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What common mistakes do new AWS users make that lead to unexpectedly high bills, and how can they be avoided?

Intermediate

Answer

Common costly mistakes include forgetting to terminate unused EC2 instances or delete unattached EBS volumes, leaving expensive resources like NAT Gateways or large RDS instances running in a test environment, accidentally exceeding Free Tier data transfer limits, and not setting up billing alerts at all, all of which can typically be avoided by regularly reviewing the AWS Cost Explorer dashboard, tagging resources clearly, and setting up automated alerts and even automated shutdown schedules for non production resources.

aws ec2 describe-volumes --filters Name=status,Values=available

Real-world example A new user discovers through Cost Explorer that a forgotten NAT Gateway left running in a test environment had been quietly accumulating hourly charges for weeks, prompting them to set up a habit of reviewing and cleaning up test resources regularly going forward.

Common follow-ups: What tools can automatically detect and flag unused or idle resources?;How can scheduled automation help reduce costs from resources only needed during business hours?

AWS Cost Management & Billing;Tagging Strategies & Resource Management