Most of us, myself included, never really took the time to worry too much about finances. That is of course until the financial walls started tumbling down. Now, many people find themselves in some sort of trouble financially whether they are unemployed and can’t make ends meet, they may be under employed or they may just spend more than they make. Whatever your situation is you can find a lot of help stretching your money.
There are many ways you can wok on the problem and in this article I’m going to give you several methods you can use to get more out of your budget no matter how limited that budget may be.
Stretching your money can be about a lot more than clipping coupons, though that shouldn’t be underestimated.
Here are some other ideas to make your money go further. Some may be obvious others may be more obscure and some will make a bigger impact on your bottom line than others, but no matter what it can all make a difference.
Of course the most obvious is to pay down debt. You are most likely paying through the nose on interest rates for your credit cards. Getting that debt paid off as soon as possible will not only free up more money every month, it will also mean that you don’t grossly overpay for the things you buy.
When you go out and buy a new product because you need it and it is a bargain, it ends up being a lot less of a bargain when you pay 18% or even higher interest on that product for a year or more. That one time «bargain» has now become something that you totally wasted money on.
Learn how to shop better. I have a friend who complains about money and I told her that one thing she could do when so goes grocery shopping is to stop buying the name brand goods. Depending on what store you shop at, most of the store brands are every bit as good as the national brands but they cost a lot less. On occasion you may find something that you simply don’t like so you don’t buy that one thing again, but the majority of items will be the same.
The only difference you will notice is the amount of money you start to save each week.
To save money on gas make sure your car is tuned up, keep your tire pressure at the right amount and try to cut back on driving. Simple things that anyone can do. Plan your trips ahead of time and consolidate all your errands into one trip when possible.
Doing all these things will allow you to save money every month. You can probably save a few hundred dollars a month if you start making these simple changes. Then you can add that extra money to your minimum payments on your credit cards. Doing this will enable you to get out of debt sooner.
Stretching your money is not that hard. It will require you to make some changes and maybe a few sacrifices here and there but the relief you get from being in control of your finances will far outweigh any of the changes you have had to make.