12 Expenses That Drain Your Savings Without You Realizing It

Nicole Spector  Tue, September 26, 2023

Building up a nest egg can be terribly challenging in a society where the majority is forced to live paycheck to paycheck. But we all need to save for emergency expenses, as well as for our retirement. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we get set back on our savings journey. This can happen without us even being completely aware of it.

Here’s a look at 12 expenses that can drain your savings without you realizing it and how to take back control so that you can keep building up your nest egg.

Utility Bills — Especially When Not Using Energy-Efficient Devices

Utility bills can not only eat into your spending money, they can eat into your savings. One way to lessen the damage is to use energy-efficient devices in your home.

“I recently reviewed my utility spending and was shocked to discover that I could save around $175 each year by making a few simple adjustments, like using LED lights and switching to a programmable thermostat that reduces heating during the night,” said Nathan Brunner, CEO at Salarship.

Data Usage

We’re pretty much all addicted to our smartphones, which means we’re consuming tons of pricey data. Have you ever looked into how much you’re spending on data usage per month? You could be nibbling away at your savings without even knowing it.

“Excessive data usage is an underrated expense that drains your funds without you even realizing it,” said Akash Karia, a keynote speaker, high performance coach and author. “It’s often overlooked, but when added together, it ends up being a substantial amount and a significant expense, especially if you are not keeping track of your usage.”

You can effectively lower data usage by limiting streaming and online gaming and being disciplined with data-sucking apps.

“Cut down on data devouring apps like Instagram, TikTok and Netflix, and whenever you have the chance, make sure you connect to a Wi-Fi network,” Karia said.

Subscription Services

Ours is a nation obsessed with subscription services. Eighty-three percent of consumers use at least one subscription based video-on-demand service, as of September 2023, according to Statista — up 10 percentage points in five years. If you’re using a few of these services, you may be slowly but surely depleting your savings.

“Individually, they may cost only $10 to $20 per month, but collectively, you might be shelling out hundreds annually without realizing it,” said Ankit Prakash, founder at Sprout24. “Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a silent drain on [your] funds.”

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