{"id":1728,"date":"2014-10-22T00:15:19","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T08:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2014-10-21T14:18:28","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T22:18:28","slug":"the-5-dumbest-ways-ive-wasted-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/the-5-dumbest-ways-ive-wasted-money\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Dumbest Ways I’ve Wasted Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>I write a lot about personal finance. And while I try my hardest to dish out only financial advice that I actually follow myself, sometimes I fail.<\/p>\n

Now didn\u2019t get me wrong, there\u2019s a lot that I do to keep my personal finances in track and then there are those things I slip up on but never tell you about.<\/p>\n

So today I thought I\u2019d humanize myself a little more and tell you all about the major personal financial fails I\u2019ve had or still do commit.<\/p>\n

You ready?<\/p>\n

# 1 \u2013 Buying a Crap Load of Amazon Instant Videos<\/h2>\n

When I first got divorced a little over two years ago I went on a complete TV fast. I may have watched a combination of ten shows and movies over the span of a year and a half. Instead I was too busy working my butt off.<\/p>\n

Then one day I realized I had access to Amazon Prime and could therefore watch free movies. I was hooked. I very quickly watched all the free horror movies I could. Then I ran out.<\/p>\n

Being a horror movie junkie I started renting all kinds of movies at $3-$4 a pop. Sometimes literally paying $20 or more a week in these rentals. It got out of control.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve now cut way back to about one movie every other week. (But sometimes I fall of the band wagon!)<\/p>\n

# 2 \u2013 Buying Too Many Kindle Books<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m sensing a little instant gratification problem as I write this list\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m an avid reader. A total bookworm. And the Kindle has made that a problem for me. Instead of having to make a trip to the library or order a book and wait for it to come to me, I can just click a button and have new reading material.<\/p>\n

To try and curb this impulse I\u2019ve been checking the daily free eBook lists and not allowing myself to purchase a new book before completely reading the one that I\u2019m on.<\/p>\n

# 3 \u2013 Maxing Out a Credit Card and Then Not Remembering What I Bought<\/h2>\n

This happened ten years ago when I was eighteen. I remember being so excited to get credit card offers. I thought this was my passage into adulthood.<\/p>\n

So of course I accepted every credit card offer that came my way. (Thank God they all had small credit limits!<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I then went to max out a $1,500 credit card in a couple of weeks and I couldn\u2019t tell you what I bought.<\/p>\n

# 4 \u2013 Buying Furniture From Rent-a-Center<\/h2>\n

This almost makes me laugh out loud now. Seriously, what I was thinking?!<\/p>\n

But I did it. Right after getting married (age 20) I decided our hand me down furniture wasn\u2019t good enough so I went to Rent-a-Center and picked out a full furniture set.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking that through the payments I ended up spending more than triple of what the furniture would\u2019ve cost outright. Although, now that I have some bargain shopping skills I\u2019m convinced I paid quadruple.<\/p>\n

Rent to own furniture places have to be the biggest scams I\u2019ve ever seen. If I could advise young adults not to do one thing it\u2019d probably be this.<\/p>\n

And the Dumbest Way I\u2019ve Ever Wasted Money Is\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/h2>\n

Loaning a friend $500 when I was about 90% sure I\u2019d never see that money back.<\/p>\n

In fact, that\u2019s the not the only time I\u2019ve been stiffed on a loan<\/a>. But I\u2019ve got to say it was a huge learning experience for me and for that I wouldn\u2019t take it back.<\/p>\n

A lot of my big money mistakes have taught me what not to do. And there\u2019s no better way to learn than to have hands on experience. (Or so I tell myself\u2026..)<\/p>\n

What about you? What\u2019s the dumbest way you\u2019ve ever wasted money?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I write a lot about personal finance. And while I try my hardest to dish out only financial advice that I actually follow myself, sometimes I fail. Now didn\u2019t get me wrong, there\u2019s a lot that I do to keep my personal finances in track and then there are those things I slip up on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[409,410,408],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}