Five things you wont find in a finance bloggers budget

There are a lot of things in the world worth paying for. Good food, warm blankets, a roof over your head and comfy bed to snooze in every night. There are also a lot of things that you should never waste money on. Some are ridiculously overpriced, some are unfair, and some have free alternatives lying around.

It's important to keep in mind that just because we don't pay for these things, doesn't mean we're missing out. There are so many free alternatives in the world that it's foolish not to take advantage of them. In this world of entrepreneurs every single transaction has been monetized. From grocery shopping, to house chores, to paying for a puppy party, if you want to spend money on an experience, someone has devised a way to handle it.

Instead of paying, here's a list of five things you'll never see on a finance bloggers budget.

#1 Finance bloggers don't pay for music

I am listening to Spotify as I write this post. I listen to Spotify as I ride to work. When my friends and I wanted a dance party but couldn't afford a DJ we just spun up a great Spotify playlist.

You don't have to pay for Spotify. With the free version you have to listed to an advert every six or seven songs. It won't kill you, but you will reach a point where you can quote each advert word for word.

The only problem with free Spotify is that the bands don't make any money from you. If you want to give a band some money, find a way to do it directly. Buying albums or paying for subscriptions services gets a little bit of money to the band eventually, but most of it is eaten up by paying record labels and the platform.

#2 Finance bloggers don't pay for bottled water

The most ridiculous expensive first world luxury - bottled water. Seriously, it's just water! It comes out the tap! A litre of petrol is around $1.50 right now and everyone is constantly outraged at the expense of this processed, imported liquid that runs our cars, and yet we don't bat an eye at paying $3 a litre for water.

The water that comes out my kitchen tap costs $2.27 for a kilolitres. That's 1,000 litres, or 0.2 cents per litre.

While I'm complaining about water, be careful ordering water in a restaurant. I once asked for water for the table. The waitress asked if I wanted still or sparkling and (not being used to high class dining) I said still. When we checked the bill at the end of the night we were charged eight dollars for water.

#3 Finance bloggers don't pay bank fees

How much do you hate seeing this screen? "You will be charged $3.00 for this transaction". I love seeing that screen because I don't pay those fees. ING Direct pays those fees for me. The fee is charged by whichever banks ATM I am using, but ING simply covers the cost for me.

I guess it works out for ING as a cost of business. They could be paying to install and maintain ATMs, or they could just cover the cost of their customers using everyone else's ATM network. It's a great deal for me, and a great deal for them.

I also don't pay any ridiculous month to month 'maintenance' fees. In fact ING pays me one of the greatest interest rates on the market right now. Oh, and their customer service is pretty amazing.

Want to join the best bank out there? Sign up with my referral code EBB062. Deposit $1,000 in the first month, and ING will shout us both $75.

#4 Finance bloggers don't pay for garbage bags

This one baffles me. When you buy garbage bags you are buying something just so you can throw it in the bin. I wrote a post about throwing your money in the bin, but this is next level ridiculous!

A roll of garbage bags typically costs about $5 - just to wrap up your garbage. For some reason you can even get scented garbage bags.

Skip the absolutely ridiculous cost of garbage bags. You don't need it. Instead buy more fruit and vegetables, and hoard the small plastic bags that you bought them in. Congratulations - you now have an endless supply of garbage bags.

And no, your trash won't smell. With small bags you'll be taking it out from under the sink to the wheelie bin before it starts to smell bad.

Bonus - start a compost bin or get some chickens! Instead of an overflowing garbage bin, you'll have an abundance of compost and rich soil so you can grow veggies and slash your food bill.

#5 Finance bloggers don't pay for exercise

Look at all these fit gorgeous people running on treadmills. You want to be like them to, so you should pay for a gym membership right? Wrong! It's a trap and you should run (literally) the other way. Go outside. Find a park and run under some trees. Run at dawn if you're a morning person because it is gorgeous outside. Or if you're a night person download the free Zombies. Run! training app and run after dark - it's creepy and amazing.

Not into jogging? Prefer weight lifting? Keep on eye on Gumtree or Craigslist for weights, and let your friends know you're looking. Mr FIRE and I picked up a full weight lifting kit for a measly $50. Including a weight bench and close to 100kgs of weights. We're just looking for a squat rack if anyone has one going ;)

Prefer cardio - use youtube. Looking for some yoga? Try the Down Dog app. I've had three different yoga instructors and I can honestly say the Down Dog is better than all of them.

Bonus: Finance bloggers don't pay for ... date night accessories

As a bonus, many finance bloggers report every item of their spending. They meticulously list the cost of toilet paper, a dozen eggs, happy hour beers and their new-to-them shoes. But I have never ever seen a finance blogger report the costs of, ahem, 'date night accessories'.

Are we really boring? Or perhaps we're hiding our costs under and overblown grocery spend. Either way, you'll definitely never see these in a a finance bloggers budget report.