econ_AAiU_will_the_economic_ideas_work_or_is_it_just_a_temporary_fix
economic ideas from Maryalene LaPonsie on March 2, 2016
10 Ways to Save When You’re Making Minimum Wage
Is your income too low to use any of the typical money-saving strategies?
Here are 10 ideas that take cost-cutting to a whole new level.
By Maryalene LaPonsie on March 2, 2016
Are you squeaking by on minimum wage?
If so, it might seem like there is little hope for you to get money into savings. After all,
working full time on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour
brings in a whopping $15,080 a year before any taxes.
But even if your budget is down to the bare bones, there are still things you can do
to build up your savings. Here are 10 ideas worth considering:
1. Get out of debt
If you’re only making minimum wage, you can’t afford to be sending money
to a car financing company, Visa, MasterCard or
Discover.
Think about it this way: If you had no house payment, no car payment and no credit card payment,
what’s left? The only bills you might need to pay would be utilities, taxes, insurance,
gasoline for your car and food for yourself.
In many areas of the country, you could do that on $15,000 a
year.
We’ll talk a little more about affordable housing options in a minute,
but for everything else in your life, make living debt-free a
priority.
2. Hoard gifts of money, tax refunds and other windfalls
To get out of debt and build up your savings, make smart use
of any extra cash you get.
For example, if you make minimum wage and have children,
chances are you’re entitled to the Earned Income Tax Credit.
That could mean you get thousands of dollars from Uncle
Sam each year.
Until you get on firm financial ground, resist the urge to spend windfalls.
Put a couple hundred dollars in the bank as an emergency fund and ship the rest off
to your creditors. If you’re debt-free (hooray!),
bank at least half of it before you think about spending a
cent.
3. Save your pennies
Start a change jar and put your coins into it every night.
At the end of the month, roll up the coins and put them in a
savings account.
You won’t retire rich off the money you collect, but you could end up with $10 or $20 a month
to pad your savings account. That’s not much, but when you’re making $7.25 an hour,
every little bit helps.
4. Skip processed food
Processed food often is unhealthful.
You will feel better and save money on health care costs in the long run
if you say goodbye to canned, boxed and frozen meals.
If you need some menu inspiration, check out budget cookbooks from your local library.
“Family Feasts for $75 a Week” and “The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook”
are two you may find worth reading.
5. Park the car
After housing, your car is probably your biggest money pit.
You need to pay for insurance, registration and gas,
plus you might even have a monthly payment on it.
You’ll free up tons of money in your budget if you can get rid of your car
or at least drive it less often.
Depending on where you live and your personal situation, you
may be able to:
•Use public transportation exclusively.
( we tried this, 4 or more people paying to go to work as a group per day, to another city,
and or to where bus don't go, and or what time the bus don't run,
and it is cheaper to use a car / truck ... ???
if you need to bring tools to work, you may be allowed to go to where you are going on the bus,
but, not be allowed to come back on the bus,
because of your work tools, and it cost us over $80 dollars to get a taxi to get home )
•If you’re a two-car family, sell one vehicle.
•If you have years left on a vehicle loan, sell the car and
buy a cheaper one.
•Carpool with a co-worker or friend and split the car costs.
•Combine errands and appointments to minimize gas and parking
costs.
6. Rethink child care
Child care is crazy expensive. If you have two income earners in your house,
and both are making minimum wage, you might come out ahead
if one adult stays home with the kids.
Not only will that eliminate day care costs, you’ll also save
on gas and other work-related expenses.
7. Sell what you can
Get serious about saving by scrutinizing everything you own.
You could have a yard sale to sell old clothes, trinkets and kitchen gadgets, but think bigger.
Sell the furniture you don’t need. Sell your movie collection. Sell the TV. I’m serious!
The kids will find something else to do.
8. Find a roommate
Finding affordable housing can be a nightmare.
Subsidized housing is available, but wait lists are long
and the properties aren’t always in ideal locations.
If you can’t find a place with cheap rent, the next best thing may be to get a roommate.
Another option. if you live in a house, might be to rent out a room.
Either way, you get a break on your monthly payment as well as
on the utilities.
You can find potential roommates on websites like Roommates.com and EasyRoommate.com.
Sites like Craigslist or your local paper may be good places to place ads if you have a room to rent.
( yea, but is it safe ... ??? )
9. Move somewhere cheaper
Maybe despite your best efforts, you simply can’t find an inexpensive place to live.
In that case, it may be time to do something radical.
You may want to move to a new city or a state with a lower
cost of living.
That isn’t permission to simply pack up and go without a place to stay
or a plan for what to do when you get there.
Instead, do your research first and line up a job in
advance.
10. Make more money
Finally, if none of these suggestions sounds like much fun,
it’s because it’s really hard to get by on very little
income. You know that.
To make more money, you could work harder or you could work smarter.
Choose the second option. Rather than spending your life working two or even three jobs to get by,
get the right education and training for a career that will let you live comfortably.
Look into jobs that require only a two-year associate
degree.
Talk to your local community college to find out which careers are in demand in your area.
Its financial aid office should also be able to help you learn about programs
that can pay for your tuition and eliminate the need to
take out student loans.
Do you have any great tips for saving while making minimum wage?
Share them in our Forums.
It’s a place where you can swap questions and answers on money-related matters,
life hacks and ingenious ways to save