8 things that are quietly eating up your budget

It is impossible to single out one universal list of expenses. Depending on the interests, character of a person, his budget, inconspicuous items of expenditure will be goodies, clothes, taxis, books or something else. However, there are several items that, more often than others, quietly eat up money.

1. Subscriptions

We sometimes subscribe to streaming platforms, book or music resources in the hope that we will watch at least a movie a week, start reading books, and so on. But then we often forget about such intentions. These expenses may seem small - on average from 150 to 500 rubles per month, so many do not pay attention to them. However, even this can cost a decent amount in a year.

How to avoid it 

• Soberly evaluate your free time and a real desire to watch movies, read, listen to music regularly, and not periodically. If you didn’t have the habit or opportunity to do all this before purchasing a subscription, you’re unlikely to start doing it after.
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• Set yourself reminders about the end of the trial period so you don’t forget to unsubscribe if you don’t plan to continue using it.
• If the trial period has changed to a paid one, and you do not need these services, you can contact the service support team, explain the situation and ask for a refund and cancellation subscription. Sometimes it works.
• If the money is not returned to you, you can request a chargeback from your bank - this is a procedure for disputing a payment with which you do not agree. Contact the bank, explain that you did not use the service and want to return the money for it. Chargeback can act on any Bank operations, with which you may not agree. The bank will review your application, and the money will probably be returned if you really did not use the service or there was something wrong with it.

2. Options from mobile operators

Mobile operators often sin by connecting additional services without your knowledge. There are comical stories when a person buys a SIM card for a barrier in order to be able to open and close it, but this barrier receives a whole package of paid options.

This is, of course, unacceptable. According to the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”, you cannot activate any options without your knowledge. And even if you signed an agreement with a mobile operator without looking, the connection can be challenged in court. In practice, however, few people are sued because of such incidents.

How to avoid it

• Log in regularly mobile app and check your services and rates. Unsubscribe from anything you don't need.
• Contact your mobile operator and let them know that you have detected charges for services that you did not subscribe to. Demand this money back.
• If you are refused, you can contact the FAS or Rospotrebnadzor, which actually check the work of mobile operators.

3. Gym memberships

Fitness center memberships that we don’t use are the same as unnecessary subscriptions. If you don't have a habit of going to the gym, you shouldn't expect that you will start working out regularly as soon as you buy a membership. Gyms make money from this, because many who buy a subscription do not use it.

In addition, the halls have many additional services that are not included in your subscription: classes with coach, swimming pool, solarium, fitness bar, some additional services. It is important to understand that when you buy a subscription, you do not necessarily get the full range of services and, perhaps, in the hall itself they will try to tempt you with something else. Therefore, carefully evaluate whether you really need all these offers or whether you are being influenced by marketing.

How to avoid it

• If you are not in the habit of exercising regularly, it is better to try train at homeuntil you develop a real need to go to the gym. Well, or start with free classes: fitness centers have trial hours, and many cities offer free group training in the fresh air.
• Try group classes for a donation - when you pay as much as you don’t mind. This is a good way to still be like fitness, but pay less.
• Organize your own fitness group with like-minded people in a chat at home or among friends and start working out regularly together in the park or in the yard.
• Instead of suddenly buying a subscription, start by purchasing a few one-time classes to get involved and understand how much it suits you.

4. Unnecessary expenses for housing and communal services

Receipts for housing and communal services may seem very complicated to some, and it is quite easy to miss some optional payments.

Radio point

If you live in a Soviet house, you may have a subscriber radio point in your apartment. Initially, they were installed to broadcast All-Union radio programs, and later they began to be used to warn about natural disasters and emergency situations. And even if there is no receiver connected to your radio point or it is completely walled up in the wall, you still remain a subscriber and, perhaps, pay a little more than 100 rubles a month.

How to avoid it

To turn off the radio point, you need to contact the MFC with your passport and certificate of ownership of the apartment. The MFC will give you the appropriate application form. You need to fill it out, pay a fee, and the service will be disabled.

Collective antenna

Another relic of the past is a collective TV antenna on the roof. Nowadays, most residents use cable television, and this antenna, if present, is not needed. So you can safely turn it off so as not to pay for it every month.

How to avoid it

To refuse a collective antenna, you need to find out which organization serves your home, call there and report your intentions. They will explain to you what documents you need to provide to disconnect, and you will agree on the time of arrival of the specialist.

City phone

You may still have a landline number connected, even if the landline itself no longer exists. Some people continue to save these numbers just in case, but most have long forgotten that they exist. You may even have accumulated debt with your phone company.

How to avoid it

If you do not need a landline number, contact the telephone company, pay off the debt and indicate your intention to cancel service.

5. Coffee in coffee shops and the like

Coffee to go is a really big expense, especially in big cities. Compared to last year, the average price for coffee in an establishment grew by 6% and amounted to 175 rubles per cup. If you consider how much you spend on this per week, month and per year, you will realize that it is quite a lot.

Besides coffee, there are a number of little things that can quietly add up to big expenses. It’s worth calculating these expenses and understanding whether you are comfortable spending exactly that much or whether you have more important ones. financial obligations.

Yes, the same coffee can make you happier, and that costs money. But saving for the sake of saving makes no sense. Still, it’s worth spending money on unnecessary things when you have no debts and a financial cushion that will last for at least three months of your life, or better yet, a year.

How to avoid it

• Calculate how much you spend and see if you have more important financial goals and obligations that would make it worth giving up coffee and the like.
• Mix spending. For example, buy coffee three times in a coffee shop and drink it at home four times.

6. Impulse purchases

Impulse purchases most often stem from nerves. Therefore, it is worth thinking about why you I want to buy something, and try to figure out the root cause.

According to researchHigher School of Economics, impulsive purchases - unplanned, without prior thought and careful search - were made by 20.5% of respondents. In addition, there is also panic consumption - this is a reaction to an actual or expected shortage of goods after negative news. That is, the shocks that surround us are becoming a serious factor in purchasing expenses.

Especially now that we have online platforms at our fingertips and spending money has become easier.

How to avoid it

• Do not buy anything after six in the evening, when you are tired and no longer perceive information as adequately.
• Before you pay for an item or even look at the price tag, you should think about it and name a price that you think is reasonable. And then compare it with the real one. If the latter is significantly higher, then it’s probably not worth making the purchase: the item is quite expensive for you.
• In a store, ask to put the item aside or add it to the online cart, but do not pay immediately. Think about your purchases for a couple of days: you may not want to take any of this anymore.
• Allocate yourself a budget for some pleasures: a cafe, shopping, cinema, and so on. This way you will stay within limits and not go bankrupt.

7. Discounts in stores

We are accustomed to perceiving discounts as a saving tool, and ideally this is how it should be. But often they provoke us to spend money on unnecessary things that we would not buy at full price. Another option is to purchase promotional there are more goods than required because it seems to us that we are saving. Thus, discounts become a trap.

How to avoid it

• Keep an eye out for discounts - most often these are seasonal and holiday sales.
• Prepare for a sale: monitor the cost of the desired product. Often sellers during the discount season raise the price and pass it off as a discount. To avoid falling for this, you need to clearly know how much the product you need costs.
• Make a list of what you need and avoid making impulse purchases, even at a discount.
• Buy things out of season: winter ones can be purchased in spring or summer, summer ones - in autumn or winter at sales.
• Turn on notifications about price reductions on those marketplaces where possible.

8. Installments

Likewise, instead of being a good financial tool, installment plans can become a trap. By agreeing to a gradual settlement, people spend more money: one of the services shared statistics, according to which the average cost of purchases made in installments is 81% higher than when paying by bank card in the same stores. That is, buyers think that since this is a deferred payment and there are fewer barriers to purchase, it means that they can buy more at a time, for a larger amount, including what is not needed.

How to avoid it

• Buy in installments the things you really need, for which you could pay anyway.
• Have a list of necessary purchases so you don’t take anything extra.

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To avoid unreasonable and unnecessary expenses, it is worth auditing your budget at least once a year, and preferably more often. To do this, you need to carefully study how much and what you spend on, how much of a priority it is, and whether you have other, more important financial obligations.

Financial planning - it’s a habit, you need to get into it. After several such audits, you will notice where exactly you are pouring money. However, it is worth remembering that austerity for the sake of saving is akin to a hunger strike - then you can break loose and spend even more money. Therefore, any expenses must be balanced.