Saving Tips

For most households, the difference between financial solvency and insolvency is just one paycheck. It can happen due to an workplace accident, the loss of a job or an unexpected and expensive home or auto repair. But no matter how you may find yourself living with a tighter budget, there are ways to get even more for every penny you make. Here are some ideas for finding consumer deals that can keep you debt free.

Start couponing. This may seem old-fashioned, but you could save enough money to supplement part of your household income if you do it right. Make a habit of constantly collecting and searching for coupons. And don’t just limit yourself to newspaper cut outs; you can also use online search engines to find exactly the coupons you’re looking for. In fact, some stores will even let you scan coupon barcodes directly from your smartphone.

Stock up on sale items. One of the biggest mistakes consumers make is waiting until they absolutely have to have an item to buy it. This means that you’re forced to pay the current market price for it instead of purchasing it on your own terms. A better shopping habit is to buy more than you need when an item is on sale and then store the rest for later. It may require you to spend more upfront than you want to, but you’ll save money and stretch your budget even farther in the long run.

Sign up for daily deals emails. Sometimes, you don’t even have to search for deals on food, household items or even travel. If you sign up for a few daily deals sites, you can get an email digest of each day’s biggest money saving deals, which saves you the time of sifting through pages and pages of offers. This kind of subscription also helps you stay more consistent with your deals search because you’ll have a daily reminder of how you can save money.

Stay social. Sometimes you can find deals online, even when you aren’t looking. Being an active participant in social media, especially when that means “following” your favourite products and companies, can lead to you discounts on items that you buy regularly anyway.

Take advantage of zero percent interest. Though using a credit card for daily expenses can be a slippery slope in normal financial times, losing part of your household income may make this one of the only viable solutions for surviving in the immediate future. If you do find yourself using credit more frequently, try to take advantage of a promotional offer for reduced interest or no interest. Just be sure to make strides toward paying off that debt before the promotional period ends and the interest rate jumps up.