12 Things You Should Just Stop Buying

Inspired by TIME Moneyland's 2011 roundup of the same name. The list below is our own take.

The new year is the traditional season for financial resolutions, so here's a head start: twelve things whose marketing budgets vastly exceed their actual value.

1. Homeopathic flu remedies. They contain no active ingredient — that's not an insult, it's the definition of homeopathy. If you want flu protection, get the vaccine.

2. Credit-card payment insurance. It promises to cover your minimum payments if you lose your job — at a steep monthly premium for coverage full of exclusions. Build an emergency fund instead; it's insurance that pays you.

3. Dirt-cheap paper towels. The bargain brands are so thin you use twice as many. The mid-priced rolls are the actual economy option.

4. Bottled water. In most of the developed world, tap water is as safe and far cheaper — and doesn't generate a plastic bottle per glass. Buy a filter if you dislike the taste.

5. Premium gasoline. Unless your owner's manual specifically requires it, premium fuel in a regular car buys you nothing but a lighter wallet. The octane myth is the oil industry's favorite free money.

6. Super-high SPF sunscreen. Above SPF 30–50, the incremental protection is marginal — and the big numbers encourage people to stay out longer and reapply less. Technique beats the number on the bottle.

7. Auto service warranties. Sold at dealerships with impressive urgency, priced to profit the seller, and riddled with exclusions for exactly the wear items you'll need.

8. 100-calorie snack packs. You're paying a premium for someone to put fewer cookies in a smaller bag. Portion your own.

9. Lottery tickets. The expected value is brutally negative, and the marketing targets the people who can least afford it. A lottery ticket is not a retirement plan.

10. Unlimited cell phone minutes. Check your actual usage before paying for the top tier. Most people on "unlimited" plans would save on a metered one — carriers price the fear, not the minutes.

11. Brand-new college textbooks. The new-edition treadmill exists to kill the used market. Buy used, rent, or use the library reserve copy — the calculus chapter didn't change.

12. Extended warranties. Retailers push them because the margins are enormous — which tells you everything about the odds. The product is already covered by the manufacturer's warranty for the period when defects actually show up.

None of these will make you rich by skipping them. But money is attention made tangible, and every one of these purchases is a small tax on inattention. The new year is a fine time to stop paying it.