Four 'Against the Grain' Ways to Save Money

You have way too much junk, and it's costing you a lot of money. To make matters worse, it's probably one reason you are living in a house that is bigger than you need.

You may even have so much junk that you are paying to keep some of it in a storage unit, which has you thinking that you may need an even bigger house.

It's estimated that 80% of the stuff in your house are things that you never use. Get rid of the junk that you don't need or use, and you will see that you need a lot less space and things than you imagined. Take this a step further and learn to buy only those things that you really will use and not only will you save yourself a small fortune, you'll be able to afford many more of the things that you really do want. Take the money you save and place it into a Roth IRA instead of into more stuff gathering dust in your closets and you will be building wealth much faster than you ever imagined.

You eat too much.

If you are an American, it's likely that you eat too much -- and there's a one in four chance that you're obese, according to a recently released CDC study.

At the same time, you throw out a lot of the food that you buy. The average family of four throws out approximately $600 worth of good food every year, according to Timothy Jones, in a University of Arizona study. The study says 14% of food expires or is never taken out of its package.