Money Down the Drain

While cleaning out the old car yesterday in a prelude to giving it away, I came across a compartment full of disgusting, fused-together coins.  I had no clue what had fused them together, and even less desire to find out.  What I did know (or hope) was that water, The Universal Solvent, would separate them and render them once more individual coins.

So, I put them in a cup of water and let them sit by the bathroom sink.  After a while, I went in (leaving the light off because the light from the hallway was sufficient, and why waste the electricity if you don't have to, right?), upended the cup over my hand, and let the water drain out.  What followed was a long series of drips ... and two clangs as two coins hit the sink.

Not wanting to lose what I had given so much effort to separate, I turned on the light and fished out the nickel that sat half-way in the drain.  Of the other coin, I saw no sign.  I had heard of figuratively losing money down the drain, but this, my friends, was the first time I had ever literally lost money down a drain.

Now, knowing the value of my time, I was heck-bent if I was going to go fishing in the drain for what was, in all likelihood, a penny, but the whole experience did get me thinking about how we figuratively throw our money down an equally figurative drain.  What are some of the money-drains in our lives?

Interest on Debts  This is a biggie, especially for my wife and I (heck, just look at the name of the blog!).  Every dollar you pay in interest on a debt -- especially things like credit card debt and payday loans -- is money that is just being frittered away.  Sure, there are tax advantages to some sorts of interest, and the money you borrowed in the first place served some use, but now that the only thing remaining is the debt, it's just nickels and dimes and dollars down the tube.

Stupid and Pointless Fees  At one point, my parents asked me to look at their finances to try to help them work some of the monetary magic my wife and I seem able to work in our own lives.  I noticed one credit card my dad had that socked him some huge fee every year, just for the joy and privilege of carrying the card.  With the hundreds of different credit cards out there (even after the economy's problems and several rounds of credit card reform), paying an annual fee to have a credit card is setting fire to the bills in your wallet and watching them burn.

Not Comparing Prices or Not Waiting For Sales  Every week, there's a fun mystery in our house.  I call it, "Where will we buy our groceries this week?"  My wife and I don't eat a lot in the way of food, and our tastes in groceries aren't all that exotic, so we can really buy our food about anywhere.  There are some items we'll only buy certain places (milk and green pepper nearly always come from Aldi), but beyond that, one store's generic is as good as another's.

So, we get the circulars on Thursday, and while I teach piano lessons on Friday, my wife decides which store has the best deals, the most things we can stock up on, and that's where we go.  We may only save four or five bucks each week by doing this, but over a year, that adds up.

The same is even more true of big-ticket items.  Patience -- in the form of waiting for sales -- is not just a virtue, it's fiscally smart.  Waiting for not just an okay price but an outstanding price can be hard, but it can also be rewarding when you get that TV or computer you wanted for half of what it normally costs.  Also with big ticket items, if you don't ask for at least some money off, something extra thrown in, or a free service plan, you're feeding dollar bills to your dog just to see what comes out the other end ... okay, that analogy was gross and not completely apt, but you get the idea.  The number of times I've asked for a freebie or a few bucks off isn't that many (not many big-ticket purchases), but it's resulted in about a hundred bucks off our kitchen appliances, two years of free oil changes on our Honda, and $65 back when we got rid of our home phone line and went straight DSL. 


This list is far from exhaustive, but it's a start.  What other times and in what other ways do you throw money down the drain?  Let us know in the comments section.