What do you waste money on?

[Rollerskaterabbit]

This year I'm trying to identify what I waste money on and try and stop it!

For me the biggest wasters are shop bought coffees and pre packaged foods!

MOD waste training soldiers firing unused blank bullets from a training session into air or ground rather than returning to ammunition store to be used next exercise

Highlights, chocolate, reduced food in Waitrose that I don't really need.

Or generally Teacup training young men of one country to shoot those of another ?

bbcessex could I ask a question about the Shellac replacement? I have been having the
Jessica gel version, would love to be able to do it at home but do you still have to give your nails a break after a few weeks?

just marking place but will be back!!

Also do buy lots and lots of books, for DD, DH and step-DS's as well as myself which I wouldn't generally consider a waste. However now we are moving house and have to pack them all away I'm a bit abiut them all!

about sorry!

Books that I start reading and don't finish or decide I hate within a few pages . That annoys me.

Tights I snag the first time I wear

Clothes I know aren't quite right but decide to keep anyway

Takeaways and eating out. Also coffees out and about BUT this has reduced greatly since we got our Nespresso. It cost a fair bit upfront but came with a £70 gift card for coffee capsules and I love it.

We also use the tumble dryer a lot but where we live it's a necessity really. DH drives me mad leaving lights on - we have halogen bulbs because I can't stand the colour of energy saving bulbs (although have found some slightly better ones for bedrooms).

(its not a waste but I buy and drink more than i should i think )
pre-packed salads . Though im getting better at this now and if theres any left aftre the weekend it goes into a soup.

Cat food .. does anyone else have a cat that just eats the jelly and leaves the meaty bits or refuses food altogether when it ate it the day before ? its a war of attrition between me an him , and I often end up throwing it away Grr (its a bleedin rescue cat as well, I keep telling him,he should be so ruddy fussy )

Treats (mean chocolate) for the school run, turning this round to value Jaffa cakes/biscuits from home, have also recently had a horrid tax fine (late filing, please don't flame me I already feel shit about it to pay), which was obviously hugely wasteful, running up mobile phone bills (again working on this), on occasion reduced food that don't really need, baking and making a lot of food myself (I know this is the healthier and supposedly more frugal option but I end up spending a lot more money), magazines (although don't buy the glossies). I am quite good at on the whole not spending too much on food, love clothes but onlu buy what I know I will wear and luckily don't have expensive taste, buy cheap make up, have hair cut at local barbers at £12 a go and dye it myself, buy clothes from Supermarkets/shoes from ebay for my boys. I'm another one who doesn't see spending money on activities and the occasional meal out as a waste. At the moment, partly due to tax bill on a money diet, tbh together with the supposed food diet I am on it is pretty dire. Writing down everything I spend at the mo, telling myself that it will be worth it as have quite a lot of expenses coming up, need to put back horrid bill money in savings and would like to weigh half a stone less. But, think we all need treats occasionally.

Where I waste money is on things that I end up buying because I'm disorganised or too busy - eg when I was away for the weekend and realised I'd forgotten DD's swimming costume when we were going to a water park for the day, so had to buy her another one.

Or when we get really late home and I haven't got any food in the house so we end up having a take away.

Or when I make myself a packed lunch and then leave it at home (at least once a week) and have to spend a fiver on a crap lunch from the shop at work.

Or the daily realisation that I've run out of milk and have to buy it from the nearby shop rather than trawling back out to the supermarket, but it's 40p more expensive.

Still - I have a friend whose DS has about 10 pairs of school trousers because if she forgets to take them out of the washer she buys him a new pair from Asda on the way to school!

Takeaways
Vegetables and fruits that I buy in bulk and then allow to rot
Car parking charges at a shopping centre that is just a 10 mins walk away

coffee. get coffee and wrap/cake at least once a week and it costs in the region of £15 for the three of us, which is £60/month minimum. £120 realistically....a pretty mental amount for us. Is our only luxury at the moment though and we're having to stop :(

I don't have time to shop for clothes so I only go to one store that I know I like and buy what I need without even looking at the prices. Ditto the one shoe shop that I like.

I also waste money on taxis and coffees.

Dh wastes money by forgetting to make his lunch in the morning.

theonlymrsw... Do it, its so easy, convenient and cheap! You prob should give your nails a break every few months.. i don't, and I'm.def not a specialist tho, but they look great and they cost peanuts!

I'm awful. We aren't very well off, but would do a lot better without all the 'treats'
I smoke, drink, over eat... we have too many takeaways... but I am very frugal in other ways. I annoy myself though, as we would be a lot better financially without all these things. I just convince myself I need them because I work really hard etc

Imp I too have a few different bottle and cup makes in my cupboard.

I think I'm going to start a "bottle library" for parents trying to get their BF baby to take a bottle. Makes much more sense than everyone buying all the brands every time!

Buying food items, not necessary food, I mean biscuits, cereals etc, without all the crap they put in the local brands. And keeping our diet at the standard I would if still living in UK. And road tolls to get to the capitol where they actually refrigerate the meat and fish while it's stored.

I know a local woman, works as a maid, spends about 15 pound per week to feed her family of 4. She buys veg and salad and her sister hunts rabbits. That's what they eat, potatoes, veg and wild rabbit.

My expensive coffee machine wasn't a waste, it was a birthday present

I have wasted £35.00 pounds today because my hair is going to grow again.

Hmm...I've just been thinking about this and really surprised myself because I'd say over the last six months or so, we haven't wasted anything really

We've been saving like mad, but although we've still had bits and bats here and there, we've seen the value in everything. Quite satisfying really, as in the past I've been a complete wastrel.

Oh no I tell a lie, I did waste a bit of Xmas foody bits which annoyed me immensely.

Thank you for this thread OP :)
The only thing that I can think of as wasting money is my lunch. Sometimes, come the middle of the week, I am so tired and whatnot, I just don't bother making my lunch and buy one. So far this year I seem to have managed without buying one. Ok, we're not talking 2-3 times a week, more like once a fortnight.
Food for thought there.

I honestly can't think of anything. I have a coffee out habit and spend about £20 a week on it which some of you will be horrified about but it helps me escape and recharge from a quite tense work situation so it's worth it. I buy expensive gadgets and sometimes top notch food but it's no waste if I enjoy all this and can afford it. I'm a very long way from being rich and I think it's important to save and be debt free (as I am now) but I agree with a poster up thread about living your life. We're only here once.

I used to be terrible at buying books I never read and dvd's I never watched.