As I was contemplating my decision to stay at the beach I couldn’t help but think of all the ways I’ve wasted money over the years.
There was the time we remained on COBRA long after we should have switched over to my husband’s insurance plan. We paid well over $1500 a month and went to the doctor only twice during that period. Switching plans would have saved us over $9,000 a year. With a young son I wanted to know we had the best insurance possible, but I could have paid our entire deductible three times with the extra money we spent.
How about the time I paid full price for a mattress. Luckily I was able to rectify the situation, but in the blink of an eye I spent $600 more than necessary. Let’s not forget the mutual fund that dropped it’s five star ranking. Over the course of three years it fell to two stars, resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars. Although I look over my portfolio over year I somehow missed this failing mutual fund three years running.
I’ll worry about forgetting to use a $5 coupon and then allow myself to lose wads of money over the long haul. I’m sure we all do things that are penny wise and pound foolish, but it feels pretty stupid to save one dollar here and pick up 25 cents there, all the while letting real money drain from our bank accounts.
I thought long and hard about where to go for my medical testing. While I might save $440 by going home I have decided that staying put makes much more sense. I’m fine with making the decision to spend more money, but I hate knowing that sometimes I let money slip out of my hands without ever really thinking about it.
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