bluntmoney.com

Kimber over at No Limit Ladies posted recently about Bankrate.com’s list of top 10 money drains. I read through the brief list and thought “Wow, coffee is number 1?” But based on some of the Starbuck’s habits I’ve seen, it didn’t seem too implausible. Then I read the more detailed list and realized that they appeared to be in random order. I thought it might be interesting to see them in order from the biggest drain to the smallest. I had to do a tiny bit of fussing with them to get them all on an annual basis, but here is the re-ordered listing:

1. Alcohol – (two beers out per day) = $3,650 per year.
2. Weekday lunches out (5 days per week) = $2,350 a year.
3. Cigarettes (a pack a day) = $1,660 per year.
4. Manicures (one manicure per week) = $1,068 per year.
5. Interest charges on credit card bills (at the median debt of $6,600 @ 13.44% interest) = $887 per year.
6. Unused gym memberships = $480 per year.
7. Bottled water (one bottle of water per day) = $365 per year.
8. Coffee (one coffee every weekday) = $360 per year.
9. Car detailing (six times per year) = $348 per year.
10. Vending machines snacks (one snack per weekday) = $260 per year.

Total if you had all of these money drains = $11,428 per year per person (plus I imagine some massive health bills…)

It’s interesting that the majority of these money drains are “bad habits” (drinking, smoking, eating out too much, spending money we don’t have, avoiding exercise, drinking caffeine & eating junk food, etc). Apparently simply cleaning up your life can save money.