When it comes to blowing their hard-earned cash, millennials and baby boomers may have more in common than you think. The same goes for men and women, Americans who live on opposite sides of the country and even people of different income brackets.
That's because they all say they waste too much money on one particular thing: food.
Professional-resources website Hloom surveyed 2,000 U.S. residents, asking for insight on the ways people spend their money. Factoring in age, gender, income and geography, the survey found 10 items Americans consider "money-wasters."
More than eight in 10 Americans admit they waste money, according to Hloom, and of the top five things they blow it on, four involve food. (Maybe that's not so surprising given that American's spend $900,000 a month on avocado toast.)
Nearly 69 percent of respondents say they waste the most money on eating out, and 25 percent waste the most on on alcohol and drinking.
Thirty-two percent say they waste the most thanks to uneaten or expired food and 25 percent waste the most on groceries (some up to an estimated $360 per person per year).
Of each generation surveyed, more millennials admit to wasting money on dining out (72 percent) and on alcohol (27 percent). Given that millennials spend 44 percent of their food dollars eating out, according to recent data reported by Forbes, that can add up to a lot of wasted cash.
This chart further breaks down money-wasting by generation:
When it comes to gender, men and women almost equally report wasting their hard earned dollars at restaurants: 68 percent versus 69 percent, respectively.
However more men than women burn too much cash on alcohol and drinking: 29 percent versus 21 percent.
The survey also found that residents of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi waste money eating out the most, at nearly 77 percent.
On the other end of the spectrum, only about 63 percent of New Englanders admit to wasteful restaurant spending.
What's more, of all the food related foibles, the only thing respondents are willing to cut back on is dining out and alcohol (not groceries or expired and uneaten food).
That's a good place to start. Eating just one fewer meal out per week could save you $600 per year, Hloom says. And ordering one fewer beer per week could save you $300 per year.
Cutting down your spending in small ways can lead to big savings over time.
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