Oftentimes you’ll read online that budgeting is one of the first strategies to employ when trying to get your finances in order.
While this is partially true, you’re often left without a clear explanation as to how this process works, and what you can do to optimize it in relation to your financial circumstances.
Of course, budgeting becomes much more simple when you’ve got a larger amount set aside in your bank account, but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible even with smaller amounts of money.
The main issue people have is figuring out how to bend their budget to their needs, and we’re about to change that with these tips.
Start negotiating your bills
Even though dealing with your monthly bills is a huge expense, it doesn’t mean it has to be, and with the help of apps like Truebill, you can negotiate down to a much more manageable price.
The service works with providers like Verizon, Spectrum, and T-mobile to provide you with lower prices on the bills you’re already paying, although they do take 40% of the savings if they manage to save you any money.
This means that if you manage to save $100 every month on your internet bill through the services Truebill provides, they’ll charge you $40, and you get to keep the rest of the money you saved.
Additionally, if they don’t manage to negotiate your bills down to a lower price, you don’t have to pay for the service at all.
Make automatic payments to your savings account
The internet age has been upon us for over 2 decades at this point, and managing your budget has never been easier.
Long gone are the days of hiring a financial professional to help you keep track of all your spending and allocate money into your savings account.
In fact, all of this is accessible to you at the click of a button, and with apps like Digit, you can have a full overview of your bank account, income, expenses, monthly bills, and many more factors that’ll help you determine how much you’re planning on setting aside in your savings account.
However, even that can be automated, and the app can set aside that amount for you, completely taking the process out of your hands.
Of course, you can always choose to take control if you feel you need to cut back on the contributions.
Invest any loose change
Every last dollar that you put to work is a dollar that’ll grow over time, and the more you invest, the bigger your chances of profiting are.
Aside from being a profitable option, it’s also a way to be doing something with your money, which tends to depreciate over time as inflation chews away at it.
This way, even if an investment does fall through, you’ll have other investments in your portfolio that won’t, and your money will retain its value and perhaps even grow with the time it’s spent “working” for you.
Apps like Acorns took this process and applied it to the tiniest amounts of money you have left lying around, and it invests all your spare change into stocks and bonds that fit your investor profile.
By using the app’s Round-Up feature, you can round up any purchase from a linked card to the nearest dollar, with the excess immediately being put towards an investment you chose.
If you’ve got a lot of daily expenses, you’ll begin to notice changes very quickly in your investment account.
Save on car insurance
Car insurance is pricey, but there are always options to make it much more manageable within your available budget.
If you’re looking for better deals, you may want to check out QuoteWizard, as it offers the best insurance deals available on the market, and it prioritizes those in your area that are only minutes away.
On top of being this useful and well-adapted, the service is completely free and intuitive to use for anyone.
The average cost of car insurance in the US can range anywhere between $600 and $1200 for the entire year, and if you’re working on a tight budget, QuoteWizard will make the search significantly easier for you.
Sell your stuff online
We all have clutter in our homes, and for the most part, it’s things that we likely won’t ever need, that we bought on impulse and simply can’t get ourselves to throw out.
However, there’s a better method to throw things out, and it’s selling them on online services like eBay and Amazon.
What better way to clear up space than actually making money while doing it?
Of course, you’ll have to settle for the fact that the majority of the things you sell will be sold for a loss, but if you’d thrown them away, it’d practically be saying goodbye to free money.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and you never know what someone’s willing to pay for an item you’ve got in pristine condition.