24 Innovative Ways To Stretch Your Dollar Further
We all love to save money but should strive to do a better job stretching the dollar further. Most people think that getting your money's worth out of items is hard to do when, in reality, it could be just a simple substitution. Extending the value of your money could also be consistent with things like updating your subscriptions and keeping up with your overall expenses, which are straightforward things to do.
1. Manage Subscriptions
Going through your subscriptions may be a great idea to ensure that you are not paying for a streaming service twice and should be subscribed to it. When you see your purchased subscriptions, you may think twice about it and realize your price is not worth it. Even if the subscription is cheap and you do not use it, the little things become significant savings. So look at your subscription list again and think, do you need this?
2. Coupons
Looking through your newspaper or sourcing through your grocery store papers at the front, you may find many coupons that will save you a lot more than you would have thought. Many people neglect the savings you could get from coupons, with some stores making it so easy. All you need to do is enter them online, and once at the store, they come off your order, saving you tons!
3. Generic Brand
Buying your favorite brands can be expensive, so venturing off into the generic brand side of the aisle is an excellent idea for more savings. If you were handed a name-brand food and a generic brand, most people would be unable to tell the difference, with the generic brand only being a fraction of the price. When it comes to clothing, many people pay a high cost to have a printed logo of the name brand, when in reality, it is the same quality as the cheaper, generic brand.
4. Buy In Bulk
Although this may seem like it costs a lot more overall, you save more than you would genuinely think when buying your favorite food in a large quantity. The sizeable upfront purchase makes it worth it in the long run for your savings, with your wallet coming out much happier on the other side. Buying in bulk does not always have to be pricey.
5. Manage Or Avoid Debt
Many people have been told that having any debt is bad for you and that staying debt-free will keep you relaxed. While this may be true part of the time, debt can be good when needing a car to get to and from work. Even though the ideal scenario is not to have any debt, if you do have some, staying on top of it to ensure you do not gain any late fees is essential to stretch your dollar to its true worth. If you do not need to go into debt, stay out of it and keep working without it.
6. Use Cashback Sites
Utilizing your resources is a considerable way to save money, especially when they are free. Many sites and stores offer cashback options so that if you spend a certain amount or buy your items a certain way, you will receive a percentage of cash back as a reward. These cashback options can accumulate very fast, resulting in more considerable savings.
7. Meal Prep
Bulk foods can be turned into quick and easy meals that you can throw into the microwave or even eat cold. Meal prepping can be very fun, with many different options for meal prep, starting with a protein, then a carb, then whatever you like! To pair with saving you money, this will also better your health and make it easier to control your weight.
8. Grow A Garden
Starting a garden can be beneficial in multiple ways, such as being a hobby and taking time out of your day to tend to the garden, which is almost free. Along with gardening being an excellent hobby to keep up with, you will also save money since you repeatedly grow your vegetables. You can get creative when owning a garden with various fruits and vegetables. But keep in mind, you have to keep rodents out!
9. Get A Roommate
Splitting your cost of living in half will stretch the length of your dollar way further than you would have imagined. While picking your roommates may be challenging, once you find the right one, you could become best friends, and then living is a fraction of the cost. Everybody wins in this scenario unless they steal your food from the fridge!
10. Follow A Budget
One of the most basic ways to achieve financial success is following a strict budget, which would be calculated based on your salary and how much you need to spend rather than what you want. A budget may sound fun, but it does not have to be complex. You need to decipher the difference between a want and a need, which may be slightly tricky.
11. Eat What You Have
Instead of going out to eat every time you are hungry, look through your pantry to save money. Even though eating out may seem cheaper, it will add up over time and only cost you more money in the long run. Not only are you spending more money on food, but you are also giving your body unhealthy food, which will also hurt you in the long term.
12. Avoid Impulse Purchases
When walking through a store and something catches your eye through a window, most of us go into the store to buy whatever that item is. This may be the worst thing to do when saving money, but not splurging on these impulse purchases is vital when you want to save money. You can follow the 30-day rule where after 30 days if you still wish to purchase this item, you can go back and purchase it; if not, let it be.
13. Quit A Habit
Stopping a habit we've been carrying with us for a while now may be very difficult initially, but in the end, it will only pay off for multiple reasons. One of these reasons may be to benefit your health positively, but another reason is that dropping this habit is wallet-friendly. These habits can be various things, but for the most part, these will cost money when you don't need these things to live.
14. Negotiate Rent
Many of us do not go about this due to not knowing we are allowed to do this, but the worst they can say is no. If you are a consistently good tenant who is on time with your rent and does not cause problems, there's no reason why your landlord would not negotiate a rent price with you. This may also go beyond rent. You can negotiate many things in life and save money.
15. Thrift Clothes
Thrifting clothes for some is beyond trying to save money; thrifted garments tend to have more personality. They've been through a lot more for some people, and some buyers love that. Thrifting clothes is fun for many people, and it saves lots of money with clothes ranging from free to $20. You may even find a brand-new piece of clothing within these racks. Plenty of thrift stores are around, so go out and find a cheap outfit!
16. Avoid Nice Clothes In The Dryer
While washing and putting our clothes in the dryer is convenient, it will only damage them over time. The heat from the dryer will shrink clothes, causing their lifetime to be way shorter than it really should be. Instead, let your clothes air dry to keep them from shrinking. To pair with the dryer shrinking clothes, the dryer also tends to rip up clothes when they may yet be caught within the dryer.
17. Homemade Gifts
Making homemade gifts for Christmas or other holidays is not only fun and a creative way of gifting people but also a cheaper way to go about gifting. Making a homemade gift means a lot more since you took time out of your day to go and make it; using your skill to provide a gift is a caring and creative thing. Most people would probably appreciate receiving a homemade gift rather than a gift card from the store.
18. Drink Water
Drinking water has many benefits. Water is a very cheap way to hydrate yourself, and you can get it anywhere. The most popular is the sink, which costs very little, putting a small dent in your water bill. Most people go out to buy juice or other sodas from the grocery store, which, over time, is a significant cost. Sticking to just water helps your health and your wallet.
19. Cut Cable
When you buy a cable plan, you end up getting a lot of channels you would like but also have to pay for channels you might not watch. Instead, you could look into a streaming service that provides the channels or shows you would like and also pay a fraction of the price you would pay with cable. Picking out the exemplary streaming service is essential to ensure that you only get what you want and do not have to pay for things you do not wish to.
20. Use A Bike
Riding a bike to short distances or taking public transportation is a good start regarding savings. Doing this puts less stress on your car, causing fewer problems over time. You save a ton of gas money, which you could put towards other investments and, if you do it right, come out with even more money. If you are going on a trip with friends or family, try to carpool so your car does not have to be put through more travel than needed.
21. Do It Yourself
Whether this may be an at-home project or a recipe to try, doing it your way at your house is highly cost-effective and fun. Having to do an at-home renovation on your own may bring feelings like frustration and anger, but in the end, you learn something new, saving lots of money. While making food recipes at home, you save the ingredients to make the recipe again while paying much less than buying the food from a restaurant.
22. Making A Grocery List
Putting together a well-thought grocery list saves you more money than you think. When you go to the store, you are usually hungry, which means you overbuy based on your state of hunger. Constructing a list to go by when at the store saves you time, money, and overall stress while shopping, so you can stay on track and save money.
23. Split The Sponge
A hack many of us did not know, cutting your kitchen sponge in half saves the life of it. When we use the sponge, it becomes moldy and gross over time, and having to throw it away when it is not fully used. To prevent this, cutting the sponge in half will allow you to use it over time and get the whole life out of it. Even though sponges are cheap, this hack will save you money over a long period.
24. Keep The Change
Having a change bag or something else to store your loose cash and other coins is a frugal way to live to many, but this money adds up a lot faster than you would think. These quarters and dollars will build up over a short time if you frequently use cash, keep this money somewhere safe, and try to forget about it. The amount will surprise you. These coins could be brought into the bank, which can be turned into dollar bills.