Stretch a Dollar in Tough Times
The experts may never agree whether we’re officially in a recession. However, if your wallet is short of cash or you’re seeing your budget go haywire it doesn’t really matter what the experts are calling the situation. Tough economic times may make the going difficult but we can fight back.
We recently asked our staff what they have been doing to save dollars, stretch dollars and eliminate the need for dollars where they can. Here are some of the ideas the Credit Advisors counselors and account managers shared with us:
In general…
- Using coupons for gas and food
- Bulking up emergency savings whenever possible
- Renting movies instead of going to theatre
- Paying cash, avoiding credit
- Cutting out costly activities – just hanging out as a family, playing board games, enjoying our lawn and going to the public library. Much better quality time
- Cutting down on luxuries
- Tightened up the budget – really did it, not just talked about it
- Switched from bottled water to filtered tap water
- Losing weight so I can actually fit what’s in my closet instead of buying more
- Selling things on eBay
- Organizing swap meets and yard sales in our neighborhood
Saving on gas…
- Organizing errands together and planning a route so I’m not zigzagging all over town
- Think twice before we drive, better planning for errands
- Using more gas efficient vehicle
- Making sure my car is serviced in a timely manner so I get the best mileage possible
- Traded in truck for more economical car
- Started carpooling
- Walking instead of driving for locations that are close
- Driving 55 instead of 65 on the freeway for my 80 mile round trip commute
Saving on food…
- Buying foods we use often in bulk (at whole sale stores)
- Eating at home more
- When we do go out to eat bring home leftovers for another meal
- Using our outdoor gas grill to cook so we don’t heat up the house
- Taking lunch to work
- Choosing less expensive foods – cutting portions
- Planning meals instead of roaming aimlessly through the grocery store throwing whatever catches our eye in the cart
- Purchasing generic products when available
- Shopping a discount stores
- Buying less meat and more rice, beans and fruit
- Scouring sale circulars and going where the things I want are on sale
- Buying store brands instead of name brands (whichever on sale for less)
- Starting a bigger garden this year to grow more of our own food
None of our ideas are really earth shattering but following through on just a few may help you stretch you dollars during this economic slow-down and some of these ideas may help you think of some saving ideas of your own. If you and your family of come up with some creative ways to stretch your budget email your ideas to us at info@creditadvisors.org and we may publish your idea in a future newsletter.
