While listening to hours upon hours of personal finance advice, I’ve learned that people can’t part with certain habits, and they’ll spend every penny on them.

If you can afford it, do whatever the hell you want with your money. But if you’re struggling with mounds of debt (as many people are), these things will add up over time and eventually drown you.

Here are the top 11 most useless things I’ve heard people say they waste their money on.

1. OnlyFans

I ain’t judging (about the content). You do you.

However…

Those OnlyFans charges add up. And why run up those charges when plenty of free stuff is out there? (I know because I run into it on Twitter/X more than I care to.)

Side note: For the ladies who want to get into OF as a way to make money, from what I’ve heard, it’s very hard to be good enough to make a living off of it. Like anything else, you need a good marketing strategy. You’d be better off writing ebooks instead.

2. DoorDash & Uber Eats

I’m floored by how many people are too lazy to:

1. cook or learn to cook even though it’s as easy as following a recipe

2. go through the fast food drive through

I don’t even know which one is worse.

Sure, getting DoorDash or Uber Eats once in a while won’t kill your budget, but the people I hear on these personal finance podcasts get food delivered constantly.

One couple got it at least twice a day, every day!

If you’re going to get junky food, at least go through the drive through yourself and save some money.

I personally think cooking is awesome, and I would recommend it most of the time. When you cook, you get to have exactly what you want in the exact way you want it! What’s better than that?

3. Fast food

This goes with #2. I know everyone says fast food is super cheap, but is it?

My family got two large pizzas the other day, and it was $65.

Every time we get Chinese takeout, it’s at least $85.

I haven’t been to McDonald’s in a while, but I see people complaining about the prices going up there, too.

Do you know what’s cheap?

Potatoes, bananas, chicken, broccoli, and ground beef. Make a little extra and have enough for lunch leftovers.

You’ll save a lot of money, and you’ll feel better too!

4. Energy drinks from 7-Eleven (or wherever)

Some people have endless credit card charges for energy drinks from the 7-Eleven or whatever gas station they come across.

It would be so much better to just drink water, but I understand that can be boring.

Coffee is the next best and cheapest choice.

The third is to buy a big pack of energy drinks from the grocery store and save with bulk pricing.

Better yet, go for a run. That will energize you better than any substance!

5. Gems & coins for phone games

I get this one. I really do.

When my son was younger, he used to play games on his phone, and he’d beg to get those gems he “absolutely needed!”

But I’m not trying to throw him under the bus because I do it too.

I love playing those dumb fake slot games on my phone. I always run out of money (just like in a real casino), so I often have to load up on coins.

It’s stupid, and I know it.

If you can afford that mini-dopamine hit, go for it. If not, this is an easy one to cut out.

6. Sweet treats

This must be a TikTokker way to say candy and other junk food. I’m an old Gen-X’er, so I’ve never uttered the phrase “sweet treat”.

But apparently, the younger people love swiping, swiping, swiping for boboa and other delicious sweet treats.

7. Spotify Premium

I mentioned this one in my article, 5 Things I Learned From Watching 40+ Episodes of The Best Finance Podcast on YouTube. I can’t believe how many broke people won’t listen to ads on Spotify.

Because I have YouTube Premium, I kind of get it. It would be very hard to go back to listening to ads.

But it’s also an easy win if you need to save some bucks.

8. Temu and Shein

There’s nothing better than getting a pile of cheap clothes sent to you in the mail. And it’s fine if you do it once in a blue moon when you’re trying to get out of debt.

But people spend oodles of money on these websites.

9. TikTok Shop

This kind of goes along with #8, but it looks like people love buying cheap junk from TikTok Shop.

Maybe you can get some good stuff on there, too, but from what the guests say on these podcasts, “What I got was trash” and not worth the money.

10. Collectibles

I’m getting the feeling that shopping and spending money on unnecessary items is a coping mechanism for people who are stressed about their debt.

Unfortunately, it makes the debt worse, and then the stress goes up.

It’s a vicious cycle!

Many times, people cope by collecting things. They just have to get the next doodad for their collection, which may consist of:

• LEGO

• tattoos

• Funko POP!

• Disney stuff

There are even people who collect cars and motorcycles.

11. Vapes, weed, cigarettes & alcohol

I’m going to out myself because I do drink some wine, and let me tell you, the prices on that are going up and up! I keep telling myself it’s time to give it up to save on money and my health.

I’m not alone.

A surprising number of broke people spend a lot of money on these things, especially vapes and weed.

I constantly tell my kids not to start with these things because they’ll eventually want to quit anyway (which is hard to do once you’re addicted).

In the meantime, they’ll be killing their wallet and their lungs.

Final Thoughts

It’s always fascinating listening to what people decide to spend their money on and how much of it ends up being a big waste.

I can also relate because I waste my money on plenty of things.

But it’s worse if you’re loaded with debt.

I remember the feeling of being in debt and sweating every time I had to pay for something.

A Funko POP! might feel good in the moment, but getting out of debt is the best feeling in the world. And that’s a feeling that lasts forever. (Then you can budget for some Funko POPs! and Red Bulls.)

I would love to hear what some of your favorite wasteful spending goes toward. Is it something you want to stop spending money on, or is it worth it to you?