Five Bad Purchases You Need to Stop Making Right Away

bad purchases

What is a bad purchase? A bad purchase is something that might mean something different for each individual. For example, a bad purchase for someone on a very tight budget might be that bottle of wine at the supermarket. A bad purchase for someone with kids might be that sports car when college tuition is right around the corner. Bad purchases are everywhere, and they’re not always the same. However, there are a few bad purchases that are pretty common across the gamut, and we need to stop making them right away.

Buying Brand New Cars

We can’t help it; we want something new. Something with the entire warranty, and something that’s going to be shiny and upgraded and gorgeous. Unfortunately, those new cars are too expensive to purchase thanks to something called depreciation. Most new vehicles lose anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 the second you sign on the dotted line. A slightly used vehicle, on the other hand, doesn’t.

Emotional Purchases

Have a bad day at work? Something making you really emotional? It happens to the best of us, but the worst thing you can do to pick yourself up is go shopping. You’re more prone to making bad decisions and spending too much money when you shop emotionally. Unemotional shopping is going to make you think about where your money is going; emotional shopping is going to make you realize that spending makes you happy. It’s a tough cycle.

Filling Up Halfway

When it comes to filling your car with gas, you’re actually doing yourself a disservice to only fill up halfway. When you fill your tank halfway, you actually waste money. Filling your tank up will actually net you better gas mileage as well as a cheaper bill. You can pay $70 to fill up now and find it lasts all week, or you can spend $30 and fill up every other day all week long, and spend too much money on gas.

Full Price Purchases

Bad purchases are often full price purchases. Most people are too impatient to wait, and most people don’t realize that their wants are not necessities. Yes, you want those new shoes. But can you afford not to wait six weeks for them to go on sale? Yes, you can wait and end up saving big time.

Buy One Get One and Other Sales

It seems like a great idea to buy things on sale, right? Wrong. It’s great to buy something you need that’s on sale, but if it’s something you don’t need and really don’t use, it’s wasteful to buy it just because it’s on sale. If you don’t actually make pancakes at home, buying two boxes of mix because they are buy one get one free is a poor purchase.

(Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

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