50 Perfect Ways for Wasting Money in 2024

There’s an ancient proverb popular in the Philippines that says: “If you make a habit of buying things you don’t need, you’ll soon be selling things you do need.” This piece of ancient wisdom clearly proves the importance of avoiding the waste of money.

While most of us are indeed cautious with our money, regardless of whether we’re businesspersons or employees, freelancers or students, housewives or single moms, this nasty human tendency of splurging cash often raises its ugly head. That’s because we fall into the temptation to buy things we don’t really require while falsely believing they’ll bring us some happiness.

And sometimes, we wish to spend money in the vain hope that it would buy us prestige. As this famous quote from an anonymous source says: “Too many people buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, trying to impress people they don’t even like.”

This brings us to the million Dollar question: Why do people splurge hard-earned money foolishly?

Well! apart from this, I have found 50 other ways to waste your money for no good. You could try any one of these.

Reasons People Waste Money

There’re countless reasons why people waste money. And worse: some people fall into steep debt traps either by borrowing money or overspending on credit cards.

This happens due to one of these factors.

• Shopping Addiction: Shopping becomes an addition to millions of people worldwide. It sends their finances into a tailspin and disrupts normal living while affecting their family members too. Medically known as ‘Dependency Syndrome’, it can be treated through professional counseling and other therapies.
• Prestige Buying: Countless people across the globe indulge in useless spending on expensive stuff. They falsely believe that buying pricey goods would elevate their social status and buy them prestige. Usually, such people suffer from low self-esteem.
• Retail Therapy: This is a psychological syndrome that affects many women and men. They indulge in binge-buying every time they feel depressed. Buying something new and often expensive helps them to alleviate depression to some extent. Unfortunately, Retail Therapy, as it’s known often adversely affects personal and family finances.
• Loneliness: Research proves that women and men who experience actual or mental loneliness and isolation are prone to overspending. They spend on expensive gifts for people hoping it would win their friendship. Others buy stuff for themselves, believing that dressing better and having costly things would increase their personal appeal to others.
• Power Tripping: This is the most deadly psychological factor for overspending or wasting money. Women and men that want to dominate others will literally invade the financial life of a weaker person. They do this by buying expensive stuff for the poorer person or paying for almost everything. By doing so, they want to exert power over the financially poorer person and dominate their life.

At the same time, everyone who wastes money isn’t suffering from a psychiatric disorder or psychological problem. Perfectly normal persons are also victims of overspending and wasting money from time to time.

Top 10 Ways for Wasting Money in 2024

If you’re among such people who have a tendency to waste money, here’s some help. I’m listing the topmost 100 ways to waste your money in 2024. Maybe this would help you check your wasteful spending and save money.

1. Gambling at Casinos

Americans alone lose over $500 billion every year at brick-and-mortar as well as online casinos. Online casinos account for about 10 percent of these losses. Only about three percent of all gamblers at casinos win. In fact, casinos thrive on losers. A casino is there to make money and doesn’t operate on charity.

2. Addictions

Millions of people worldwide waste their money on addictions such as alcohol and drugs among others. This is a preventable waste. While occasional drinking or recreational use of drugs isn’t really harmful or sinful, getting addicted can cause severe waste of money. This can affect the finances of the entire family and have severe consequences on personal life.

3. Having Paramour or Mistress

Unhappily married women and men waste their money trying to buy love. They spend lavishly on a paramour or mistress. Most of these women and men pay heavily because they fear blackmail and don’t want the relationship to end. At the same time, they’re scared of seeking a divorce despite severe differences with spouse.

 4. Seeking Carnal Favors

Countries and places known for their red-light areas actually thrive on sex tourism. Countless women and men seek sexual favors from one or more unknown persons by paying a heavy price. While some of these suffer from disorders that make it impossible to control carnal desires, others are just out for revenge against their spouse or wish to boast about their exploits.

5. Overspending on Credit Cards

Overspending on credit cards is the surest way to waste your money. And damage your credit score while sending personal finances into a tailspin. It’s also the best way to attract a lawsuit for default and have recovery agents give you sleepless nights. All credit cards come with something known as the Annual Percentage Rate. This means the bank or credit card issuer will charge a stiff interest- often 28 percent or more of the unpaid dues. By the time you finish paying the dues, you’ll have spent thrice or more of the actual spending.

6. Wasting Electricity

Sounds familiar? Millions of people around the world waste their money by wasting electricity. They leave lights and other electrical appliances such as TV or computers on even while sleeping or when outside the home or office. While your power consumption increases, your utility bills go through the roof. The electricity provider gets rich while you end up wasting those precious Dollars that could find better use elsewhere.

7. Subscribing to Unwanted Channels

Cutting the cord or getting rid of cable TV and Direct-to-Home satellite TV is becoming common across the USA. Despite that, millions of Americans waste money on subscribing to channel packages they seldom watch. Cable TV and DTH providers carefully create packages that contain one or two channels you might occasionally view while others are useless. Yet you end up paying for channels you’ll never watch.

Also Read: How to Get Free Cable TV Legally: Basic and Premium Channels

8. Leading a Sedentary Lifestyle

Leading a sedentary lifestyle bereft of proper physical activity is yet another surest way of wasting money. This works in two ways. First, you’ll waste your money on facilities such as paid home delivery, cabs, and other stuff that eliminates or drastically reduces all physical activity. And the second is spending on healthcare and medicines that becomes necessary due to cardiac disorders, diabetes, and other lifestyle illnesses that follow a sedentary lifestyle.

9. Shopping Festivals & Sales

Did you ever pause to think about reasons why sellers hold shopping festivals or sales? The reason is clear: they’re looking at larger profits by making you spend hard-earned money on things they and you don’t require. A lot of retailers- both online and offline- put only those items on sale that are out of fashion or old. And we end up buying stuff that would otherwise end as useless scrap. That’s because we’re looking for bargains and often ignore the real market value of older goods.

 10. Over Insuring Oneself & Property

Countless people everywhere buy large life and property insurance covers in the fake hope it secures themselves and family. Here it’s worth remembering that large insurance plans come with stiff premiums. And when you actually calculate the returns you or your family would get, the real amount doesn’t justify these premiums. That’s because the time value of money is always depreciating. This means $100,000 today will be worth a much lesser say after ten years. Instead, such money could be invested in stocks and other plans for greater returns.

40 Other Ways for Wasting Money in 2024

In addition to the above top 10 ways, there’re 40 more ways to waste your money in 2024. Check out if you’re wasting money in any of these ways too. Maybe you could prevent such losses in 2024.

11. Gym Memberships

Over 63 percent of all gym memberships in the USA go fully or partially unused, according to a report published in 2024 by Hustle magazine. And 82 percent of Americans who have a gym membership don’t even attend once every week, the report adds. Further, 22 percent of members stop going to the gym in less than six months despite paying for a year or more.

12. Latest Smartphones

About 80 percent of smartphone users buy a new model at least once every year without getting any apparent benefit. They fall for advertisements and believe that a new phone with the latest technology would help them lead a better life. That doesn’t really happen, and people simply waste money.

13. Poor Maintenance of Vehicle

Poor maintenance of your vehicle costs you hundreds of dollars every year. This occurs due to snags that develop in the vehicle engine and excessive fuel consumption. Many people neglect their personal vehicles and postpone maintenance till it becomes urgent.

14. Owning an Expensive Computer

Another common way to waste your money is by buying an expensive PC or laptop. While such an expense is justifiable if your work merits such a computer. But buying one merely without actual use is a sheer waste of money.

15. Flying First or Business Class

Generally, employers pay for First or Business class tickets, or businesspersons buy them for themselves. However, thousands of ordinary flyers splurge money on First and Business class tickets merely to get better food and drink on board.

16. IRS Late Filing

Internal Revenue Service charges five percent of the total income tax due if you miss the tax filing deadline for any reason. The amount might sound trivial, but for large taxpayers, this penalty can add up to a mini fortune by itself.

17. Hotel & Resort Hopping

All of us love to stay at expensive hotels and enjoy luxury. For some, staying at hotels is a habit. They jump from one hotel or resort to another in the same city and end up paying massive amounts of money.

18. Buying Expensive Food

The most expensive omelet in the world costs $2,000 each. And the most expensive cheese sandwich comes with a price tag of about $200 each. The priciest apple in the world costs about $72,000 per pound. Buying these is the best and surest way to waste money- unless, of course, you can afford it and have a net worth of billions of Dollars.

19. Paying for Virginity

In 2017, a Californian student Natalie Dylan sold her virginity for a whopping $3.70 million. This is a world record of sorts. And in the future, buying virginity will cost you much more than that.  The next time someone wants to sell their virginity, keep at least half a million Dollars ready and waste it within a few minutes.

20. Library Without Reading

Do you wish to impress visitors to your home? Build a library by buying thousands of books that you’ve never read or plan to browse or lend. Generally, a paperback in America costs an average of $9.99 each. Waste your money on buying thousands of these to own a useless library. You can also add a few rare books to the collection to waste more money.

21. Cruising Around the Year

Cruises provide an enjoyable holiday experience. But if you’re serious about wasting money, go on a year-long cruise around the world. While you’ll definitely visit many exotic lands and enjoy superb food and hospitality, it would cost you a small fortune by itself.

22. Make Personal Fragrance

Celebrities launch fragrances in their name for fame and money. But you can also approach a top-notch perfumer and get a personal brand of fragrance made especially to your name. A set of 100 bottles of its own brand of fragrance by any of the biggest brands would cost at least $25,000. Or you can pay the same price for 1,000 bottles by not-so-famous perfumery houses.

23. Host a Party Daily

Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn once said: “Life is a party, dress for it.” True to this quote, you can party every day of your life and dress for it too. Throwing a party for neighbors, friends, and a few relatives would set you back by a few hundred Dollars daily. And in one year, you can waste a lot of money by hosting people every day at home, hotel or restaurant, or party hall.

24. Champagne and Caviar Daily

The cheapest of the most expensive champagnes in the world costs about $399 per bottle. The priciest one costs over $75,000 each. Start consuming a bottle of exclusive champagnes every day. By the year-end, you can waste a lot of money this way. Caviar is the natural accompaniment to champagne. Have caviar, too, while guzzling champagne.

25. Enjoy Civet Coffee Only

The switchover from having regular coffee. Instead, enjoy Civet coffee only during the day. The finest Civet coffee costs about $100 per mug. And having a few mugs daily is the best way to waste your money while sipping the priciest coffee in the world. It doesn’t end there: you’ll also have to hire an expert that can brew your Civet coffee.

26. By an Uninhabited Island

Many countries around the world offer their uninhabited islands for sale. These islands contain absolutely nothing except some forest with wild animals and reptiles among others. Nor can you build anything on that island or mine for natural resources due to environmental concerns. All you could do is maybe enjoy the fully private beach. Buying them will set you back by a few million Dollars.

27. Change Your Wardrobe Monthly

Yes, Throw out or donate your old clothes and replace them with new ones from designers and top fashion labels every month to waste your money. Celebrities auction their used clothes to raise funds for some charity. Unless you’re a celebrity, all you can do is donate these clothes or simply dump them in the trashcan to buy newer ones every month.

28. Hire Large Household Staff

How about having a butler, driver, cleaner, personal cook, bartender, security detail, and other personal household staff? Doing so would definitely cost a lot of money every month by means of wages. And it’s one of the best ways to waste your money in 2024. You can have a small army of household staff to perform different tasks at home.

29. Sponsor Drinks for Everyone

Simply walk into a bar and sponsor drinks for everyone present there. In some countries, such as Thailand, all you need to do is ring a large bell that’s put up at the bar counter. This means that you’ll pay for everyone’s drinks, regardless of how expensive it gets. You can do this every evening to splurge your hard-earned money without much effort except to ring the bell loudly.

30. Indulge in Orgies Daily

Indulging in daily orgies is one more fabulous way of splurging your hard-earned money or even inheritance. All it needs is a call to some escort agency to send in as many women and men as you like to a hotel or your address. Some perverse millionaires do this to get equally perverted pleasures, and you could join that elite club to waste your money.

31. Breed a Herd of Elephants

And why not? After all, elephants are wild animals that people in Asia and Africa tame to do hard work. Instead, you can give these beasts some rest by breeding a herd of elephants to simply do nothing. All you need to do is pay for their feed and maintenance. To do so, you could hire a bunch of mahouts and veterinary doctors, too, and pay their salaries to waste your money.

32. Charter a Flight to Nowhere

The choice is yours. You can charter a Boeing 747-400 or a Boeing Dreamliner, or a Gulfstream Executive Jet and fly to nowhere. Simply cruise around in the skies and halt for refueling and taking food on board when necessary. Many companies will willingly help you charter a jet aircraft along with pilots and cabin crew to go on such a flight to nowhere and waste your money.

33. Ship Empty Boxes

Shipping empty boxes or those containing useless scrap is common among scammers and those running fake companies as a front for money laundering and crime. But you can ship empty boxes or some containing scrap simply to waste your money. You could send them somewhere vague and request for return to yourself and waste a lot of money. Sending by air costs much more than sending by sea, road, or rail, just in case you’re interested.

34. Subscribe to Lots of Newspapers & Magazines

Subscribing to lots of newspapers and magazines that you really don’t require is a simple way to waste your money. There’s no shortage of local, national, and even international newspapers and magazines whose subscriptions you can get easily without going elsewhere. There’s no need to read these newspapers and magazines. Instead, just dump them into the nearest trashcan or give them away to others for free.

35. Invest in Lossmaking Stock

There’re several companies listed on American and foreign stock exchanges that are making losses. These stocks sell for dirt cheap because they’re useless, and nobody wants them. You could create an amazing portfolio of such worthless stock to waste your money. Hold on to these stocks even as prices continue to spiral downward. There’s no need to bother about their prices since you want to waste your money.

36. Have your Own McDonald’s

Of course, McDonald’s won’t really allow you to have one of its restaurants at your home unless you’ve really strong reasons. At the same time, you could ask a franchisee of McDonald’s to set up a restaurant at your home for your personal use only. They might oblige and open a small outlet at your premises, complete with commis equipment, staff and of course, the food. Understandably, you’ll have to pay a lot for this. But that’s nothing to worry about since you wish to waste your money in 2024.

37. Order La Chuorsa Chocolate

At a tag price of $7,700 per kilo, La Chuorsa by Attimo Chocolates is the most expensive chocolate in the world. You could order a few kilos for yourself, your family, and your friends for wasting a lot of money. This is exclusive chocolate that broke the world record for its price in 2024. Unless someone else usurps this record, La Chuorsa will remain the most expensive chocolate bar in the world.

38. Smoke King of Denmark

King of Denmark is a brand of very expensive cigars. Each cigar costs $4,500 and more if we calculate shipping and handling costs, among others. Order King of Denmark cigars and smoke several of them during the day. While we can’t assure you what would happen to your lungs and overall health, I can promise that it would waste a lot of your money smoking these otherwise fine cigars.

39. Eat Only Wagyu Beef

Wagyu beef from Japan is famous for its fat-and-flesh marbling. It is a gourmet’s delight. This makes it the most expensive beef in the world, with the best variety costing as much as $200 per half-pound steak. Give up all other meat and start eating imported Wagyu beef only. You can spend at least $400 per day on yourself and your family and more if you decide to treat friends to a BBQ. The more Wagyu beef you eat daily, the higher amount of money you’ll waste.

40. Own a Fleet of Junk Cars

Ever wanted to own a fleet of cars? It’s possible to do so by wasting lots of money. Go ahead and buy up all the junk cars that are available for sale as scrap. You could own a fleet of 100 or even 1,000 such cars, depending on the price. The fact that such cars aren’t working doesn’t matter because you have that dream fleet you’ve always wanted. And never think about the small fortune you would waste on buying junk.

 41. Buy Gold Toilet Seat

This is the fantasy of many. And you, too, could waste your money on fulfilling this fantasy. Have a toilet seat made of full 22-carat gold for yourself. You could also have a full gold bidet and basin plus other accompaniments made to order for whatever price they cost. It’s rumored that in ancient days, royal families used toilets made of full, solid gold. You, too, can join their ranks by wasting a good deal of money.

42. Live Like a Queen or King

Of course, to live like a queen or king, you need to be born into royalty. But that’s not really necessary if you’ve enough money to waste. There’re several hotels and resorts that operate from erstwhile palaces. And then we have countless trains, such as the Maharaja Express of India, where you can enjoy the lifestyle of ancient royals while on board. Obviously, these would cost you a fortune, but you can definitely live like a queen or king.

43. Become a Cellulite Doll

Ever heard of Xomaryn? She goes by the real-world name Mary Magdalene and hails from Australia. This young woman is known as a cellulite doll and has a wide following on social media. She’s bloated almost every part of her body with cellulite after a series of surgeries and spending millions of Dollars. The procedure is of course painful and comes with lots of medical complications. But why care when you wish to waste your money and can afford it?

44. Own a Cellar of Vintage Wines

Owning a cellar of vintage wines is what some billionaires actually do. They consume some of this wine while offering it to VIP guests at exclusive parties. But that shouldn’t stop you from owning a cellar full of some of the oldest and finest wines in the world. Some of these wines are rare. And if you’re willing to pay the stiff price, there’s nothing that can stop you from owning these priceless bottles to enjoy daily before dinner.

45. Build a Monument for Self

Monuments for great people that significantly contributed to society are built by the government. What about you? If nobody’s going to build a monument for you, it’s high time to do that yourself. Buy an expensive plot of land at some pricey location and hire architects to plan and design your own monument. That way, people will remember you for wasting money all your life.

46. Own a Haunted House

And if you believe that spooks and ghosts exist, invest all your money to buy a haunted house. The stories of haunting will keep guests out, and nobody would ever wish to buy the place again. Maybe you could live in that house if you’re not scared of such unearthly beings. And if you’re indeed frightened by them, it shouldn’t really matter because you’re just wasting your money.

47. Have your Own Planetarium

This is for the ones who love stars and other cosmic bodies. Have your own planetarium at home and enjoy lying down under star-sprinkled skies every evening. Doing this will require some modifications to your existing home, and of course, a lot of money will also go into buying the necessary equipment that shows you the night sky. Maybe you could gaze and wish on your lucky stars that you hadn’t wasted so much money on owning a planetarium for yourself.

48. Rent a Chef Daily

It’s possible to rent an exclusive and famous chef daily to cook meals for you. Admittedly, a chef doesn’t come alone. This means you’ll have to pay for their accompanying assistants and other staff too. What can be more delightful than having gourmet meals every time you sit at the dining table and consuming the best of foods that others can only dream of? Hiring a chef daily is fairly easy if you have the money to waste. Simply visit any of the websites that offer the service, and you’re in business to waste money.

49. Maintain Poor Health

One of the easiest ways to waste your money is by maintaining poor health. And not buying health insurance. Neglecting yourself till you fall sick is very easy. And hospitals are there to try and help you bounce back to normal. You can add a few pricey medicines to this list to up the healthcare bills and waste money. The only problem is that chronic illness can someday result in your death.

50. Live Like a Miser

And finally, here’s the best way to waste your money without actually spending it. Start living like a miser. Deprive yourself of every small comfort and pleasure. Just stash away the money in a bank where it would grow without being useful to you in any tangible way. Because the money that we keep aside by living as misers is also a waste. This way to waste money might appeal to you because it’s almost effortless.

Wrap Up

As you can see, there’s no shortage of ideas and ways to waste hard-earned money. While we all waste a lot of money unknowingly, others seem to do it willingly. Maybe this article will help you understand that money isn’t really what we believe it to be. Money is useful and well spent only when it benefits us and our family. Else, it’s a sheer waste. In fact, selfish and foolish spending is nothing new to mankind. It has existed since ancient times and also prevails today. Therefore, start spending wisely to live a good and fulfilling life.