15 Dumbest Purchases You Make in Your 20s

It’s weird to look back on your twenties and discover all the following things you’ve definitely done to make your money completely disappear over the years. So here we list 15 of the dumbest things you definitely spent your money on in your 20s. Oh and if you’re still one in your twenties then you’re in the right place to avoid our mistakes.

1 – Coffee pods, bottled water avocados

More bottled water is sold in the US than milk and beer. According to statista.com in 2018, bottled water accounted for roughly 25% of average consumption in the United States, making it the most consumed type of beverage that year in 2014, American spent over $13 billion on bottled water and a gallon of water can cost anything from $1 60 cents up to $8.

Plus each person spends in the region of $100 on bottled water every year. That’s not taking into account the environmental damage being left behind then items like coffee, pods, or trending fruit like avocados, all have shocking price tags attached to them.

You’re not going to be worse off drinking a more affordable coffee or getting your good fats from olive oil, fatty fish or Sutton flower seeds.

2 – Takeout, and eating out when you’re in your twenties

It’s all about convenience. You’re busy and preparing a meal is so time-consuming. 50 million Americans order takeout every day, contributing to an industry that’s worth over $110 billion.

Every year restaurants have around a 300% markup on their food. So if you pay $20 for a meal, technically you could whip up the same for about $5 at home. Of course, assuming you’re using the same or similar ingredients, we realized that dining out is not just about the food, but the entire experience, but in your twenties, you do it so often it loses the appeal.

It’s no longer as spoil or indulgence. Same goes for takeout. If you’re paying a premium for the convenience, but you’re not saddled with kids or major responsibilities, you could have saved yourself. A fair amount of money by cooking at home.

3 – Free cut fruits and vegetables

CBS news.com published an article written by Mitch. Lipka highlighting the five most expensive pre-cut foods. He acknowledged that they do provide convenience for the consumer, but it comes at a cost. His prices reflect 2015, but the principle behind his findings remains the same potatoes on average were $1 26 cents a pound, but buy them cut and ready to pop into the oven.

And you’ll fork out around $3, 11 cents a pound pineapples are not cheap in general. So one was costing about $2 75 cents, but when cut and ready to eat, it would be in the region of four 28, a pound Cale per pound was around $2, 80 cents, but increases 317% when washed trimmed and caught up onions were 90 cents a pound. But cut up for you $4 65 cents a pound, unless you have goggles well-chopping onions.

We think the hike might be worth it. This time, green beans are usually around about two 25 fresh, but six 56 a pound when washed and cut up for use by a little forward planning and dedicating a small amount of time to your weekly food prep. You could save a lot of money here in your twenties.

4 – Far too many energy drinks

Your 20s are supposed to be the prime of your life, the most vital, the most beautiful, but you’re making your critical decisions and sometimes your most critical mistakes. And in our twenties, we’re on the go all the time.

You could be chasing the dream job, dream partner, dream house, wedding, babies, travel, and, and, and it’s exhausting. So what do we do? We grab those energy drinks and drink them like water. statista.com confirms that red bull is still the leading seller of energy drinks in the USA followed by monster energy drink.

We’re not saying to not ever drink these, but they do cost two 50 a pop give or take, and that’s money better utilized somewhere more beneficial in the long run.

5 – Going to parties that really don’t matter

We understand that. One of the reasons you’re reaching for that energy drink is because you had a rough night. The previous evening, everything in moderation, having a good time is important, but having a good time every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday is not so great.

The BBC published results of a survey that found that most Britain’s spend on average, 70 P 56, when they go out 73% of participants aged between 18 and 30 claim to go out once a week, that’s 280 pounds a month, almost $400.

6 – High price tag make up

High-quality trendy makeups priced 60% to 80%, less than typical makeup brands. So how is that possible? When you know the prices you’ve been paying for the makeup of similar quality, they explain it in a clear to understand the diagram, why you’re being charged a ton of money.

Middleman allows for two times markup retailers at a two to three times, markup themselves. Celebrities need their cut for their endorsement. Television need to be paid for staff need bonuses and you dear 20-year-old pay for that.

Each time you spend an outrageous amount of money on makeup, shop around for good quality alternatives and stop lining the pockets of others that are aligned in it.

7 – Hype trends and buying into fast fashion

We know there’s no value in buying trendy item after trendy item only to be worn once, maybe twice, and then never again, we don’t encourage that kind of behavior. And in addition, it’s just so bad for the environment.

What we do suggest is saving up to buy a few decent classic pieces that will last you forever, which you can always accessorize to fit. Whatever is currently in fashion. We recommend you try to avoid fast fashion.

8 – An over priced car

When you hit your twenties, you start earning a bit of a decent salary, hopefully, and you decide it’s time to buy the car. You know, the one you’ve wanted it forever, and now you can finally afford it.

You think? Sure. It’s quite possible. You’re able to afford the monthly repayments, but things get a little hairy. When you realize how insanely expensive it is to maintain a car and keep it on the road for a start fuel is currently around $2, 70 cents a gallon until you’re paying for your own fuel.

You don’t really realize just how much money it takes every month to drive around. Then you need to worry about keeping the car roadworthy. You need to keep the licensing. Up-to-date brakes need to be replaced. Tires changed oil replaced, and those a luck is, are just the basics.

It’s just not worth buying a car that’s over your budget. And then having to try and survive off instant ramen and water.

9 – Constantly upgrading your tech products

The moment a new model becomes available life. hacker.com wrote a noteworthy article over this exact issue and noted the following. We overvalue the new because it’s the latest thing presented to us.

We tend to forget the old information that the old product is also great and supplement it with the new that the new product is more great. Former Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos called it the upgrade treadmill, Alex there’s the changes are incremental.

If you’re desperate for more or better, you can always add additional software, but it’s not necessary to go to the expense of continuously replacing your outdated tech.

10 – In game purchases and currencies

Do you have any idea how much this is worth in-game revenues every year, according to medium.com, it’s worth $100 billion. They add that over 47% of the 2.2 active gamers around the world spend their cash buying in-game currencies and assets.

This is a complete waste of money. For starters, you can’t trade assets across games. You can’t cash out. And there’s often issues of asset ownership. You’re better off saving that cash and putting it towards something tangible. You know, like that car. We just mentioned.

11 – A super expensive wedding

You could have a down payment on a house if you were smart and didn’t spend it all trying to impress a crapload of guests. A federal housing administration or FHA loan usually has a minimum down payment of 3.5% of the total cost of the property.

So if you were to purchase a property for $300,000, you would only need to put down a $10,500 deposit. The average cost of a wedding is over $33,000. So if you didn’t spend that much, you’d be able to put down a down payment for a property, which is a far better use of your finances in your twenties.

12 – A fancy gym membership

Gyms need their members not to come, but they can’t just lock the doors. They can’t tell people not to show up. So they have to rely on consumer psychology to get you excited enough that you’ll sign up for a gym membership, but not so excited that she’ll get up an hour early to do some crunches before work.

And honestly, you can have super-effective workouts in and around your home. Grab some friends for motivation and go do what you love. While also saving a lot of hard-earned cash, being thrown at the gym. You hardly go to, but best of luck canceling your contract. There are some of the most watertight contracts in the world.

13 – A dumb course at University

Year in, year out at university costs so much damn money. There are no so many ways to get educated, faster and cheaper, where we suggest streaming great educational content using open courseware or opting for online courses that are far cheaper and faster.

These choices need to be made in your teens though so that when you’re in your twenties, you’re not bogged down by the debt incurred in tertiary education.

14 – Holidays and festivals you can’t tuly afford

We’re all about travel and experiences, but you don’t need to go to every single festival. And every holiday doesn’t need to be some exotic destination. If these trips and excursions are putting you under a severe financial strain.

For those of you that have intense FOMO, try and think about the FOMO you’ll have when your peers are putting deposits on houses or paying off their student loans and years before you.

And if you do struggle with FOMO, try remembering the words of Steven Furtick, who said, “the reason we struggle with insecurity is that we compare our behind the scenes with everybody else’s highlight reel”.

15 – Renting a place way above what you can afford

Sure. It looks good to say you live in an exclusive address in your city, but if it’s eating away at your already dwindling budget, why would you continue to do it? Stop wasting your money on an address and find a place that’s more affordable in a less exclusive area.

You’ll find your living arrangements. We’ll have more space, a bigger garden off-street parking under probably pet friendly. Plus if you’re not spending all your money on rent, you’ll have a little extra to invest in some timeless wardrobe pieces or taking a holiday that doesn’t leave you totally out of pocket with nothing but that instant ramen.

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So what was the dumbest purchase you made in your twenties? We bet you’ve at least hit three of these in the list of 15 dumbest things you paid for in your 20s. We definitely hit most of them. Some have even crept into our 30s!