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What if I told that exactly one year from now, you can be $10,000 richer than you are right now? We could ALL use a raise this year, am I right? And maybe you didn’t get one… or worse yet, maybe you did, but it was completely negated by the increased inflation! No worries. I am going to share my best tips on how to be richer this year without getting a second job.
How To Be Richer This Year:
Some of these tips will show you how to be richer this year by saving money in your budget, and some of these will be ways to earn extra money. I have done all of these in my journey and all work well for different reasons. At the end of the day, it’s still money in your pocket. And that’s always a good thing!
1.) Cut the Cord!
You don’t need cable anymore. You have the internet, you already have Netflix, so just be done with cable. I hear you saying the men in your household can’t live without ESPN? Well… they don’t have to! Check out these 10 alternatives to cable!
I’ll share a quick highlight and tell you my two favorite services right now are Sling TV and DirecTV Now. With Sling, I get all the cable channels, and it’s only $20 a month.
Monthly Saving: $50
Annual Savings: $600
Running Total: $600
2.) Sign Up for Opinion Outpost
Opinion Outpost is BY FAR my favorite online survey company. By just taking a few surveys a month (which don’t take long and are actually interesting), you earn $15 a month EASILY.
Monthly Earnings: $15
Annual Earnings: $180
Running Total: $780
If you use one of the major carriers for your cell phone service, you are easily paying $60+ per line! It is crazy that we have come to accept this as the norm. And you probably have at least two lines in your home.
You can SAVE big time with Republic Wireless! For a 1GB plan, you will pay $20, and then they give you a refund for any data that you didn’t use. The average refund is $8, so on average, you will only pay $17 a month for your smartphone plan! Oh, and if you go over, they don’t rip you off.
Check out my full review of Republic Wireless here.
Monthly Savings: $72
Annual Savings: $864
Running Total: $1,644
4.) Shop at Aldi
Basically, Aldi is my favorite grocery store. Maybe my favorite store period. All I know is that when I shop at the local supermarket, I spend about $30 more per trip. If you are lucky enough to have an Aldi local to you, making this one change will easily save you $120 a month.
If you are just getting started at ALDI, I share my 30 favorite things to buy there, and here are my top 13 shopping tips for ALDI!
Monthly Savings: $120
Annual Savings: $1,440
Running Total: $3,084
5.) Use Swagbucks
Every little bit helps, and it’s REALLY easy to make some extra cash using Swagbucks. I’ve got a whole post dedicated to showing you how to use it in the easiest ways possible. With just a minute or two a day, you can easily earn $15 a month just sitting in front of the TV in the evening.
PLUS when you shop online any items purchased through Swagbucks reward you with extra earnings!
You can sign up HERE.
Monthly Earnings: $15
Annual Earnings: $180
Running Total: $3,264
6.) Meal Plan
If you really want to know how to be richer this year (or any year), this might be the easiest and most significant change you can make. Personally, I save HUNDREDS per month by planning and preparing my dinners ahead of time. The honest truth is money isn’t the only thing I’m saving. I have also saved hours of time and lots of sanity!
Meal planning is the secret sauce because there is literally zero food waste. Secondly, while the meals are fantastic while focusing on using less expensive ingredients.
I’ve carefully crafted a bunch of meal plans that you can use; I’ve made it as easy as possible. Each is created with ALDI shopping lists, so you can save in two ways through meal planning and because you are shopping at ALDI!
Here are my Aldi meal plans – or you can start with the free one below!
Monthly Savings: $200
Annual Savings: $2,400
Running Total: $5,664
Look at that – we are about halfway through the list and you’ve already saved over $5,000 in your journey on how to be richer this year!!
7.) BUDGET
I know the word “budget” isn’t something you like to read. But learning how to budget will save you thousands. Trust me.
This is one tip that doesn’t allow me to put a hard number on. All I know is that from experience, in any month where I do a budget, I spend considerably LESS money than those months where I neglect my budget. Like, hundreds of dollars.
To a spender like me, a budget is invaluable. Even if you feel like you can’t figure out how to budget when you don’t make enough money, you’ve got to start. And let me help.
Monthly Savings: $100 (VERY conservative estimate)
Annual Savings: $1,200
Running Total: $6,864
8.) Sell Stuff!
Here is your challenge: spend a couple of hours going through your basement, garage, attic, and closets. Find stuff that you don’t use (make sure it’s in good condition though). Get started selling it using Craigslist, Facebook, eBay, or a bunch of other apps that make selling stuff easier than ever.
But sometimes, nothing beats a good old-fashioned garage sale – here’s how to have a super successful garage sale.
I can almost guarantee that you find AT LEAST $1,000 worth of stuff. I personally do this every few years and consistently fetch $1,000. That’s a nice emergency fund right there!
Annual Earnings: $1,000
Running Total: $7,864
9.) Don’t Go Out to Eat
I love going to restaurants. . . not having to cook OR clean the kitchen is a sweet treat! The reality is with a family it can get expensive in a hurry! Did you know that the average family spends $225 a month going out to eat? Instead, I recommend keeping about $25 a month set aside for getting pizza or takeout, but for the rest of the month – don’t go out to eat!
Again, restaurants aren’t bad and it means a lot to me to support local businesses. I encourage you to use meals out as a special treat and not something you do weekly. You will save a TON of money. Above all, when you do go out, make sure to use a coupon when you go! Here’s a comprehensive list of 72 restaurant freebies!
Monthly Savings: $200
Annual Savings: $2,400
Running Total: $10,146
10.) Get $500 in Free Cash-Back Rewards with Chime Bank
That’s right! The online-only Chime Bank has a “keep the change” type program that gives you a weekly 10% bonus on what you saved that week, up to $500 each year.
Running Total: $10,646
I realize you might already do some of these things, in which case you might not have learned how to be richer using the ideas specific to this post. But here’s the thing – I didn’t list everything!
Do you have some awesome ideas on becoming richer by doing some really simple things? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
COMMENTS
I see a lot of these articles on how to save money or make a few extra dollars, but none of them ever suggests this: do your own maintenance on your vehicles. It’s easy and convenient to drive into a shop to get an oil change, wiper fluid topped off, filters and wipers replaced and tires rotated for a few dollars. So why not save yourself the cost of parts and labor by learning to do it yourself. You can leave the major issues for your mechanic, but everything I mentioned above you can do yourself. There are tons of ‘how to’ articles and videos you can look up on practically any model vehicle.
I completely agree! I actually wrote about it HERE… but many of the tips can be included in this article as well. Thanks 🙂
The same goes with home repairs. Take some of that money and buy a decent set of tools. You will be amazed at what you can do. There will be a learning curve, but youtube and DIY websites abound.