Top 10 Money Drains

This is my first post using Ecto instead of MarsEdit. I have to say that I am greatly impressed with the Ecto interface. It even has a UI that lets me directly upload images to WordPress instead of having to upload via the web admin interface. It is certainly a more complicated app, but it also feels very solid and powerful.

A list of the top 10 money drains was recently posted to Digg. I’m proud to say that I’m only hitting one or two (depending on how you count things.)

1. Coffee – I don’t usually get coffee out. I guess I sometimes do for a social occasion, but it’s been months since I’ve ordered coffee out somewhere. Usually, I grind beans at home and/or brew loose-leaf tea.
2. Cigarettes – Nope.
3. Alcohol – The article talks about two beers a day, with price varying depending on bar. Often I’ll have a glass of wine or martini at home (I’m trying to have beer only when out, but on some of these hot days, it’s difficult to stick to that), but because I get the “on sale for $5-10” wine, that trims the cost. The article implies more along the lines of drinking out, which falls under the “social occasion” thing like coffee, but is (for me) more frequent. So yes, I do spend money on alcohol every couple of weekends.
4. Bottled water – As mentioned previously, I carry around a Nalgene bottle of water. No store-bought bottled water for me.
5. Manicures – Uhhhh, no.
6. Car washes – I wear the layer of dust and dirt on the car like a badge of honor! But I do sometimes wash the car at home.
7. Weekday lunches out – This my biggest expense from the list. Yes, I do this. No I will not change. I budget for it and have it covered. I have a hard enough setting up the coffee maker the night-before or morning-of. There’s no way I could also make a lunch with enough preparation and daily variety to make me happy. I do bring my own water, though.
8. Vending machine snacks – The bulk food bins at Wild Oats are for my workday snacks. They’re not only cheap, but WAY more healthy than what comes from the vending machine.
9. Interest rates on credit card bills – Nope.
10. Unused memberships – Nope. With a few recent exceptions, I go to yoga every Tuesday and have been for at least a year.

If you want to be memeish, you can copy and paste it to your own journal with your own comments. Or not.

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