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I mentioned in a previous post that shortly after getting married, our family experienced a job loss. While we were working through this situation, we decided to only pay the principal on our student loans. It was during this experience that we realized the interest on one of our loans was 2/3 of our overall payment (we had an 11.5% interest rate…). After that, we spent the next four years tirelessly paying off all of our debt. At this point, our only debt is our mortgage. I would like to share more in future posts about how we tackled the loans specifically, but in this post I’d like to focus on some of the things we learned on making the most of our money.
Everyone should have an emergency fund. I know this can be an overwhelming task when you don’t have much room in your budget. My goal is to help you to be intentional about this task, even if you start very small. Let’s focus on some methods for freeing up or finding some extra money to put toward an emergency fund.
1.) Consider opening a high yield checking account at a Credit Union:
We have used credit unions multiple times for auto loans and received good rates. We received a 2.99% interest rate through Genisys Credit Union on our most recent purchase (2016 SUV). While we were filling out paperwork for our loan, I noticed a sign for a checking account with 4% APY. I asked the lady helping us what the catch was. There were two ‘catches’ – 1.) the rate is only good on a maximum balance of $7500 and 2.) you need 10 transactions a month of $5 or more to keep the rate. We switched our normal monthly bills to come out of this account to meet the requirement (electric, gas, etc.). If you live in Michigan, I definitely recommend looking into this credit union.
Say you have an average balance of $2000 in your checking account and your current interest rate is 0.2% APY (this is about the best I am seeing online), and you switch to the Genisys account. You would go from $0.33 in interest to $6.55 per month, a monthly increase of $6.20. If you don’t live in Michigan, it is worth looking into your local credit union for rates on checking accounts or auto loans.
2.) Use the Shopkicks app
I have been using this app off and on since 2015. I haven’t used it so much lately because I try to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible with my son, but it is a very easy way to earn some gift cards and you are not required to spend a dime. They also have ways for you to earn kicks without entering a store. On the discover tab, they have videos and ad-type items where they offer random kicks as well. In addition, you can earn kicks from making purchases online. You can even redeem for Paypal credit, so you could potentially transfer that into a bank account. I have in the past earned approx. $4/month when I used this app regularly.
Sign up here:
If you use my code (FUN715957) or link (http://getsk.co/fun715957) to sign up, you will get an extra 250 kicks with your first walk-in or scan (if within 7 days of joining).
3.) Sell something that you aren’t using:
This one can be kind of fun. Most people have extra things around the house that they don’t actively use or need. We recently sold an Ikea wok ($3) on Facebook Marketplace and a Yankee Candle (approx. $30 on Ebay – it was a retired scent). Those items had been sitting unused in our house for years and with little effort, we removed some clutter and earned some cash. We even sold the lid to a broken Corningware dish for a few dollars on Ebay. If you don’t have any extra items laying around your house, you could always find a few items at a garage sale or thrift store. I’ve found that book series and groups of books from the same author tend to sell well. I once bought a box set of the Chronicles of Narnia at Salvation Army for $0.70 and sold it on Ebay for over $12. I’m not talking about earning tons of money here, just a bit extra to put toward savings. I think you could reasonably make $10/month selling unused items.
4.) Consider a rewards credit card for the items you buy most:
I will start this item with this statement: only do this if you plan to pay the balance in full every month. Take a look at your finances and consider what you spend the most money on. Gas? Groceries? Eating out? Now look for a credit card with best rewards for that particular item. For example, if you spend a lot of money on gas, PNC has a credit card that provides 4% cashback on gas (and 2% on groceries). If it is groceries that you tend to spend a bundle on, look into a grocery store specific credit card. For example, Kroger often offers a $150 bonus if you spend a certain amount in the first few months. I’m estimating you could earn an extra $5/month doing this at minimum.
5.) Reduce your eating out by one less trip per month:
This one can be a difficult one. I understand the exhaustion of working full-time and the joy of having someone else cook, even for just one night. One thing that can make this one easier is to buy a pre-made frozen meal. For example, say you were going out to eat at PF Changs. You would spend at minimum $13/meal + tip. That puts you at $33 once you add in 6% tax and 20% tip. On the other hand, you can buy a bag of rice for $1 and a frozen PF Chang meal for $7.50 (in metro Detroit, you can usually get them on sale for $6). Rice and a frozen meal is a super easy meal to cook (almost as easy as going out) and they are actually pretty tasty as well. Conservatively, this could save you $20/month (assuming you eat out at least once a month).
6.) Save money on groceries:
My husband and I have been members of Ibotta for the past 7 years. In that time, our total earnings have been roughly $1100. Ibotta is an app that gives you rebates on your groceries, and you can use them on top of regular grocery store coupons. You have to scan your receipt and the items after you buy them. Once your account reaches $20, you are able to cash out. You are able to cash out into Paypal here as well, so you could transfer into a bank account. They also typically have an ‘any item’ rebate that varies anywhere from $0.10 to $1.00 for literally any item at the store. Sometimes they have ‘any brand’ items as well (i.e. $0.25 back for any loaf of bread).
The goal is to try not to buy things you wouldn’t normally, although sometimes you can get a better deal using the store coupon and an Ibotta coupon than just buying the store brand. The key here is to read the details; sometimes you have to buy more than one of the item for the rebate. Also, they tend to have bonuses. For example, get an extra $2 back if you redeem any 3 rebates. These can vary widely, but I’ve noticed that the longer you go without using the app, the better the bonuses. We will switch back and forth between my and my husband’s account for this reason.
Sign up here:
The link for Ibotta is as follows: https://ibotta.onelink.me/iUfE/8cc13c64 and my referral code is 8rd5kg if you want to use it. I think you could reasonably save $5 per month with this app.
Other tips:
My husband and I have kind of treated saving money like a game and it can be fun for us. You have to make sure that each dollar that you free up goes straight into your savings. If Genisys Credit Union isn’t an option for you, there are also online banks with pretty good interest rates to consider. Discover Online Bank has a good one. I’ve added a few other money-saving ideas below:
- Do not have your cable / internet bill set for autodraft. There are typically special deals that run out and your bill will change with no warning. We tend to call the internet company at least once a year to tell them we are breaking up with them if they don’t lower our rate. Also, look into using a Roku instead of a cable box to save the monthly fee.
- Consider alternatives to cable and look for deals. Hulu tends to offer a special rate around Black Friday. We had a $0.99/month rate for 12 months from such a deal.
- Do the surveys on receipts:
- The one at Culver’s can earn you a free custard
- The one at Kroger can earn you a decent amount in fuel perks depending upon how large your tank is
- Consider paying bills yearly instead of monthly. For example, we can save a full month’s trash payment by paying for a year’s worth in full. It takes some up front money to do this, but once you have, you can ‘pay’ your bill on a monthly basis to a folder within your bank account. PNC virtual wallet is great for this. Car insurance tends to give you a discount for paying a larger duration at once as well.
