There are a lot of way that people waste money that are not so obvious.  Some of these ideas are a little outside of the box. However, they can universally apply to anyone who is focused on finding ways to stop wasting money.

Learn how to cut your own hair

Stop wasting money at the barber. Most men get their hair cut every two to three weeks and spend an average of $20 each visit. This totals to $340 to $520 a year! Buy your own pair of clippers for $30 or $40 and learn how to do that shit yourself. Most clippers come with multiple length guards which makes it much easier do get the job done. The best part is that it is really easy to fix if you do a bad job. You just buzz it off and try again in a couple of more weeks when it grows back! Stop wasting your money and buy a decent pair of clippers HERE!

Stop eating out and prepare your meals in advanced

Stop wasting money eating out every day for lunch. This is an absolute killer! I have meals prepared in advance for the entire week to keep me from eating like shit. My food preparation is done every Sunday morning, which provides me 4 healthy meals per day. I know that this sounds like a huge pain in the ass! However, spending an hour making everything I need to eat for the entire ends up being a huge convenience. It saves me a ton of time everyday from constantly having to prepare food. Whenever I’m ready to eat, i just throw a meal in the microwave!

Assume that you buy lunch 6 days a week and spend an average of $9 per meal. This comes to a total of 54 dollars per week. Take into account that there are 52 weeks in a year. You are spending $2,652 a year on eating out!

You can buy a box of instant rice that will make about 6 cups/servings  for only $2.00. The average bag of frozen chicken breast is right at $10 and will have right at 6 breasts per bag.  Daily cost  is $ .34 for the rice and $1.66 for the chicken. So this example of a prepared meal would  only cost $2 a day, or $624 for the year. So, your almost saving $2,000 a year based on this example and that is just for lunch! How much money would you save if you did this with all your meals? Look into getting these meal prep containers, they can make this whole process much more convenient.

Buy groceries wholesale from Costco or Sam’s Club

Buying wholesale really helps to save money when meal prepping. It also helps when providing for an entire household because you buy larger quantities at a lower price. This form of shopping allows food to be much more abundant while saving money in the long run!

Don’t be afraid to buy off brand groceries

I have a buddy that works in a factory which produces a very well known brand of pasta sauce. My friend explained that 90% of all brands are made in the same facility with the same exact formula. After so many units of the big brand is made, they change the labels on the production line. Then they make the bargain products and in-store brands.

Most off-brand groceries are made from the same factories that make the make the big names. It’s just a different label and a cheaper price, so stop wasting your money on a name.

Don’t be afraid to buy clothes from Goodwill

I have found really nice brand name clothes at thrift stores like Goodwill for just a couple of bucks. If you spend the time looking around, you can walk away with a lot of decent clothing.  Best of all, at fraction of what you would pay for it new. Especially khakis and dress wear.

Who gives a shit where you got it?

Purchase books from used book websites

Anyone who reads a lot or has to buy books for school, seriously needs to check out into this. You can most always get books that are slightly used but only cost a couple of dollars. I have bought many books for only $0.75 and the shipping is always less than $4.00! If the book exists, they will most likely have it if its a decent site.

Stop using cable or satellite and go with Netflix or Amazon  Prime

The average person wastes $200 a month ($2,400 a year)on TV.  Oddly enough, most people don’t even watch television anymore because the whole world is constantly on the internet. It would be much more sensible to use a streaming service like Netflix or Amazon Prime that only cost $10 a month, which is only $120 a year. The savings in this example is a possible $2,800 per year!

Do not buy things on impulse

Think about this before you waste money on a bunch of material possessions. First, figure out if those items are things you need or are they just things that you think you want. I have a buddy that spends $50 to $100 every week buying t-shirts online. At the end of the week he just can’t understand why he lives paycheck to paycheck.

The United States is a very high consumption based society and you have to break yourself from this mindset. Stop wasting money on useless shit that you don’t need. Investing in financial freedom is much more important than material possessions that do not help you to earn money.

Stop wasting money on the opposite sex and be more creative with dating

If you want someone worth keeping around, they shouldn’t give a shit about how much you spend on them. You should be striving for a relationship built on great experiences and not material possessions.  Also, you don’t have to go broke every single date. More than likely, they will appreciate the creativity and effort that you put into it.

Stop wasting money at Starbucks and make coffee at home with a french press

Most people who buy coffee at places like Starbucks, get it 5 days a week if not more. Lets say the average over priced coffee your buying cost $5.00 each. If you’re buying 5 days a week, you are blowing $1,300 a year on some freaking coffee!  The smart thing to do is buy a 2.5 pound bag of Dunkin Donuts for about $25. Then start making your coffee at home with a french press.

People that have never used a french press don’t understand how badass they are. The caffeine content of french pressed coffee is higher than traditional drip coffee. Also, the flavor of the coffee is a much higher quality.   Most people don’t know that caffeine content is dependent how long the water is in contact with the grounds.  Not necessarily how hot the water is.  You will have the grounds submerged for about 4 minutes when you make coffee with a french press. A traditional drip pot brewing system is only going to be extracting the caffeine  for 20 to 30 seconds.

Since most french press’ are made out of glass, I would suggest getting one made by Bodum because they are reasonably priced and made very sturdy. Here is the exact  Bodum french press that has lasted me for years.  Using this example would cost an average of a little over $200 a year instead of $1,300!

Pay closer attention to your bank account

This one may sound kind of obvious but most people really don’t pay close enough attention to their bank account. Many people don’t realize how many things automatically withdraw $10 out of their account every month.  Just think if you had three or four of these going under the radar every month. You could be throwing away hundreds of dollars a year and not even realize it!

Understand the difference between an asset and a liability

This is a huge one. Most people’s definition of an asset, is completely wrong. The majority of people believe  that things like the homes that the own qualify as an asset. By definition, an asset is anything that puts money in your pocket. A liability is anything that takes money out of your pocket.

So owning a home is a liability because you have to pay a monthly mortgage every month. You still have to pay for insurance and repairs even if you don’t owe anything on the mortgage. This still makes it a liability because it is not making income. Banks, however, will tell you that owning a home is an asset because it produces income for them through interest.

The only way that you can turn your home into an asset is if you rent it out and collect a check every month from it.  A car is more of an asset because the vehicle provides transportation to go make money. This is a concept that I was first introduced to when I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I suggest that everyone read this book because it completely changed my life and how I thought about money and income.

Do away with unneeded liabilities

Get rid of as many things that you don’t need which pull money away from your pockets. Magazine subscriptions, cable tv, phone app subscriptions, and whatever else you can stop wasting money on! Take all the money that you save and use it to build assets that produce a passive income. Having more assets than liabilities is the first step to financial freedom and a universal rule for the financially successful.

Understand a monthly budget and plan ahead

It takes great discipline to master this and stick to it.  You probably won’t have much money left after paying bills and basic living expenses. So set a budget for everything and diligently follow it. You will be more conservative with money once you have a better understanding of how little you actually have.

Sell shit that you don’t need anymore or use it as a tax write off

Raid the house of anything that you are likely to never use again and sell it for cash.  What’s the point of hanging on to something you hardly ever use when you can turn it in to money. Another option would to donate it. Most donation centers will provide you with  tax deduction paperwork at the time of a donation drop off!

Pay yourself first

This is a concept that comes from the book, The Richest Man In Babylon.  Set aside a portion of your income to save before you ever pay your bills, buy groceries, or do anything else. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account. The first bill you pay each month should be to yourself.

This will allow you to make future investments that can help generate passive income. A great rule of thumb is to save 10% of every paycheck. More than likely, you probably won’t even notice missing every week.

These are all concepts that I have personally implemented into my life because they work. Once you have mastered how to stop wasting money, use your savings to accumulate money producing assets. Allow your money to work for you, rather than you work for your money.