Average American Flushes as Much as $18,000 a Year

A new survey shows that the average American flushes as much as $18,000 a year, on everything from bottled water, to cable, to coffee they could just as well make themselves.

According to fool.com, that's more than a million bucks in a lifetime.  The survey, conducted by the life insurance company Ladder Life, says the average person in this country wastes nearly $1,500 every month on non-essential items.

Items like streaming services, drinking with friends, and splurging on online shopping.  Let's break down the survey of 2,000 people further.

Americans spend on average, $20 a month on coffee drinks, $209 eating out, $105 on impulse items, $189 going out drinking with friends, more than $90 on cable, and $23 for streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.

At the end of each month, this all adds up to over-spending.   Please click on the above link to look at the breakdown of Americans' non-essential monthly spending habits.