There are some things we do that become wasteful habits; they keep our expenses unnecessarily high. If we stop these habits, we could save ourselves a lot of money and use it to invest or put it aside for future use. Here are five things that you may be unnecessarily wasting your money on:

Buying brand names

Sometimes we insist on buying particular brands arguing that they are good quality or they represent the mark of quality. While this may be true for some products, some generic brands have the same quality level as designer brands. For example an designer brand product will sell at a high prices but will offer the same quality as a generic at a much lower cost. So the next time you’re shopping consider buying generic products especially when you have established that the levels of quality are similar.

Hiring people who offer services that you can do on your own

At times we hire people to perform tasks which we could do on our own. For example, simple car repairs that would only take a few minutes of our time and cost nothing but if we hire someone we end up paying high costs of labour. You could save some money if you did it yourself, only seek assistance if the problem is a complex one.

With the information flowing left, right and center, there is no reason why you cannot perform some simple fixes on your car or home. It will save you a lot of money and at the same time help you learn some of these skills so that when you are in an emergency situation you do not have to wait until help comes.

Shopping when you are hungry or have a lot of time

You could make a serious mistake when you go shopping in a grocery store when you are hungry or have a lot of time to spend. Avoid this at all costs and you won’t end up buying something when actually you don’t need it.

Making a habit of buying snacks at the gas station

You may have made it a habit to buy snacks every time you’re at the gas station. You’ll find that most of the things that you buy are not necessary; you can do without them or could have carried them from home. You end up spending a lot of money on things without even noticing. Avoid it and you could save yourself a great amount.

Taking expiry dates as law

We always assume that expiry date for products are on the exact date but this is not the case, the manufacturer gives an allowance. So you may buy a product which is on offer but be near its expiry date and still not experience problems after consumption.

If you stop these and many more unnecessarily habits, you could discover that you have been wasting a lot of money.