Sunday, April 2, 2023, 00:09
The most important expenses that we face on a day-to-day basis have to do with the mortgage, the rent payment, the shopping cart, or fuel. But there are others to which, due to their minor amount, we do not pay due attention and which, silently, undermine our checking account.
They are avoidable and repeated disbursements, often the result of thoughtless purchase. At other times we are not even aware of them. And there are those that are more related to supplies and that we do not maximize or use properly. All these expenses have a name: ant, ghost and vampire.
1. Ant expenses
According to the BBVA financial health portal, they would be “those day-to-day purchases of products that are not planned and do not seem to be important.” For example, that box of gum that we bought at the last minute in line at the supermarket, a coffee taken on the way to work, the money that is withdrawn from an ATM that is not our bank, with the consequent commission paid…
To identify them, we should “prepare a list with the description and the corresponding amount of each product,” it is explained on the BBVA website. “At the end of the month, the data will have to be added to know the real amount that is allocated to this type of expense. The advice is to allocate a fixed amount and stick to it to have a balanced budget”, he adds.
2. Phantom expenses
These are expenses we incur without realizing it. That apparently are not important but that, added together, they do represent a not inconsiderable amount. For example, subscriptions to platforms, streaming content or payment for mobile applications that we barely use, or the gym subscription that is only used once or twice a month.
As they explain on the ‘Finances for everyone’ portal, “we must assess whether we make use of all these services and whether they are essential for us, so that we can cancel those that we do not use.” Especially those related to entertainment, and which in recent years have proliferated like mushrooms: series and movie platforms, streaming music applications or, more recently, those that offer podcasts.
3. Vampire expenses
This category includes fixed expenses, mostly related to supplies and other household expenses. “They are difficult to detect and have to do with maximizing our contracts for these types of services and making good use of them,” they point out in ‘Finanzas para todos’. In short, when we pay more for a good or service.
For example, an electricity or gas rate that does not fully fit our consumer profile, an unnecessarily fattened telephone bill for a ‘gig’ service that we do not need, a faulty light installation or the misuse of electrical appliances.
In this situation it is convenient to review the supply contracts and the facilities (electricity, water, radiators, etc.) of the home.