6 Ways Americans Blow Their Money

[disneysteve]

I have had trouble using Visa/MasterCard pre-paid gift cards

I get A LOT of prepaid Visa cards - like there is always a stack of 5 or so on my dresser. I get them as payment for surveys I do. I've found the best place to use them is the supermarket or any other store where you swipe your card yourself on a kiosk. When it asks Debit or Credit, select Credit, and you should be fine. Avoid using them where you hand your card to someone and they run it, like hotels, gas stations, restaurants, etc. I don't know why it matters but it does.

[Like2Plan]

I get A LOT of prepaid Visa cards - like there is always a stack of 5 or so on my dresser. I get them as payment for surveys I do. I've found the best place to use them is the supermarket or any other store where you swipe your card yourself on a kiosk. When it asks Debit or Credit, select Credit, and you should be fine. Avoid using them where you hand your card to someone and they run it, like hotels, gas stations, restaurants, etc. I don't know why it matters but it does.

That's good to know.

[Eagle]

Part of being frugal is spending money wisely. You don’t have to be cheap; just stop throwing your money away on things that offer no compelling value.

So I'd agree with the OP on Coffee, CC Interest, and Cable but there are other things that people tend to waste/blow money on that really add no value...

Wasted Electricity
Cable/Satellite packages
Wasted Food
Bad Health Habits
Alcohol Consumption
Tobacco
Unused Gym Memberships
Coffee
Designer Clothing (Adults)
Designer Clothing (Kids)
Gambling & Lottery Tickets
Credit Card Interest
Speedy Shipping
Vehicle Leasing
Purchasing New Vehicles

What do you think?

[Gailete]

We don't waste any money on those listed items. We use rabbit ears and converter box and get 7 channels for free and how many more channels than that do you need? We also have lots of DVD's and videos if we want something different. I think I once paid an ATM fee and that was at an airport when I realized I didn't have tip money for the poor 70+ man that was pushing my wheelchair over a mile between gates! Otherwise, if I need cash I get it when buying groceries or at the drugstore when I swipe my debit card and get cash back. I do this with my credit card too is needed (paid in full every month). I try to severely limit the amount in my checking account to it isn't a temptation to spend money that we don't have or have earmarked for this 'sudden necessity'!

[ESMonitor]

Pornography ...rarely talked about due to the shame associated with it.

pasted below from article:

Pornography has grown into a $10 billion business — bigger than the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball combined.

JUST SAY NO!!!

[phantom]

I get A LOT of prepaid Visa cards - like there is always a stack of 5 or so on my dresser. I get them as payment for surveys I do. I've found the best place to use them is the supermarket or any other store where you swipe your card yourself on a kiosk. When it asks Debit or Credit, select Credit, and you should be fine. Avoid using them where you hand your card to someone and they run it, like hotels, gas stations, restaurants, etc. I don't know why it matters but it does.

It matters because when retailers run Visa gift cards (and MasterCard or Discover gift cards), they treat them like credit cards, and that can mean swiping them for a higher amount than what you owe. At restaurants, this is to make sure there will be room for any tip you might leave. At gas stations, this is because they're not sure how much gas you'll pump when you swipe the card. At hotels, this is to cover any additional room charges. When the transaction for these higher amounts is entered, the transaction fails because there aren't enough funds on the card. Most POS systems will let the cashier run the transaction in such a way that the extra amount isn't added, but not all cashiers know how. I prefer to do what you do and just use gift cards at places I know they work easily. But, it's good to know there are ways to get them to work other places.

[Gailete]

Pornography has grown into a $10 billion business bigger than the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball combined.

JUST SAY NO!!!

Absolutely! I read and review books and one I got sent, I finally had to quit reading it as it was very disturbing and pornographic in content and I didn't feel like assaulting my brain cells further. I wrote my review at Amazon where I called the book pornographic as I wasn't about to dance around that issue for the sake of readers that might decide to read it. The author took huge offense at that and said "well it isn't any worse than being at a nudist club and you wouldn't have any problem with that would you?" He was a British author and I have no clue what he thinks we do here in the States, but I wouldn't attend a nudist club/camp either. Apparently he had no trouble with what he had written. He is some kind of therapist and I pity anyone that comes to him for advice. Pornography is a terrible thing for people to get caught up in and addicted too, and it is work for them to leave it behind. My husband and I were involved for a while with helping people break the chains of it. People who spent all they had for the next fix. the addiction is as bad as drugs, alcohol or gambling and like them can ruin families and bank accounts. Thanks for bringing up something that is rarely talked about.

[Randomsaver]

Since we're sharing, I'll share my vice.

Gambling

I used to bet on sports.

The evil of this is the smarter the person is, the more personal the losses become. It's relatively easy also to recover the money but it's just as easy to lose it again.

I've "played" for 3 years and at the end of it all, I was $4,000 poorer. It's really a bad vice and the only consolation I have is I didn't lose any bigger. It was an unwise entertainment I had and it was crazy I was putting a budget for it during the time -- money I could have saved or put on my other vice -- Blu Ray collection (but that's another story).

So yes, 1 vice down, another 1 to go.

[Gailete]

I've "played" for 3 years and at the end of it all, I was $4,000 poorer.

The important thing is at least you quit and good for you! .

The girl that I used to work with that went bankrupt was always taking off for Niagara Falls and the gambling and also so happy to tell us how her room was comped,and her food, etc. On the weekends where she had obviously lost money she never mentioned how much she lost. We only heard about the wins. Very sad to think that honest business people didn't get paid for the merchandise from them that she charged because she was wasting it all on gambling and then was able to claim bankruptcy and have it all go away. As an aside, as we traveled a lot for that job and had to pay for our rooms and food and then gets reimbursed, she 'borrowed' her sister's credit card and had it run up to the max in about 3 months.

[btctony]

We have cable TV but $0 for everything else on the list.

I never understand the ATM fees. Just go to your own bank. If they don't have ATMs that are conveniently located, change banks. I don't use the ATM a lot since mobile banking came along, but prior to that I used to go at least once per week. I never paid a fee. I just went to my own bank's machines.

I have cable and $0 for everything else as well. I'm not a huge fan of Chase, but I do have a checking account with them, because we have Speedway gas stations all over the place in Indianapolis. Every single one of them has a Chase ATM inside. Not to mention the Chase branches that are spread out all over the city. There are very few things that I use cash for, but there really is no reason to pay ATM fees even if you pay for a lot of things in cash.

Back to the cable topic. I agree that it is mostly as waste of money. I keep up with a fair amount of television shows, but none are watched on cable. I have the ability to stream just about anything I want from a computer to any television in the house a day after it airs. I don't need to watch those as they air. Often I'm too busy to keep up with them and play catch up on a few weeks when I have some downtime.

My downfall and really the only reason I have cable is sports. I like to watch the Indiana Pacers and their games are never on anything that I can pick up with my HD antenna. The majority are broadcast on a local Fox Sports channel that isn't available without cable or satellite. I did look into the $60/YR deal on the NBA website that allows you to stream live games for up to 3 teams to your television, but guess what ... They blackout the local team. So living in Indianapolis, every single Pacers game is blacked out. That really causes me some frustration, because I would love to be able to pay $5/MO to watch those games as opposed to $40/MO for the lowest cable package that includes the local Fox Sports channel.

[hamchan]

After making a couple more calls to Comcast we are paying $5 a month for cable (above what internet would be on it's own). I couldn't even get Netflix for that, so I can live with it. I don't watch much at all, but I have a teenager, and she likes her shows. Sometimes we watch a show together, and I enjoy that.

The only ATM fee I have paid in a long time was at the Amtrak station coming back from Portland. I had no cash, needed to.get something to eat, and the CC machine at the only little cafe was down. I was annoyed, but hungry. I usually just get cash back at the grocery store or drug store if I need it. Or hang onto some of my cash tips I get at work.

I do get coffee out once or twice a month. I always get an iced drip coffee and put half and half in it. Less expensive (usually around $2 to $2.50) and way less calories than a lot of their drinks. For some reason it works better than anything for certain kinds of pain relief.

I don't gamble ever. Don't see any reason to pay for porn, though I see nothing wrong with enjoying it if you like it. There is plenty of free porn out there. I pretty much always use my gift cards too. At most I might leave a dollar or two on one If using it means I'd have to pay out another $10.

[JoeP]

Related to the C4C program: How about getting rid of cars before their time is up?

I know everyone has their own subjective points at which they decide to get rid of their car and buy a new or used one. It is not realistic to expect everyone to keep their car until the wheels fall off, but I know quite a few who spend a lot of money (either by paying in cash or financing) by upgrading often.