10 Financially Reprehensible Behaviors People Warned Others Not To Make

From overspending to neglecting their savings, people often engage in financially reprehensible behaviors that can lead to significant long-term consequences.

By learning from these mistakes, you can make better financial decisions and take control of your financial future.

When has your behavior been financially reprehensible? For example, someone shared, “I used to go to TJ Maxx on the way home from work and buy a dress to wear to work the next day because I knew I wouldn’t do laundry.”

“Then, on the way to work, I’d go to CVS and buy underwear and tights and put them on in my car in the parking garage.” After polling the internet, people shared ten more financially reprehensible behaviors with us.

1. Don’t Choose an Unhealthy Option Over Convenience

“I was so broke in college that I figured getting a venti vanilla latte at Starbucks was faster and cheaper than eating three meals a day. So let me tell you what drinking only coffee does over time: kidney stones,” shared one.

2. Always Know Your Worth

“During an interview, I was told the salary range for a job was 45-55k, then asked for my preference. Thinking I was reasonably (but not over) qualified, I said, “50 sounds good”! Thankfully, the nice HR person ignored my naïveté, and I ended up with 55,” another admitted.

Related: Living Your Best Life: Practical Tips To Live Your Best Life 

3. Don’t Be Too Proud To Accept Help

“I was under 26, so I could have stayed on my parent’s (great and cheap) insurance. But instead, I dutifully chose a plan from my employer,” replied one.

 

“Unfortunately, it was a small business, so the plans were expensive and not great. In addition, I paid a good amount due to some IUD and ovarian cyst issues.”

4. Learn Some Do-it-Yourself Tips

“I used to pay any mechanic for any job without doing research. For example, I paid $40 for windshield wipers when I’m sure I could have bought $13 wipers and installed them myself,” another reported.

Related: What To Know Before Starting a Home Renovation

5. Eat Out Less

“When my husband and I first moved in together, we were so excited about having a little money that we ate out almost all of our meals. Then never had quite enough money for emergencies and would have to scrape together the cash to pay the rent.”

 

“We’d both grown up eating out only rarely, and going out to eat multiple times a week felt like such a grown-up thing. After the third time we nearly missed making the rent, we found that buying groceries and cooking meals at home was less financially stressful,” shared one.

6. Stop People Pleasing

Another expressed, “In college, I was head over heels for someone who did not feel the same. He claimed never to have any money, so I paid for everything. He needed groceries; I got him groceries. Did he want dinner? Cool, pizza is on its way. I don’t even know how much money I spent on him, but it was too much,”

 

“The day I realized he would never stop stringing me along, I shut him down and enforced my boundaries. It was a good, healing day for me.”

7. Changing Your Mindset Is Not Always Good

“My last couple of years of Ph.D. school coincided with the pandemic. As a result, I took on a “we’re all going to die, might as well buy all the things to make me feel joy for approximately 2 seconds” mindset, and now I have a shameful amount of credit card debt.””

 

“I’ll stop spending money later and pay off my debt. It never works if you don’t break the habit of stress shopping,” someone encouraged.

Related: 20 Money Affirmations to Help Your Money Mindset 

8. Learn About Investing

One person admitted, “I hoarded excessive money in my high-yield savings account instead of learning to invest it in a retirement account. Playing it safe would help my relationship with money, but I missed out on 6-8 years of potential growth. I still have excessive money, but I am also investing now.”

 

9. Never Use Money To Impress Others

“I was spending outside my means to impress a boyfriend. I was 23 making $14 an hour, and living on credit cards, but I felt the need to buy his approval. He was a bit older, made a lot more money, and I thought he was cool, and I needed to be cooler.”

 

“The amount I spent on unnecessary new clothes, expensive furniture and decor for my apartment, a nicer car I couldn’t afford, etc., makes me so angry and sad for my past self. But, in the end, he didn’t care and had another girlfriend the whole time anyways! Egg on my face,” another confessed.

10. Only Use Credit When You Know You Can Pay It Back

Finally, one shared, “I put a trip to Vegas on my credit card to see Britney Spears’ residency. I allowed myself to do and buy whatever I wanted for 1-2 years, thinking I could afford it, but I ended up carrying a credit card balance and learning my lesson the hard way.”

 

We hope you enjoyed this Reddit picks list of reprehensible behaviors people warned others not to make.