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