Save Big When You Avoid Common Rip-Offs

Money is tighter than ever for millions of Americans these days, and people are starting to rethink some of their spending habits and looking for ways to cut down on wasteful spending. With that in mind, BillShrink has come out with a list of 13 of the biggest rip-offs consumers commonly face.

Of course there are classics like movie theater popcorn and hotel mini-bars on the list, but there are also some more subtle choices. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Wine Service In Restaurants – Knowing that no one wants to order the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu, shrewd restaurant owners mark up the second-least expensive bottle.

• Actively Managed Investments – While mutual fund managers fail to beat the market 75 percent of the time, you have to pay their fees 100 percent of the time.

• Printer Inks – In some cases, it can actually be cheaper to buy a whole new printer than buy ink for your old one.

Check the article on BillShrink for the full list and let us know what you think the biggest rip-offs are in the comments.

Here’s my contribution: HDMI cables. Knowing that most people are not electronics experts, many stores mark up their HDMI cables over five times. In fact, it’s not unheard of for stores to make more money off the HDMI cable you buy with your new HDTV than the TV itself!