First Person: Losing Money Through Simple Neglect

I hate waste -- especially when it comes to money -- and I'm constantly looking for ways to reduce it in order to save a little cash. You might be surprised at how much money may actually be slipping through your fingers just from simple neglect. While at first glance the amounts might not appear to be that significant, when you start sweeping all of your financial waste together you may discover that you have a heaping pile of money that is filtering through the cracks each year. And though it could seem like a lot of work to stop these money leaks, there could actually be some relatively simple ways to plug the gaps in your neglectful ways.

Here are some areas I've discovered when it comes to ways people neglect their personal finances, and ideas to help turn this neglect into big savings.

Junk in Your Trunk

It's amazing just how much stuff can accumulate in just a few short years. A home, even an apartment, can provide numerous spots to stash things. There they can sit, out of sight and out of mind. Drawers, cabinets, bookshelves, desks, attics, closets, crawlspaces, basements, garages, and other hidey holes can allow stuff to accumulate, largely unseen and un-dealt with until you one day discover it seeping out when trying to cram more stuff inside.

Sadly, much of this stuff you'll probably never use again, or only use on a rare occasion, otherwise it wouldn't be shoved inside a storage space. And you might be surprised how some of these items can be converted to cash through a variety of means. From eBay and Craigslist to garage sales, online or local resale stores and pawn shops, options for getting cash for your unused items have never been more numerous or easily available.

From books and clothing to antiques and collectibles, sorting through all that junk you've neglectfully shoved into trunks, could be a great way to clear out some extra space as well as to earn some cash. I literally make hundreds of dollars each year from reselling the things that either I or others no longer want or deem useful.

Late Fees and Finance Charges

Whether dealing with general monthly bills, credit cards, bank accounts or whatever a little bit of neglect can cost you dearly. With overdraft fees, fees for exceeding credit limits, ATM fees, late fees, service charges, minimum balance fees, transaction fees, and all the rest, there is no lack of ways for financial institutions to gouge us of our hard earned money.

While I make no excuses for those same institutions and their dastardly fees, it often only takes a couple of minutes or clicks upon the computer to review account statements or to check or double check the status of your finances. Neglecting to do so can prove costly.

I typically take a few minutes to ensure I have cash or a credit card on hand in order to avoid ATMs where I might be charged a transaction fee. I also check accounts online to ensure I have money in my account to cover purchases or payments by way of check or debit card. Double checking hold amounts for debit cards is also a good way to ensure you don't overdraft your account.

Disorganization

How many times have you wasted time looking for something you can't find, only to go out and buy a new one and then find what you were looking for soon thereafter? Hopefully not that many, but if you're like many people, you can probably think of at least a time or two.

In fact, this just happened to a friend of mine a couple of months ago. She lost her glasses about a week before she was set to go to the optometrist. For days she searched her house, but no glasses were to be found. She assumed they may have been thrown out with one of the newspapers she had been reading. So, when she visited the eye-doctor she bought a new pair, at a cost of around $300.

Two days later she found the original pair of glasses lying under some papers beside her bed. This is a prime example of how disorganization can lead to costly mistakes by way of simple neglect.

Gift Cards

Gift cards are another prime example of where a bit of neglect can punish us severely when it comes to money. I must use my family as an example here. When helping the in-laws tidy up several months ago, my wife and I stumbled upon a tiny container stuffed inside a desk drawer. Inside was a stash of unused gift cards given to my wife's brother (who is away at college) at Christmas two years ago.

Sadly, several of these gift cards were for the now defunct Circuit City. Several more we checked the status of by phone and found they were unused. All told there were nearly $200 worth of gift cards (not counting the $50 to Circuit City ) stashed in this little basket, buried under piles of books and old mail. I'm pretty sure they would have remained there for years had we not pulled them out. We gave them to my mother-in-law so they wouldn't become lost again, telling her half-jokingly that she should use them to buy Christmas gifts for the kids next year.

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Money Saving Habits: The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Disclaimer: The author is not a licensed financial professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For financial advice, readers should consult a licensed financial advisor. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.