Money Matters Wealth Tip #74 – 9 Budget Hacks During Quarantine

As more and more of us find ourselves quarantined and perhaps having reduced income we will need to do a few thigs differently. The following 9 budget hacks during quarantine should be implemented to preserve cash.

Wait until you get to number 8 it will seem so simple but often overlooked.

1. Designate one day a week as a no spend day

Here you can just decide to not spend any money on any given day. No coffee, no gum, no nothing. How much would you save? While you may be working from home these types of spending may already be eliminated. How much are you saving? 

2. Try a spending freeze

Put all purchases on hold until. Until you reach some financial goal, such as paying off a credit card. This one also may be easier to implement during this time. I would only spend on essentials. Keep you cash in your pocket.

3. Start with a goal of reducing credit card balances

Oh those interest rates 18, 20, 24%. Really! I wouldn’t pay them. Begin to reduce them, get rid of them, and pay yourself instead. While this may be a good time to develop your goals you may want to temporarily defer until life gets back to some level of normal.

4. Check your credit report once annually

There are three credit bureaus Experian, Transunion and Equifax. You can get one free report per year. I get one every four months just by rotating each bureau. Make sure your information is accurate. There is a procedure to dispute information that is incorrect. Your access here If you are looking for something to do, make sure it is accurate.

5. Eat out one fewer time per month

More savings here, a meal for two $40. If your family is larger even larger savings. Well here is one you should have little problem doing. I know many places are open for takeout so reduce that. How much will you save here?

6. Plan your meals and stick to a list when shopping

More planning here but this will allow you to stick to a plan and when you shop with a list impulse buying is eliminate. Preparing your own meals is far more cost effective than eating out. In today’s environment you want to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Try not to impulse buy. If you don’t really use don’t buy it.

7. Shop by unit price

Always check the weight or number of units of a product verses the price. The packaging can be deceptive in that it may look larger but the cost per unit may be significantly more. This one may be a bit more difficult at this time, but this is a little trick where the cost per ounce may be determined by the size, so be careful.

8. Repurpose your left overs

Here is a fun one. If you don’t eat all the food you prepared what do you do with it? Well there is not enough for a meal. But wait what would happen if you saved some left overs for the week and one night a week you had a variety of food from the past week. We do this probably once a week.  Remember that extra turkey you bought when it was on sale, ever have turkey soup, turkey crochets or another turkey dinner. Perhaps you can have if for lunch.

May be you need to ration your portions. Eat a bit less to stretch out your food supply.

9. Cancel other subscriptions

There is a subscription for everything. Everyone wants to be part of the club. How many subscriptions do you have? Do you use them all? Do a little audit, list all your subscriptions and their costs. Are you getting the value? This could occupy your time and then you could save a few bucks.

Thanks for reading along, I hope you find this helpful. Let me know in the comments below how you have used these or perhaps you have a few of your own!

If you enjoyed this Money Matters Wealth Tip the series can be found HERE.

Other articles of interest:

10 Easy Steps to Creating a Budget that will put you on the path to Financial Independence

How to get out of Debt: Three popular Plans

4 Payoff Credit Card Debt Strategies

So what are you waiting for? Need help getting started, Grab our FREE budget tools to help you along on this very important journey.

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