Money mistake 5: Penny wise, pound foolish

This is for those who refuse to spend money on eating at a 5-star hotel or buying a designer outfit, but are silly enough to blow up cash all through the week without even realising it.

How much of your salary (or pocket money) do you spend on hopping into an autorickshaw when you could probably take the bus? How much is blown up on your tri-weekly trips to the coffee shop? How much do you spend on unnecessary SMSes on your cell phone?

Money actually leaks out of your wallet without your knowing it.

Not convinced?

Try this for a few weeks.

Note how much you spend and on what every day.

Say you drop in at Barista [the coffee shop] thrice a week with your pals and have coffee worth Rs 36. In a week, you would have blown up Rs 108; this adds up to Rs 432 in a month.

Eat out once every week for Rs 200 and you spend Rs 800 a month.

Blow up Rs 400 every week at a pub and you spend a cool Rs 1,600 a month.

Just pubbing, eating out and exchanging pleasantries over coffee will set you back by Rs 2,832 a month.

Maybe it is time you put your spending under a microscope.

Note: The example of Rs 10,000 taken all through has not taken tax into account.

Have you made money mistakes of your own? How did you rectify them? Write in and let us know. Make sure to add your full name, phone number and the place where you are from.