One major mistake when many people try to save money by using the library or renting movies instead of purchasing them is returning them late. Do you think late charges are negligible? Think again.

Believe it or not, returning books or DVDs lays can quickly add up service charges of $1-$3 per day per item. That means you can easily end up owing $20 in late fees when you forget to return a couple items on time for a week.

What can you do to prevent yourself from returning items late? If it is something you borrowed from the library, make a note on your calendar the day before it is due back. That we you can easily remember to drop it off the following day.

One way that movie rental places get you is by offering rentals for a week. If you only rent a movie for a night, chances are very good that you will remember to return at the following day. But when you have a week to return a movie, many people just forget to return it once the week is up, and then the rental place will be making significantly more money off of you simply from those late fees. One way to prevent this is simply returning a movie after you watch it, and not leaving it for the full week simply because you pay for a week.