盘点那些得不偿失的省钱习惯

Trying to cut costs in your daily budget is a valiant — and often necessary — practice. A few dollars saved here and there can amount to a sizeable sum over time, after all. But how you save can make a big difference in how much you save. Because when it comes down to it, not all “money-saving” tactics actually save you money.

削减日常开支是一种勇敢的行为，常常也是必要的行为。这里省几块，那里省几块，一定时间过后可以形成一笔可观的数目。但以怎样的方式省钱，可能会对你最终能省下多少钱造成很大的影响。因为细究起来的话，并不是所有“省钱”策略真的都会省钱。

Here are 11 common penny-pinching tactics that could actually cost you more in the long term — and smart money-saving moves you can make instead.

下文列举了11种常见的、从长远来讲反倒有可能让你损失更多的省钱策略，以及你可以取而代之的聪明省钱方法。

Buying Something Just Because It's on Sale

仅仅因为特价而买

"Sale is the most dangerous four-letter word," says personal finance blogger Zina Kumok. And with the rise of flash sales and coupon sites like RueLaLa and Groupon, the temptation to impulse-buy just to get a good deal is even higher, adds Ozeme J. Bonnette, author of “Get What Belongs to You: A Christian Guide to Managing Your Finances.” "So often, we find a deal that is too good to pass up, yet we wouldn't have even bought the item or service if it had not been mentioned to us," she explains. (Guilty.)

个人理财博客写手齐娜·库莫克(Zina Kumok)说：“特价(sale)是最危险的四字单词。”《该是你的就是你的：一位基督徒的理财指南》(Get What Belongs to You: A Christian Guide to Managing Your Finances)作者奥采姆·邦尼特(Ozeme J. Bonnette)指出，随着闪购和RueLaLa、Groupon等团购网站的兴起，仅以划算为目的的冲动性购物产生了越来越大的诱惑。她解释道：“我们经常发现某笔买卖太划算了，觉得不能错过，但如果没有人跟我们说起，我们根本就不会购买这件商品或服务。”（内疚中……）

Clothing sales can be especially tempting, as we justify buying items we don't need because they're half off or bargain with ourselves that we'll wear an item "someday." (Guilty and guilty!) Woroch suggests curbing the temptation to snatch up deals by unsubscribing from store e-newsletters, canceling snail mail catalogues by contacting Catalog Choice, and deleting any flash sale or daily deal apps that push tempting pop-up notifications on your mobile device. If all else fails, commit this mantra from Los Angeles-based financial expert Pegi Burdick to memory, "The most expensive thing in your closet is the item you don't wear."

服装特价可能尤其诱人：我们以半价为理由来为自己购买不需要的东西开脱，或者是自己跟自己说，“有朝一日”我们会穿那件衣服的。（内疚，内疚！）全美知名的消费与理财专家安德烈亚·沃罗奇(Andrea Woroch)建议我们退订商店电子通讯、联系Catalog Choice取消邮寄目录、从手机上删除任何推送诱人通知的闪购或团购应用，以控制争抢特价品的诱惑。实在没有办法了，那就把洛杉矶理财专家佩希·伯迪克(Pegi Burdick)的这句至理名言铭记在心吧：“衣柜里最贵的东西是你不穿的那一件。”

Opening a Store Credit Card to Get a Discount

为了打折而办商户信用卡

The offer seems like a no-brainer: Save 10-20 percent on your first purchase by opening a store credit card, but nationally-recognized consumer and money-saving expert Andrea Woroch says this practice can come back to bite you. "Store cards carry high interest rates, expensive late payments and usually tempt people into buying more than they would with cash or their debit card, especially to take advantage of that first-use discount," she says. Unless you plan to use the card one time on a huge purchase, pay it off, and then never use that card again, or if you open a card at a retailer you shop at often or exclusively, it's not worth that initial discount. Woroch suggests finding other ways to save with mobile coupons via a site like CouponSherpa.

面对这样一个条件，似乎不用多想：办一张商户信用卡，第一笔消费可以减掉10%到20%。但沃罗奇说，这种做法有可能得不偿失。她说：“商户信用卡利息很高，滞纳金很重，并且常常诱使人们比使用现金或借记卡购买更多的东西，特别是为了利用第一次使用享受的折扣。”除非你打算用这张卡一次性地进行大额采购、把账还清，之后再也不用那张卡，或者是在你经常去购物或只在那里购物的商户那里开卡，否则光为了第一笔的折扣而开卡就不值得。沃罗奇建议通过CouponSherpa之类的网站寻找其他利用手机优惠券省钱的办法。

Buying An Extended Warranty

购买延保服务

Woroch also warns against shelling out dough to protect a big-ticket purchase. “You don't get what you pay for because extended warranties aren't what they seem to be," she says. In fact, according to Consumer Reports, stores keep 50 percent of what they charge for an extended warranty plan so that’s why they pitch it. “The warranty may be rife with restrictions and exclusions and may not offer the coverage you expect,” she explains. “You often don’t get the full explanation of how it works either, nor do many people even think to ask. Often times, the store contracts a third-party service provider and you don’t know anything about this service provider, how reliable they are, the quality of their work, how long the service will take should something need fixing or replacement.”

沃罗奇还提醒大家不要花很多钱去保修一件大额物品。她说：“你花的钱并不值当，因为延长保修并不像表面看起来的那样。”事实上据《消费者报告》(Consumer Reports)报道，商户收取的延保费用有一半都放进了他们自己的口袋，所以他们才会大力推销延长保修。沃罗奇解释道：“延保可能有诸多限制和很多不属保修范围的情况，也许并没有提供你所期待的保障。你常常得不到有关具体怎样延保的充分解释，有很多人甚至也不会想到去问。商户经常是将延保业务外包给某家第三方服务提供商，而你对这家服务提供商却一无所知，也不知道他们有多可靠，工作质量如何，以及如果有东西需要维修或换货，多久才能享受到服务。”

Instead, Woroch says that you can use a credit card that doubles the manufacturer warranty for free for that added coverage. Your state may also offer consumer warranty rights and protect resident purchases within a given period against seriously defective items, she adds: For instance, The Maine Implied Warranty is a little known law that protects Maine consumers from being sold seriously defective items within a reasonable useful life.

沃罗奇说，你可以使用一张可免费延长厂家保修期一倍的信用卡。她补充说，你所在的州可能也有自己的消费者维权法，能在一定时间内为当地的消费行为维权，确保消费者不会买到存在严重缺陷的产品。比如《缅因默示保证法案》(Maine Implied Warranty)是一部很少有人知道的法案，它在产品的合理使用期内为缅因州的消费行为维权，确保消费者不会买到存在严重缺陷的产品。

Driving Out of the Way Just to Use a Coupon

开很远的车，只为用掉一张优惠券

Of all the money-saving tricks that end up being pitfalls for a lot of people, the main ones are usually when people perceive they'll get savings right away, says Erin Konrad, Content Developer at CouponPal, rather than thinking about the long-term savings. "For example, some people will drive out of their way if they have a coupon or hear about a discount at a store," she says. "They don't think about the gas money they waste by driving farther or to a bunch of different shops."

CouponPal的内容开发员艾琳·康拉德(Erin Konrad)说，在很多人都发现最后变成了陷阱的那些省钱技巧当中，主要的那些技巧常常都是让人觉得马上就可以省钱，而不是让人思考长远来看省不省钱。她说：“比如如果有一张优惠券或听说某家店打折，有些人会开很远的车过去。他们也不想一下开更远的车或开往一些不同商店所浪费的油钱。”