Many of us wish we had more money to dedicate to our prepping strategy. How awesome would it be to ask your boss for a 20% raise, citing “prep needs” as the reason. Alas it is never that easy, money doesn’t grow on trees and we can’t pay for everything with leaves. Yet finding more money to prep with doesn’t necessarily involve getting a raise at work or winning the lottery. Rather by examining taking simple steps to trim down weekly expenditures it is possible to eek out a few more dollars which can be put towards preparing for uncertain times. By following some of these simple steps you could find yourself with enough cash to buy that food storage supply much sooner than you ever thought. It’s about prioritization, money management and discipline.
Have a budget. If you don’t have a budget how are you supposed to know where you money is going? It’s quite simple really, you get a paycheck and taxes are taken out of it and what you are left with is your disposable income. Usually there are other necessary expenditures which will come out of disposable income such as food, gasoline and utility payments, what’s leftover after that is call discretionary income. Without going full steam into a boring finance session what you need to know is that you must track all your expenditures and weigh it against your available cash flow. if you don’t there is simply no way you will be able to forecast how much money you can set aside for prepping.
Avoid fees. This can easily save you $50 a month. Avoid using ATMs which charge fees (not your home bank) in order to take out money. If you use the ATM two times a week to pull cash out for lunch money and you spend $3 each time, that’s $24 a month. Instead of calling in a bill with check by phone and incurring a $10 fee, try to pay it online. In addition by having a budget (see above) you will know exactly how much is in your checking account and avoid having to pay hefty overdraft fees. Banks LOVE overdraft fees and other service fee income. Don’t fall into that endless cycle.
Pack 4 times a week. This one is frequently touted by all money management types. Packing a lunch to work can save you some money versus going out with the fellas every day. I suggest packing 4 times per week because if you must eat out simply allow yourself one day a week (Friday?) to do so. This will break up your routine and be a small reward for being so diligent all week. Additionally make sure to pack a couple snacks so that you do not get tempted and eat your lunch too soon.
Use Coupons / Discounts. I am not a huge coupon person by my wife certainly knows her way around the Sunday paper with a pair of scissors. It’s always nice to see her present a stack of coupons to the cashier and then watch the total price of our groceries drop, even if it only is $20 or so. Remember in the game of saving every little bit counts. $50 saved per month by using coupons equates to $600 per year that you could apply toward preps.
Pay for your gas at the pump. One of the times I do advocate using a debit card, so that you avoid the temptation of going inside whereupon you are struck with the temptation to pick up a drink or snack that you normally would not have purchased.
Make a weekly dinner schedule. This one takes some effort and discipline but can pay off nice dividends if followed through with. How many times have you called your spouse on the way home from work, pondering what to make for dinner? How many times has that phone call resulted in “I’ll just pick up some takeout on the way home.” Last week when you were at the grocery store you bought food which you thought you would be using to make for dinner but now because you don’t feel like it, 2 to 3 times a week you are dropping a combined $60 or more on eating out. These expenses add up quickly.
Smartphones. How quickly these plans add up and we are sold on the perception that they are a necessity. A smartphone with an unlimited plan, phone insurance and quite a few additional monthly subscriptions (for other services). Before you know it you are paying several hundred dollars per month so you can make calls, send texts and surf the internet while at work (since many websites on your computer are blocked). Is all of that really necessary? How much could you save if you scaled back just a little bit,and told yourself that it is absolutely not necessary to check your “friend’s” status updates every 10 minutes in case something changed…
Cable TV / Internet. I spoke with a person last week who does not pay for Cable TV, instead she and her family utilize Netflix. I want to say the subscription is under $10 per month, and I believe you still have to have a Wifi connection in the home but it’s still cheaper than the $150 “bundle” that the cable company advertises. Seriously of the hundreds of channels Cable TV provides how many do you actually watch on a regular basis?
Fancy Coffee. You already know what I’m about to type: Starbucks. People seemed obsessed with paying $4 for a cup of bad tasting coffee so that when they walk into work in the morning they will blend in with the other people who also paid $4 for a bad tasting cup of coffee. Brew your own coffee at home and take a travel mug to work! I do understand that you do get what you pay for when it comes to coffee, and by that I mean a bag of Millstone or Dunkin off of the shelf is probably going to taste better than the white tin with the words COFFEE emblazoned on the front. Buying brand name in bags is still cheaper than spending over $20 a week on en vogue coffee.
Plan your car trips (route), less trips = gas saved. Stop on the way home from work to get gas instead of making an extra trip. Plan out your weekend errands so that you can get them all done at once instead of leaving and coming home multiple times. I mentioned saving money on fees earlier in the post, but do you think it is worth it to drive halfway across town (10 miles one way) to utilize an ATM which will save you a $3 fee? Plan your routes so as to gain maximum efficiency from the time spent behind the wheel.
Carpool to work. Yes this does reduce your freedom to leave work when you want and to listen to otherwise embarrassing music while singing along. However if you live close to a co-worker meeting up near the highway and sharing a ride could save quite a bit per month on gasoline expenses, not to mention wear and tear maintenance expenses on your vehicle.
Utility costs (water usage, unplug appliances, lights). All of these are little costs which can add up quickly over time. Don’t leave the lights on when you go to sleep or have them on in the house at all (if you don’t need them). Instead of taking a 20 minute shower, try a 5 minute one. Instead of doing the laundry four times a week consolidate your loads and do it once or twice a week.
Pay cash (carrying a checkbook or with debit can lead to more spending). This is a great way to save money, but in order to employ this method you must first establish a budget in order to know how much money you will need for expenses throughout the week. It is far too easy to swipe a debit card (paying at the pump being one of the few exceptions) or write a check for things that you don’t need. Pull $100 out from the ATM before the week starts and tell yourself that once the money is gone, it’s gone. Pay only cash for your weekly expenses, as the money starts to dwindle in your wallet you will be surprised how much you contemplate an expenditure before forking over a $20 bill to a cashier for some frivolous item.
Set aside your extra money immediately. As a generic example let’s say you get paid $1000 every two weeks and all of your expenses amount to $500. You know that you will use an extra $200 for miscellaneous expenditures which leaves $300 leftover. I would suggest immediately making that extra $300 harder to access, especially if you are saving for a major purchase (or just saving in general). Move the money to a dedicated savings account, take the money out and stick it in your safe, turn the money into something tangible (coins, preps, ammo) which you could later re-convert to cash if you had to . Whatever your method I would suggest making it harder for you to access the funds because if the funds are there the temptation to utilize them could be overwhelming.
The bottom line. Not all of these methods could apply to your specific circumstances, heck maybe none of them do. The point here is that by being disciplined and diligent there are ways to “find” extra money within your budget, money that could be put to use shoring up your prep supplies. Examine your needs and wants, balance your budget against that and hopefully success will follow. If you have additional thoughts please post them in the comment section, if you liked what you read here please share it with a friend!
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