10 little things you do every day that ruin your savings

Are you having a hard time reaching your financial goals? Do you feel like there’s never anything left to save? You could be making money mistakes in your everyday life without even knowing it. These little things add up quickly, making a big impact on your budget. Here are 10 things you do every day to ruin your savings.

1. Running the Dishwasher

The average person uses much more hot water and electricity than a dishwashing machine, but since you are reading this, you are obviously well above average. You can actually beat the cost of using a dishwasher dramatically by using a “two sinks” strategy: having one tub of very hot water for scrubbing and washing and one tub of cool water for rinsing. This avoids leaving the water running for a long period of time and cuts down on your electricity use. Not only will you see a difference in your next round of utility bills, but you are also doing the planet a favor.

2. Ignoring Your Account Balances

One of the easiest ways to save money is to check your account balances every day. Consider the inspiring story Jillian Beirne Davi, founder of Abundant Finances, told Get Rich Slowly. Checking her statements every morning was a key step in a plan that got her out of $30,000 in debt.

She said, “Checking my statements every morning kept me honest about where my money was going and made me less likely to spend impulsively throughout the day. I had a real dollar amount rolling around in my head and not some fuzzy estimate that made it difficult to make good decisions.”

3. Keeping the Thermostat on One Consistent Temperature

There is a common misconception that a furnace uses more energy to warm a house back up after the thermostat has been set back. The truth is, the lower the interior temperature of a house, the slower it loses heat. So, the longer you keep your house at a lower temperature, the more energy you save.

It’s perfectly ok to keep the heat at a consistent temperature when you are in the home, but use a programmable thermostat to determine a pre-set schedule of when to set back the heat in the house. Turning your heat down 10 to 15 degrees while you are out of the house can cut your heating bill by 5 to 15 percent a year.

4. Buying That Latte

I know it’s cliché and we won’t stop talking about it, but seriously — it’s time to start making your own coffee. This small change can save you $1,000 a year or more.

5. Watching TV

Cable TV prices have more than doubled over the last decade, with the current average national bill running $90 a month, which is expected to reach $200 by 2020. Luckily, you can cut the cable cord and still enjoy your favorite programming.

MarketWatch has a tool that analyzes your television watching habits, crunches the numbers and shows you several options to best approximate your cable TV experience. Also, premium services like HBO Go and CBS are making the move to online streaming subscriptions at incredibly competitive rates.

6. Shopping Hungry

Hungry shoppers are more likely to overestimate how much food they need and add impulse items to their cart. Have a snack before you head to the store and always stick to a list. It also helps to avoid the bakery section, if possible. There’s a reason the bakery is usually located close to the entrance — the smell of freshly baked goods is nearly impossible to resist.

7. Living With Clutter

Take a walk through your house and take note of what you aren’t using: unworn clothing, unread books, children’s toys that go ignored and kitchen gadgets you ended up not using — and don’t forget the garage! How much are those unused items costing you? Peter Walsh, author of Lighten Up: Love What You Have, Have What You Need, Be Happier With Less has some advice on how to assess what your clutter costs.

First, assess the value of each square foot of your home:

-Value of your home / square footage of your home = Value of each square foot.

Then, estimate how much of your home’s space is being filled by items you don’t use:

-Value of square footage x square feet occupied by things you don’t use = value of unusable space.

So if you live in a $200,000 home with 2,500 square feet and have 25 feet of clutter, it’s costing you $2,000 to essentially store a bunch of stuff you don’t use and the number is dramatically higher if any of your clutter was purchased on credit.

The cost of your clutter might come as a shock, but use that as motivation to clear out your closets and drawers and hold a garage sale or donate the goods to charity. The next time you want purchase something, ask yourself, “Is this item worth the price of the space it will take up in my home?”

8. Lighting Up

Depending on where you live, a pack of cigarettes can cost anywhere from $5 to $10, which is more expensive than a gallon of gas. Based on those prices, a pack-a-day habit can cost anywhere from $1,800 to $3,600 a year (and we aren’t even diving into the health care costs here).

I don’t know about you, but I can think of a few better ways to spend that money; a tropical vacation or a hefty contribution to a retirement fund are top of mind.

9. Driving With Low Tires

Keeping your tires properly inflated can improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent. Properly inflated tires also last longer (additional savings) and are safer (infinite savings). The proper tire pressure for your car is usually found on a sticker in the driver’s side doorjamb or in the owner’s manual.

10. Skipping Breakfast

Eating a nutritious breakfast is widely recognized as an integral part of maintaining a healthy weight, but it also supports a healthy bank account. Skipping breakfast leads to poor decision-making, including overspending on snacks and/or a larger, more expensive meal later in the day. Breakfast is typically the cheapest meal of the day, so use it as an opportunity to fill up on inexpensive and nutritious items like oatmeal or eggs to help you stay full and level-headed all day long.