Most of us
don’t realize how much our habits are costing us. I notice a lot of people
complaining about how broke they are on Facebook or just in general. Another
thing I notice is how they are tan, or have perfect (fake) nails, or always
have a Starbucks coffee. It made me wonder if these folks realize just how much
they’re spending every month or even every year on their vices/habits.
My personal
vice is Starbucks, so I’ll start with that.
A grande
caramel latte cost me $4.33 yesterday. I
tend to visit my local Starbucks 3-4 times per month, so it costs me between
$12.99 and $17.32 per month. In a year,
this would cost me between $155.88 and $207.84.
If you’re into
tanning (I’m not), a single ten minute tan can costs $7.00 here for the lowest
level bed. If you go three times per week, that’s $21 or $84 per month. Some
people will say that they get the unlimited monthly plan, which is around $45
here (give or take depending on where you go, this is an average). If you go
with the first instance, $84 per month, you’ll be paying $1,008 per year! That’s
three car payments for me. If you go with the monthly tanning package, that’s
$540 per year! That’s a car payment and four months of insurance for me. It’s
worthwhile, if you’re tanning obsessed, to go with the monthly package, but
still, that’s a lot of money for something you can do outside for free during
the sunny months. Not to mention the
health risks associated with tanning in general, but this is a finance blog, so
I’ll let that one go.
If you’re
into having acrylic nails done (I’m not anymore, but I liked to get them done
occasionally in college), that’s typically $35-40 to get them put on and then
you’ve got to get them filled every 3-4 weeks, depending on how fast your nails
grow and how long you can put up with the gap that shows when your fingernails
are growing. A typical fill is around $15. Usually someone can go around three
months before the nails start to yellow or crack and you need to get all new
acrylics put on (another $35-40).
$35 initial
investment + 4 fill ins ($15) in three months = $95 x four = $380.00 for the
year
I have a
feeling that this is a fairly low estimate for acrylics as some people I know
get their acrylics redone more often. Also, that doesn’t include if you crack a
nail and have to go get a new one put on between other fill ins and things like
that. $380 is a car payment plus a month of car insurance for me.
How about
pedicures? An average pedicure around here costs about $25. If you go once per
month, that’s $300 per year.
How about
getting your hair colored? It costs around $60 to get your hair colored at an
average salon. If you go every two months, that’s $360 plus tip for the
year. If you insist on going to an
upscale, or as I like to call them “fancy,” salon, that could cost you
somewhere in the neighborhood of $120 every two months or $720 per year.
How about
cable packages? Mine cost me $75/month when I bundled it with my internet
through Comcast (for the first year, of course). That totals out to
be$900/year! When Comcast decided my year was up for my bundle, I dropped the
cable, but kept the internet. I really didn’t watch that much TV anyway, but
dropping the cable ended up saving me $30 per month or $360 per year. The
internet cost me $45 per month, but I got a lot more use out of the internet than
I did out of the cable, and I could even watch TV on the internet if I really
wanted to see a show. (Hulu is free and a lot of other networks stream their TV
shows for free if you can wait a few days.)
I hope this
gets you thinking on how much your habits cost. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go
get a Starbucks or get your hair done or even go get a pedicure. Sometimes it
is just hard to see how much you’re actually spending on something until you
put it all down on paper. When it’s all down on paper, it’s a lot easier to
budget for that habit/vice. I know my Starbucks is included under “fun money”
on my budget.
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