Want to learn how to break the paycheck to paycheck cycle? Get a month ahead with your money! We’ve got some ideas to get you started.
Picture this: ten bills all come due at the same time and instead of wallowing in despair, you just pay them—without batting an eyelash. The money has been sitting right there in your account for a month (or longer!). Sound like magic?
But how can an ordinary person, with an ordinary salary, get so far ahead of their expenses that new paychecks simply lay, unused, on top of the pile? The answer is bit by bit. Get creative, find ways to spend less and watch your money grow (old). Here’s some ideas on how to reach that blissful state of being a month ahead with your money and far, far away from living paycheck to paycheck.
How You, Too, Can Have Old Money.
Unfortunately, you can’t simply take your dollars to the beach, sans sunscreen, and let the sun work it’s age-accelerating magic. You’re stuck waiting on the sands of time to get the job done. Luckily, there are unlimited ways to ramp up your savings as you wait for those gainful granules to fall. And here are ten strategies to put to use.
1. Sell Stuff You Don’t Use
Just the other day I had an old pair of skis collecting dust in the garage. A few quick clicks and a Facebook Marketplace listing later, I had $50 of cold, hard cash.
You know how the old saying goes: one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Sites like Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, and Ebay make it easy to turn a basement of clutter into a gold mine.
2. Cancel, Cancel, Cancel
This one’s obvious, but it gets really good if you can be merciless. You can dramatically minimized my monthly bills with a few keen evaluation of the subscriptions you actually need and want. Here are some examples:
- Cut down on your streaming subscriptions (do you really need all seven?)
- Cancel an audiobook streaming service (many podcasts are free!)
- Switching from a paid service to a similar, freemium service (or downgrading your account for more cost-friendly pricing)
- Canceling a gym membership (Exercise is free!)
- Cut ties with the monthly box membership that sends you more stuff than you could possibly need in a month.
3. Try the 34-Day Reset Challenge
Sometimes we just need to hit the reset button with our spending. Maybe it was an out-of-control online shopping binge, or just a credit-card hangover from holiday spending. Swing the pendulum the other way with the help of an intense, all-out savings challenge! For 34 days, follow three simple rules:
- Track your spending (every dollar)
- Only buy essentials (you decide what’s an essential)
- No eating out (say what now?)
After 34 days of this intense sprinting, the average participant had over $1,000. Just think: in just over a month from now you could make some serious progress on your month-ahead goals with a little elbow grease and motivation from this challenge.
Learn more about the challenge.
4. Cook Your Own Meals
The degree of difficulty for this one depends on your lifestyle, but it packs a punch! Do some research for budget-friendly recipes, and you’ll really feel the difference. Bonus: cooking at home can help you minimize your spending and your waistline.
5. Get Cheap, Real Cheap
I know some folks are very loyal to their favorite brands, but think about it. Would you rather pay more to bathe, or save that money and enjoy financial peace a decade early? Now, I’m not about to start throwing out brands or categories only to deeply offend, but I will challenge you to try generic on things you don’t actually care that much about.
For me, that means a lot of my grocery staples come in the form of the grocery store brand, I’ve yet to splurge on a $90 bottle of moisturizer (the $16 version seems to be working just fine), I get books from the library rather than buying, and for big ticket items I try to rent or buy used before purchasing.
On their own, each of these little scootches toward frugalness add up to $1 here, $10 there. But once you start stacking these on top of each other, you might see savings of hundreds of dollars each month!
6. Keep the Car and Fix It
The cheapest car is usually the one you’re driving right now. It is oh-so-tempting to sail into a different car with a low monthly payment and no money down once the $1,000 maintenance bills start showing up. But here’s the thing, paying to fix your old car (especially if you own it outright or are about to) keeps more money in your pocket than shelling out a monthly payment on a depreciating car that is a nice-to-have but not a need-to-have.
I drive a car that was made the same year that frosted tips and Motorola phones were all the rage. It’s old. A few months ago I paid $800 to fix something. What I fixed, I don’t know. My husband does though and apparently it was a fair price. But we own it outright. In the next year or two it will likely require another $1K-$2K of repairs.
Now let’s say instead of fixing, I decided it was time to get a new-to-me car with a $350/month payment. After a single year of ownership, that new-to-me car has gobbled up $4,200 of my hard-earned cash. After two years, $8,400.
If I would’ve just kept my old car and kept repairing it, I’d have saved enough cash from that decision alone to be a month ahead or more.
7. Just Use Less
Turn down the heat, turn up the AC, drive less or get off of your phone! Look at your bills that fluctuate with use, and see what you can do to minimize your usage. Once we started meal planning and using up more food that was already in our pantry, we saw our grocery bill drop by over $100 a month! Of course, that won’t be possible for everyone, but what other bill could you affect with a behavior change?
8. Minimize Gift Purchases
People that love you will understand if you can’t participate in this year’s gift exchange. They want to see your face, and enjoy your company—that’s what really matters! So opt-out, or try something more economical.
Another idea that I came across, last year, was totally free: trading ‘grateful fors’. That family’s gathering sounded so fun, I might try it myself! Here’s how it works: Everyone writes down the top three things that they were grateful for that year. Then they go around the room sharing their memories. For a modest price increase, you could add hot cocoa, too. Sounds merry and bright to me.
Finally, you can gift experiences! A day hiking with Dad. An afternoon watching the entirety of a favorite movie series with your sister. If you thoughtfully customize this one for the recipient, it might just be their favorite gift from you, yet.
9. Save Your Surges!
When you get money from tax returns, bonus checks, gifts from grandparents and, yes, even that ‘extra’ check in longer months? Treat them like fine cheese, and age them! These infrequent surges are much easier to bank, because they’re not part of your regular monthly income.
10. Hustle!
If you can find a way to add more income to your life, you’ll age your money at warp speed! Get a seasonal or part-time job—be strategic and pick an industry that you’d enjoy when you’re not at your full-time job.
Or offer your professional talents as a freelancer (just make sure you’re not violating anything in your employee contract). For motivation, check out the this Heard it From Hannah video and get inspired.
Remember, This Is Temporary.
As with most things in life, the speed at which you age your cash will vary. And remember, none of these suggestions has to be your new normal! Streamline your lifestyle for a tolerable amount of time, save up some dollars, and then adjust. You might find that you really don’t mind spending less in some areas, and keep some of your new habits, too!
For more help getting a month ahead, drop into one of our free, online classes about cutting spending or saving money on groceries. And bring your questions!
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