Daily Mistakes We All Make That Cost Us A Fortune Over Time

save money drinking your own water

Sometimes I do things I know are wrong in the interest of saving time, and it ends up costing me money. I am happy to admit that I am not perfect and that I do make mistakes. I am human, after all. That means that you’re all just like me. I’m not alone in my lack of perfection, and I’m all right with that. As the mother of four, I make mistakes that end up costing me sometimes simply because I’m rushed or don’t feel like taking the time to do something that I know is a better idea. Again, just a human over here. Hi; human, people. That’s all I am.

However, it wasn’t until a recent conversation with a friend that I realized just how much some of our time-saving habits can really cost us a lot of money in the long run. Really; a lot of money. I had no idea that some of my habits are so costly in the long run. For instance, I get up every single morning and I get in the shower, I work for a while and then I do my hair and makeup. We’ve talked before about how I don’t feel comfortable at all without makeup on or my hair done, and that’s all right. However, if I have time during the day I like to work out.

I’ll drop my kids off at the local YMCA kid zone room and I’ll head to the spin class or the gym area and work out for an hour. Of course, my makeup sweats off my face and I reapply. I never thought of that as anything more than just taking a few minutes to fix my face. It turns out that I’m actually applying my makeup twice per day now. That’s not a big deal, really, but it is when you’re a total makeup snob and everything you buy is expensive and comes in a very small container. I’m wasting a ton of money doing this, and I should really go ahead and go to the gym and then apply my makeup for the first time so I’m only doing it once per day and saving money.

Well, that’s not going to happen. I can’t usually make it until halfway through the day and I’m not taking my kids to school in the morning without my face on. Sorry, not sorry. However, there are things we are all doing in our lives that are wasting money we might not see being wasted in the moment, but that we notice over time. I’m here to tell you what those things are so that we can fix them.

Drinking bottled water

I’m a wateraholic, to be fair. However, I do not drink bottled water anymore. It was to the point that we were going through a 24-pack of water in about a day and a half between us and our kids. We were spending something like $30 per week on water. Really?! Instead of doing that forever, we bought Yeti Ramblers and now we put water in those throughout the day and we have ice cold water all day long – even if we leave them in the car for a day of shopping.

Not shopping all at the same time

We make a menu every week now so that I when I go to the store, I can get everything we need for the week. I’m a notoriously bad shopper. I’ll spend $200 at the supermarket on Sunday and still need to go three times during the week to pick up things we need to go with one meal. I’ll spend another $200 during that time. Now I make a menu, pick up all the ingredients at one time, and we are far happier for it.

Not wearing sunscreen

It’s such a simple fix in your daily life, yet so many of us forgo doing this. If you want to spend less on facial products, lotions and makeup, wear sunscreen. It helps keep your face the same color it always is, it prevents your skin from drying out, and it keeps you healthy and free of skin cancer and those pesky expensive issues that might arise later in life.

Not washing your face at night

Always wash your face at night. Good skin comes hand-in-hand with clean skin. You’ll spend less on expensive cleaners, makeup and trips to them dermatologist to figure out why your skin looks terrible if you simply take the time to clean it at night.

Not resting

It might not sound like a big deal, but trust me when I tell you that not taking the time to rest costs more than you realize. There was about a year when I was sick all the time. I would barely get over one bout with a cold when I suffered another, and then the flu hit and then I was sick for weeks. I could not figure out what was wrong with me. I’m a healthy eater, I exercise and I take care of myself. It turns out that with four kids, a demanding career I love and life in general keeping us so busy we never had time at home, I was not rested. I didn’t stop; so I was always sick. I was run down and miserable, and it meant trip after trip to the doctor. Copays and medications and a lot of money later, I just needed to schedule some rest each day and now I’m a new person.

 Photo by Getty Images

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