5 Tips To Stretch Your Budget

By Author: Norris Rios
Total Articles: 572
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It's not always easy to pay insurance premiums. There are always more expenses and never enough money. Use these hints to squeeze extra cash from your budget and afford premiums. Even if one tip alone doesn't generate the savings, several combined will.

#1
Carpool to work and to do shopping
Gasoline costs most households nearly $1500 a year. Monthly, there is a national average of $368 spent on gas. If you reduce your gas use by even a third, you will have saved a big portion of your premiums.
The easiest way to do that is to share the commute to work and/or do your grocery shopping with a friend or neighbor. Two commuters halves the price you pay for a ride to work. Three commuters means you only pay a third. Load up those vehicles to really save on money.
The less you drive, the less you pay in premiums. If by carpooling you reduce your annual mileage significantly, you could really reduce your premium levels.
Find carpool partners online using these nonaffiliated sites:
- GoLoco (the Facebook of carpooling)
- Craigslist
- eRideShare
You can also just post something ...
... on the boards at work.

#2
Cut back on luxury expenses
By luxury, we don't mean beach resort vacations or diamond rings, although you could definitely cut back if you are buying that stuff willynilly! What we are talking about are non-essential purchases.
For instance, rather than going to see a movie on a Friday night, have a night in with family and friends. Play a board game or tell stories. To save money, make it a potluck dinner, rather than paying for it all yourself.
Are you a big coffee drinker? Maybe you don't need to drink so much. In fact, green tea can be cheaper than coffee and better for your digestion and blood pressure as well. If you usually hit Starbucks at some point in the day, bring your coffee from home in a thermos instead.
You can definitely eat in more, and get more calories from nutrient-dense staple foods, such as brown rice or whole grain bread and pasta.

#3
Part Time Work
Extra income never hurts, and it doesn't even have to mean taking on a shift at the local fast-food restaurant or anything. Some people make a lot of money by picking things from garage sales or thrift stores and reselling them online for more. You'd be surprised by the quality of things that people get rid of and how much it can go for on eBay!

#4
Buy in Bulk
If there is something you need to buy all the time, check and see if you can't buy it in bulk. The larger the quantity, the less you pay per unit. This works for human food, pet food, bathroom tissue, toothpaste, and more. Again, the Internet is a great resource for this, as well as for cheap car insurance quotes.

#5
Sell Advertising Space
The new trend in earning extra cash is to sell your vehicle as a billboard. Putting an ad wrap on your car might get you an extra couple hundred dollars a month, enough for car insurance, or even get you free gas if you find a gas station that is willing.