Easy Ways to Stretch Your Dollar

The following is a guest post from Jenni Sunde. Thank you Jenni for the great article!

Stretching your dollars so that you can afford nicer things may seem like a contradictory goal, but it falls more along the lines of quality over quantity. If you want to live a touch more luxuriously without breaking the bank, there are some simple and easy ways to stretch your dollar. All it requires is a bit of careful consideration and a basic understanding of how money works.

Beware of Small Expenses (They Add Up): Even if you are spending as little as five dollars a day on lunches out, you are still spending five dollars a day. If this is coupled with a daily coffee purchase, you are likely looking at between $7 and $10 a day spent on food, and this is a modest estimate. This can easily become $35 to $50 a week. By the end of the month you could have spent $200. Brown bag lunches are the answer. Bring your own lunches, and brew your own coffee.

Sure, it is OK to eat out once in a while, but the savings from packing a lunch can go a long way. This is a perfect example of quality over quantity. For example, if you only ate out for lunch twice a month you could splurge and spend $15 on a meal and have a great quality of a dining experience, but still only be spending $30 as opposed to $200 each month.

Slash Recurring Costs (Like Insurance): Reducing insurance costs by seeking better rates is a great way to stretch your dollar. It is often an option to renegotiate rates with your providers every six months or so. I bet there is something you could do to reduce your car insurance premiums or your health insurance coverage. It doesn't hurt to ask. Even if it is just a few dollars here and there, that money can go a long way.

You may also want to find ways of reducing how often you drive. Not only are there reduced rates for drivers that are on the road less, but you will also spend less on gas. If you were to ride share, take the bus, or bike to work even just twice a week, you could potentially save $100 a month on transportation costs, likely more.

You could then use this money to take that extra day of vacation when the holidays roll around- another great example of high quality living on a budget.

Know Thyself (And Thy Expensive Habits): Simple strategies like not grocery shopping while you are hungry to avoid buying extra food, not getting those extra 50 channels on your cable plan no matter how cool they seem or spending less time with your spendthrift friends are all small ways to contribute to savings.

By developing good habits like these you could be saving thousands more dollars every year. Sure, you cut a few corners in the day-to-day, but do you really need all that stuff anyway?

Think about the few extra thousand you could use to plan a luxurious international trip or the fact that you could just keep the savings and put it towards something else you would like to buy in the future.

Regardless, finding ways to stretch your dollar is always a good decision.

Jenni Sunde is a freelance fashion writer and pop culture junkie. Jenni specializes in all things lifestyle-related. From home and design to health and beauty. With her love of art and all things beautiful, she delights in sharing her sense of style from her life to your computer monitor. Her title pegs her as an editor at a website that specializes in providing people with a quick car insurance quote, but her passion leads her into writing with a little more substance and a lot more heart.

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Photo By: Images of Money