5 Insane Ways I Have Wasted Hard-Earned Money
Lessons learned, money burned
The older I get, the more frugal I get with my money. Sometimes, looking back, it can be painful to think of all the ways I wasted my money.
Pain, the uncomfortable, is how lessons are learned.
So, for the sake of teaching you lessons without the (potentially) necessary pain, I am writing this article.
Take notes and don’t make the same mistakes.
1. Alcohol
My accountant couldn’t believe how much of my income was spent on alcohol.
I did my best to justify it for a while.
The justification: As a nightclub owner & promoter, I felt going out and drinking would help me meet other people who drink. There, I could eventually get them to come to my nightclub, or one I was promoting, and make my money back.
Honestly, it is hard to dispute that this didn’t work. I believe it did (on some level).
The bigger problem really arose when the drinking habit I developed kept going even when it wasn’t about “customer acquisition.”
Ordering tequila for every girl in a 400-person restaurant at once, covering bills for randoms, and constant bottle service stopped being justified.
All in all, I wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on alcohol in my 20s.
This doesn’t count money lost from the bad decisions made while drunk either…
2. Gambling
It’s really easy to justify gambling if you made me money a few times, or feel like you have an edge on the casino.
That’s what I did.
I learned how to count cards, did so pretty successfully quite a few times, and made money. The first 10 years of my gambling life, I was up a considerable amount.
I was banned from casinos in Vancouver for counting cards.
The problem is that even if you have an “edge”, you can still lose a lot on your bad days. On top of that, you mix alcohol with it, and you start to make the wrong decisions or lose your edge.
After a few bad losses and mixing alcohol with gambling too often, I had to stop wasting money on it.
Now, I try to stick to occasional poker with friends.
3. Low-quality objects
Dollar stores can be your best friend or your worst enemy. The same goes for any other store that sells low-quality objects.
Time and time again, I thought I was getting the deal of a lifetime, only to replace the product with a better one a week later.
This happened with headphones, speakers, furniture, glassware, clothing, and much more.
It is typically better just to spend more for something that will last.
4. In an effort to impress
Caring what others think about you or how you look in front of others you care about is almost always a waste of money.
This looks like:
Paying extra to be 2 floors higher in an apartment
Buying clothing you don’t even like
Spending extra at the club
An expensive watch
Pick your poison. Typically, the poison depends on the crowd you’re trying to impress.
The worse the crowd, the more dangerous the poison.
5. Over-ordering and over-eating
I have an obsession with food. Quite likely, why I am in the hospitality industry.
To be clear, I don’t have an issue with spending money trying some sort of amazing food I’ve never tried before.
What I do have an issue with is over-ordering, only to waste the food. Or, trying to finish the food, only to feel gross afterward.
It gets even worse and more painful when you bought too many groceries and have to throw out the food.
Control your portions, control your ordering! Your eyes eat more than your stomach.
These ones were worth it
Now that you know where not to spend your money, let me tell you a couple of places I spent money where people told me it was a bad idea, but I don’t regret.
I bought a Porsche when I was young. I loved every second and don’t regret it.
Travelling is almost always worth it. Explore and be present while doing it.
Any experience that you will remember happily forever.
Books. Don’t stop learning.
What about you? Where have you uselessly spent your money?
Thanks for reading