I know all the little things that can eat at your pocketbook, and the reason I know is because I have done them all. Yes, I admit it, I’ve done everything I listed and paid the price. I’m still not perfect, but I have learned to avoid these little fees that add up over the year. Some of the fees are actually a bit larger, and can cause your APR to increase, your payment to increase, or have some other fee imposed on your account.

Most of the items are small, and don’t seem like they would impact your budget in a negative way if they just occur once a week or a couple of times a month. Most of us don’t think about the number of occurrences that happen because the fee is small, or the amount is minuscule compared to other items in our budget. All the little things add up, and can make an impact on your budget.

Late Credit Card Payment – I know that we’re not supposed to have these except for emergencies, but life does happen and we end up with a credit card. Mailing the credit card payment in late will cost you an average of $25.90 each month for a total of $310.80 for an entire year.

DVD Late Rental Fee – Redbox has a late fee of $1.00 per day and Blockbuster Stores have a restocking fee of $1.25 if the movie is returned within 30 days of rental. Cost for one late movie a week for an entire year, $52.

ATM Fees – This is my favorite fee since it’s been around for so long. Many banks have done away with ATM fees if you use their ATMs, but if you’re in an area where your bank’s ATM is not accessible you’ll need to access cash at a cost. Average cost of an ATM fee $1.64, if accessed just once a week that is $85.28 for an entire year.

Gasoline – Send your kids on the bus. You’re paying for the gasoline the school district purchases for the bus anyway in your property taxes. Sending our kids on the bus saves us about $40 a year.

Bouncing a check – Oh, the dreaded check bounce. We all know that if one check bounces it sends our poor little checking account into a downward spiral as the checks keep coming in and bouncing away. Bounce one check a month for an average of $28.95 each time and that’s $347.40 a year.

Those were just five little ways to watch your pocketbook be slowly drained over the year. The sad thing is, that those aren’t the only ways for it to happen. Pay close attention to everything you do, including the tiny little library fees that you pay each month because after all, it’s only $3 in late fees this month. For the five little things above, the small price is $835.48.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 2:30 am and is filed under Personal Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.