Unused Memberships
This is very popular particularly with Nigerians. We pay for club memberships here and there, especially gym memberships, and end up having little or no time (mainly because of work demands) to get our money's worth out of these memberships. The funny thing is these fees are still renewed periodically. This money can be better used for investment and legitimate business ventures that can secure your financial future.
Taking the 'Upsell'
Marketers know fully well what they're doing with this. Many times, they attempt to entice consumers with the word 'free' and cause them to make more purchases (and thus spend more money) than was intended. There's always some promo or some giveaway to entice consumers to spend just a little more (the puzzling part is that most times consumers don't even really need these extra things they spend money on). Avoid falling into that trap and throwing money away thinking you're making a good deal.
Wasted Food
This is very popular and to be honest one can't really take the blame for this. Mainly because of the erratic power supply in the country, foods tend to spoil much sooner than they should. One way to manage this is to do some meal planning that takes into consideration the erratic power supply. Then, if you want to buy foodstuffs in bulk be sure you have a plan B to help preserve it in the event of lack of or inadequate power supply. You should also avoid grocery shopping when hungry; you tend to buy way more than you need when you do.
Failing to Negotiate
You have to learn how to negotiate to get the best prices for yourself. This speaks for itself and hardly needs more explanation. Another thing you can also try to do, especially in cases where you can't negotiate, is to be patient and make your purchases at periods you know you would be able to get good discounts and generally be able to take advantage of existing promotions.
