How to Stretch a Budget

The present economy and prices of fuel can make it difficult to enjoy life without hours of worry and struggle. I've lived on a small budget for several years now. Thankfully, I have picked up a few tricks along the way.

These ideas are just that, ideas. I've used some of them and some I've heard about from friends. They may all work for you. Some of them may not work. Others may not be able to be applied but anything is worth a try. After all, who doesn't like to make their money go farther?

The first step is to be honest with yourself about how much you spend on things that are not necessities. By necessities I mean food, shelter, clothing and a home land line telephone and service. The only things outside of that which would be considered essentials are some sort of medical expenses, at least for the purposes of this article. A lot of entertainment costs can be offset fairly easily. For example, do you have cable TV that you aren't often home to watch? Many cable companies have an antenna service that will provide the basic local channels with better reception than an antenna device.

This service is also about one quarter the price of monthly basic cable. Many programs that have been popular in the last ten to twenty years are on a lot of these channels in primetime as reruns. A lot of what you pay forty dollars per month and up to watch is available on antenna services for much less.

Several books, DVDs, and music CDs can be found in gently used sections or bargain bins at many stores. If you enjoy the movies or eating out many theaters and restaurants offer discount days and customer appreciation clubs. You can join these very often for free or a nominal one- time fee and save on admission for films and movie time treats. Restaurants have customer appreciation days and e-mail clubs with which they send out coupons for discounts or sometimes even free items.

When more non-necessities are less expensive it helps reduce feelings of deprivation and overspending in the area of entertainment. This also leaves more room for the basics to be a bit nicer than the cheapest items possible. Although this is not to say that price directly correlates with quality.

Be open-minded and willing to at least try generic or store brand products. There are store brand products that do an equal if not better job than their name brand counterparts. If you try a generic or store brand product and find it doesn't do a good enough job or you have to buy it multiple times in one week or month to get the same effect as your old favorites, my advice is to stick with the tried and true despite a small and what might be temporary savings.

If you have to buy the less expensive product over and over it doesn't always turn out to be a true savings in the long run. The best advice to follow is learn from your mistakes and buy the best products you can when you are able to do so and buy in bulk. Buying in bulk doesn't mean buy ten gallons of mayonnaise and enough lunchmeat to feed a small country, far from it. It just means buy as much as you can when you have the money to do so. Keep in mind of how much space you have to store it all of course, just buy a little more than you'll need and you'll rarely run out of things when you may not have the money to replace when the time comes. This is especially true for the small but much needed items taken for granted like toothpaste, soap, and toilet paper.

Take advantage of sales on your favorite and/or most used products. Especially if these sales are buy one get one free sales or the sale price is drastically different from normal. Every bit helps. A word of caution though, no matter how good the sale might be and the savings tempting, if no one likes or uses the item you are wasting money because if the product winds up unused and spoiled you're throwing money away. Also, when trying new items or items "new to you", buy small quantities to try out first. If you don't like it and it winds up in the garbage, it is wasted as well as your money.

Clipping coupons is also a great money saver; a task that seems tedious will pay off in the long run. The internet is abound with coupon websites that are free to join. The most that is required of you is to register with the site and download a piece of software that enables your printer to print coupon bar codes and there is always the old stand-by Sunday paper.

Dollar stores are good resources for a lot of things such as cleaning supplies, paper goods and food storage. The idea of making purchases like this at a dollar store may seem off-putting and cheap, but the dollar store is not what it used to be. The products are better than years ago and equal to or are name brands. They can also be bought in the same quantity for about one third the price depending on the item. As I said earlier, if you're unsure just buy a small amount at first and if you don't like it just resume using the same product as before. Small word of advice, however, if you buy storage containers or anything not in its own box or wrapper wash it first if it comes in contact with your food or body.

If you are able to, shopping around and comparing prices is also a good way of finding good deals. This works especially well in terms of things like appliances large and small. It is important to take into account what it would take to do said shopping around, such as travel time, gasoline costs, and other factors. Weigh these carefully and take them into consideration when you think you've found a good deal. Did the savings make your spending a little extra time and money on gas worthwhile? Are you sure the product you're buying will last and you won't have to make trips back for refunds or repairs?

As you can see saving money is easier than you think, these tips may not make you rich but it will help keep more money in your pocket for longer. Life these days may not be easy, but it never is and never will be. Anything that helps us take better care of ourselves and our loved ones is fine by me. It's your money use it wisely.