If financial stability is important to you then you should stop wasting money on habitual, conditioned spending and the hidden scams of consumerism.
I read a quote and stumbled upon a video that coincided recently, which said, “When you live with the need to buy a lot of stuff or nice things, that stuff/those things ultimately control you – you don’t control it,” and the video explained how our culture over recent decades has fallen victim to wasting money on over-consumption and over-spending for the sake of status, vanity and hyper-convenience.
I remember in 2020, when we were all forced to work from home and/or stay indoors as much as humanly possible for the indefinite future, that’s when companies like Ubereats, Grubhub and Doordash exploded. At the time, I had two initial thoughts – 1. they’re going to be that ‘putting restaurants out of business’ kind of successful, and 2. that this was going to have the worst outcome on society in ways we won’t see coming.
And then I got to thinking about how many things have come to existence – as a Millennial who was a part of the internet and social media boom – that experienced a similar effect.
“Join social media and stay connected with those you love and with everyone around the globe,” they said, while negating the lasting, negative effects hyper-connectivity would have on our mental health and overall well-being down the road.
We’ve also been tricked, conditioned and scammed financially, and in a way that has altered our mentality surrounding money, wealth and lifestyle. As a result, we end up wasting money we either don’t have or that could be better invested elsewhere.
Stop wasting your hard-earned money on these 5 things
Food and grocery delivery services
While I get the convenience and its situationally necessary use, many people are over-using a service that should be viewed and treated as a luxury, not a necessity. The bottom line is, far too many argue that whether earning a living wage or not, the use of these delivery services should be the standard.
Moreover, the use of food and delivery services are no longer an affordable option compared to their initial startup (primarily back in 2020). With product price upticks for using these services, any fees that apply and tipping, the cost no longer outweighs the benefit.
I see you – yeah, you – getting your $15 coffee delivered to your home or work.
So unless you’re sick and can’t make a food or grocery run, live a good distance away from your nearest grocer, or are in a circumstantial position where these services would temporarily alleviate life stress then you’re ultimately wasting your money utilizing this expense as a frequent addition to your financial lifestyle.
Yearly phone upgrades
I have a theory, and each time it’s pointing towards being truer and truer: phone manufacturers design system data to act as a ticking time bomb so that consumers are practically forced to upgrade their devices.
Instead of being able to keep and use the same phone for two or more years, system data rapidly consumes its efficiency, optimization, battery life, speed and storage, only to condition people to have to replace their devices sooner.
For proof, an old iPad I had was essentially unusable, despite being in great working condition, because the system needed an update that that device was no longer compatible for. Also, I’ve owned two different Motorola phones over the last 10 years, and each time, roughly two years in, I would notice – despite my App and photo storage fairly low and routinely cleaning my phone of unused, bulky files and data – the system data would already be at 50% capacity or more. Therefore, I would begin to notice the drastic slowing down of my device and even experience freezing and app crashes more frequently.
Anyway, the point being – we’re tricked into upgrading our phones year after year, and spending gobs of money in doing so, to what actual benefit? A couple new features that don’t outweigh the price of phones (and those willing to pay hundreds for service when there are cheaper options).
The excitement of new, grand technological advances at our fingertips made a whole lot more sense to invest in back in the early 2000s, but yearly upgrades have definitely become a money grab, and we should stop wasting money on a brand new phone every single year or two just because a new version comes out.
Buying name brands for everything
So, did you know that most non name brand grocery items typically come from the exact same manufacturer as the name brand? Off brands will even blatantly say on the packaging: Compare to [product Name Brand].
Still, if not, you’re more than likely not going to know the difference. So the off brand of cheese crackers at Aldi called Savoritz? They literally taste the same as your name brand Cheez-Its.
Listen, I get it, lower quality knock-offs exist for a reason, and there is an incentive for paying more for something that is higher quality even if it’s a big name brand. There are good knock-offs and bad knock-offs with everything, but we shouldn’t default to big brands while paying a pretty penny for them.
There really is no reason to waste your money buying only name brands – since the name is really what you’re paying top dollar for – when the off brands are the exact same product and/or ingredients.
Like Clorox, for instance, when places like Target, Publix and Walmart have their own brand of bleach cleaner that is comparable at a fraction of the cost.
Having all the streaming services at once
Nobody is saying not to have the streaming services you want, but you’re wasting your money having all of them at once. Particularly, it’s more cost efficient to rotate your streaming services.
For instance, after a certain point I find there’s absolutely nothing to watch on Netflix and end up not using it for weeks or months at a time. Instead, it’s made more sense, financially, to choose streaming services based on current watch criteria and then cancel once I am finished. I literally paid for 3 months of HBOmax just to watch Game of Thrones, and then I cancelled the membership thereafter.
Unfortunately, it’s super easy to buy into the initial streaming deals, only to then compile more accounts than you can keep track of and watch your bill for those streaming services slowly go up over time.
It boils down to paying for entertainment that you’re not even using (or that often), but to have it on an “as needed” basis.
Other entitled luxuries disguised as personal necessities
This applies to both the ladies and gents, where many superficial luxuries have added up over recent decades and are now being viewed as necessities (meaning, cannot – under any circumstances – do without). We’re talking hair appointments, manicures and pedicures down to an in-home maid, car detailing services, fine dining and more.
There’s a long list of luxuries that are now being classified as normal, routine expenses despite whether one can afford them. In fact, many have chosen to prioritize wasting money on, what I call, entitled luxuries at the expense of being able to comfortably pay their bills (and, frankly, keep the lights on).
Companies couldn’t care less about your means of living when their goal is to convince you that you need their product or service whether you can afford it or not, which has only provoked our society to move the goal post from what used to be considered special luxuries to now standardized necessities, and creating a lifestyle we not only feel entitled to but can’t seem to live contently without.
Seriously, though, it’s 2026 and we need to wake up to the things we should not be wasting money on.