, or use those text messages.

People will most often just pick a package they think they can afford, and not go back and check that package against their usage.  It is often that people will pay 100 dollars for the silver or gold package when they are only using 50 dollars worth, and could do with a smaller package.

 Using the closest ATM instead of your banks ATM could cost you as much as 5 dollars in ATM fees on top of the fees your individual bank may charge for “out of network usage.”

Your banks ATM probably won’t cost you a cent.

You could possibly fill your gas tank with the savings.  It is said that the average consumer will make between 5 and ten unnecessary ATM transactions a month.  The fees  adding up to 40 or 50 dollars a month or almost 500 dollars a year.  50 dollars can fill your gas tank now a days.

And, to see my previous blogs you can follow this link.  http://michael-conway.blogspot.com/2011/06/economic-sinkholes-part-2.html

Recovering

I am sitting at home recovering from my recent dance with the Hospital.  I am pretty sure they wanted to keep me alive, but the food was not what was telling me that.  In fact the food made me wonder if they wanted me dead.  But, that aside I had a bout with heat stroke, and WAY too thin blood.  I am on blood thinners so I am not suprized that my blood was thin, but I was suprized by HOW thin my blood had gotten.  It took nearly two weeks to get it back to thereputic from just one small dose of vitamin K.  It was well over 5.5 which is way too thin, I could bleed out from a simple bruise.  The 105 degree heat when I tried to mow the lawn didn't help anything.  Both things together conspired to place me in the hospital.  I spent 2 1/2 days there.  I am mostly better now, but at least I'm home.

Economic Sinkholes - Part 2

Another trap that people fall into is when they but brand name groceries.  Brand name groceries can usually have the exact same ingredients as the off brand.  What few people know is that often the brand name and off brand come out of the same “factory.”  This is true of pet foods as well as food for human consumption.  But, the main point is that you will often spend double (or more) just to cover the advertising that makes a brand name a brand name.

i.e.: a nine ounce box of “Rice Krispies” brand cereal will set you back about $4.79 a box, while the comparable off brand will cost $1.99 for 12 ounces.  That is a $2.80 cent difference and a more dramatic difference when you look at the cost per ounce.

The price difference across all brands and their generic counterparts is most often between 10 and 50%.  But, if you still want to hold on to your name brands, then the key is to go to discounters such as Save-a-Lot; Big Lots; Aldi’s; or even Wal-Mart or shop in bulk at a Sam’s Club or similar “big box” store.

How about unused gym memberships.  This is another trap many people fall into.  Starting usually as a “new years resolution” to “finally” lose weight people buy a membership to a local gym then never “get around to” using it.  Those gym “no shows” are throwing away several hundred dollars a year and, at bigger gyms in some cities that maybe throwing away several hundred dollars a month.

We have to consider when we make these commitments are we going to be able to make the time commitment to justify the money we spend, or would we be just better off buying an exercise bike for our home.

And if you missed my previous blog on the matter of financial pitfalls to avoid you can find it at… http://michael-conway.blogspot.com/2011/05/two-economic-sinkholes.html