Why We Blog

In my English 101 class at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, my students came to a realization--if you want to be good at something you have to practice it. They all mentioned they spent on average 4-5 hours a week on activities they considered themselves good at, but less than an hour a week writing. Why? Because they thought writing only counted when it was for school. So we agreed to try to write more on subjects and topics not related to school. This blog is a forum for all of us to voice our opinions, to be heard, to think and, most importantly to write.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

What I Spend Money On


If you were to walk up to 10 random people and ask them what they spend
their money on, what answer would you get back? The answer would be
infinite whether the money was spent on a piece of candy or a car. But,
it's actually the little things that you don't expect to spend money on
(coffee, gum, etc.) that end up costing you a whole lot.

Have you ever started a day with 100 bucks and by the end of the day,
all you have left is a 20? You ask yourself, "Where did all my money go?"
Well, if you really think about it, what DID you spend it on? You may not
notice it while you were spending away, but it’s actually the little things
that you don’t expect to cost you money.

You can’t help it. It's natural to want to spend money just because you have
it. A pretzel there, a smoothie here, and a can of coke for later, no wonder
you’re winding down from a 100 to a 20 dollar bill.

To see where my money has really disappeared to, I’ve conducted a little
experiment. For three days, I wrote down every single thing that my money
was spent on.

The first day, the total amount was $20.88 (bottle of water, coffee,
snack/soda vending machine, subway, hair dye kit and a trip to the gas
station). I spent $43.73 on the second day (coffee, vending machines,
clothing store, and Chinese take-out). Lastly, the third day’s total amount
was $28.93 (coffee, vending machine, car wash, and the clothing store).

When I added up all the little things I bought, I spent about $30 per day and
that was just three days. In a month, I would lose more money than I make!

Next time you shop, I challenge you to keep track of all the things you buy.
You'll be surprised at how the little things can add up and end up costing you
more than you expected.
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 28, 2010 at 8:18 PM

    Lyly that was great. You are so correct when you talk about how expensive the little things can add up to be. When you purchase big things the maintenance alone can add up to the price of the original purchase. That's why I always say if you don't save cents, you won't make dollars. If a person cuts on his everyday spending by pinching a few cents or even dollars, the amount saved would probably be at least 1/2 the amount spent in a week......Kataria Fontenot

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bobby SchmidtJuly 4, 2010 at 11:29 AM

    I have read a lot of things on the internet about saving tips. One that has really stuck out to me is this: At the end of the day, open your wallet, take out all of the one dollar bills and put them aside. Now I have never tried this personally because I have always been pretty good about saving, but it's just an idea that someone may wanna try. Like my dad always says when it comes to saving "Pay yourself first"

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)