When living on a tight budget it may be a challenge to get started on your financial journey. Don’t be discouraged, whether you are a graduate student living on a stipend, living on a fixed income like Social Security, or early on in a career with a low to moderate income. These financial hacks are for you!
As a second time graduate student, I have been challenged to live on a tight budget. During my Master’s program from 2010 – 2012 I made $11,000 – $12,00 per year as a Teaching Assistant in Maryland. Last year I entered a PhD program and this time my stipend has been $26,500 – $27,500 as a Research Assistant in Wisconsin.
Note: In both cases, tuition was covered, but fees were not, and my stipend was deemed taxable income.
Find your way around:
Financial Hacks For Everyone!
Here are some quick and easy concepts for no matter what your situation is. They are listed in order of the biggest potential savers to the least. It’s ok if not every idea works for your lifestyle, but why not choose one or two to get started?
Roommates/House Share
Split the bill for housing and free up cash for other opportunities.
If your living on a limited income, there is a good chance that you are doing this already without even thinking about it. While it may be roommates during college, participating in a house share, or simply living with a significant other: splitting your housing bill is a great way to save money.
It is often recommended to spend no more than 30% of your income on housing. However, why stop there? Cohabitation can help bring this amount even lower. As a couple living in a 2-bedroom apartment, our current rent is closer to 15% of our total income after taxes. To learn more, check out how Renting is not throwing your money away!
Buying Display Pieces
Why not opt for “Like-New” items where you don’t have to pay for depreciation.
This may not always come to mind, but when you are shopping for new furniture or dishware, why not take a look at the display pieces? This could knock off $100-200 for a dinning room table or couch because it was on display. Yes, there may be some minor wear and tear. Although, even those that were not on the floor for long can still be in great shape with a discount. Bonus is that you can sometimes get an additional discount for purchasing with cash as a lot of people tend to finance these purchases.
Dishware
The next time you want to upgrade your dishes, check out Bed Bath and Beyond’s former display sets. These will not be on the end caps. Typically last seasons dishware will be on a shelf in the back in an open box. This allows you to inspect the dishware to see if you like the look of it. Also, these will be severely marked down because they usually expect these to go unsold and get sent back to the original warehouse without costing the store anything.
A few months ago we wanted to get a new set of dishes as a Newly Wed couple. While this seasons dishes were $20 per piece, we took a look in the back shelves and found two different former display sets. We decided to go with one that had the look that we liked, but the box was in rough shape. When we checked out they gave us the discounted rate $14.99 for the display, and another 20% off for the torn up box. All in all, it was less than $1 per dish for 4 bowls, 8 plates, and 4 mugs. All in perfect shape! The same set is currently on sale on Amazon for $88 new.
Goodwill Shopping
Functional items at a great price while supporting your local community.
Look no farther than goodwill. Great prices, supporting your local community, and up-cycling! It’s a win-win for everyone! Goodwill’s and other Thrift shops have stepped up their game over the past decade. Anytime we need to buy something we check Thrift Stores first. When the gyms closed down during the pandemic but we still wanted to exercise, we found a set of weights for our home gym for $5. When our old glass bowl broke, we replaced it with another one for $1. We even found thermals for $10 per set, which helped us brave the cold Wisconsin winter.
Amazon – Bulk Goods w/o Membership
Buy the same staples you get at the store but at wholesale prices.
There once was a time when we used Amazon to buy the latest gadget. It was delivered to our door in 2-days or less before we could even think about the true value of the purchase. Now we use Amazon to buy bulk goods that we would normally buy anyways at the store and have even managed to kick the monthly subscription fee.
We use this to stock our medicine cabinet, vitamins, tea, and seasonings. All items that tend to have a large mark-up if you buy at the regular grocery store, so instead why not get those savings yourself? Buying online lets us do price comparison easily and even opt for organic, fair-trade options without the insane price-tag.
Discount Groceries
Why not try Aldi’s, Imperfect Foods, or a local CSA to save on food cost?
Sometimes we view our food budget as not even a budget. Buying whatever we need at the time for the latest cooking inspiration. Although, what if you could save on staples while still having specialty items? While food assistance is based on income, anyone can shop at Aldi’s! Aldi’s has two options for everything in the store: conventional and organic. Two choices instead of 30 helps them keep the prices down and gets you in an out of the store faster with slightly less variety of choices than a typical grocery store.
If you are having a hard time finding organic options in the store why not try Imperfect Foods? They help tackle food waste and pass the savings on to you. Also, if you are working with a low income you can apply for an additional discount based on income level or SNAP qualification.
Sign up for Imperfect Foods Here and get $20 off your first box! Try it out today and let us know how it works for you!
Join a CSA
In the mood for farm fresh produce? When we lived in Maryland we participated in a Crop Sharing Arrangement. For about $25/week we got fresh picked produce from a local farmer that was all organic and of amazing quality.
Need more help with setting a food budget? Read about Frugality through food!
Note: Our weekly food budget for 2 people is $125 and this includes Aldi’s, Imperfect Foods, Standard Grocery store, and a Co-op. Once a month we will stock up on bulk foods via Amazon and small local businesses for $100/month.
Utilizing Your Library Card
Put your favorite new book on hold at the library rather than on your bookshelf.
Have some books on your “Must-read” list? Why buy them right out when you can borrow them from your local library. This goes for both physical books and even audio-books! Now, they might not always have every book as soon as it’s published, but if your patient you can get almost anything. With this financial hack we have been able to rent books like:
- JLColins – “The Simply Path to Wealth”
- Kristy Shen & Bryce Leung – “Quit Like a Millionaire”
- David Bach – “Smart Couples Finish Rich”
Bing – Free Months of Subscriptions
While it’s great to limit subscriptions, for those you keep, here’s how to reduce the price per year.
This is one of the oldest financial hacks that I used back in 2013 and have recently gotten back into. If you are on a tight budget but still enjoy the occasional Netflix or Hulu session, than this is for you! We all know that companies track what your searching and sell it to other businesses. Although, did you know that by using Bing.com you can share in the profits too?
After about 5-10min/day of using Bing as your search engine you can earn points that you can redeem for gift cards. Hulu has a direct transfer rate through bing for a $25 gift card. For Netflix, while they no longer have direct transfers, there is a way around this. Accumulate enough points for $25 of Amazon cards. Redeem and checkout a Netflix gift card on Amazon for the same amount. Both of these covers about 2 months of service depending on your plan. While the number of points required for a redemption do change overtime, you can expect to cash out at least twice a year with minimal effort.
Note: Bing will give you more points for purchases made through Microsoft. However there is no purchase necessary, simply search, take quizzes, and participate in free activities to earn ~300 pts per day.
Financial Hack For Students!
Using your Student Discount
A lot of companies provide a special rate for Teachers and Students! This covers all levels of school and typically only requires a .edu email address to sign up. So before you pay full price, check around. I recently signed up as a student for Creative Cloud the full Adobe software suite for $21/month instead of $55/month.
Don’t forget to see what your University already offers – for example, I have access to the full Microsoft office suite through my University. I pay fees every semester and this is factored into what is charged for the base fees. So I make sure to use it!
What to do with those dollars saved?
If you have access to a workplace 401k or 403b retirement plan make sure to invest enough to get the full employer match. We recommend starting with at least 10% contribution and moving this up 1% a month until you reach your max capacity. (If you reach 20% and find it reduces your pay check too much, scale back to 19% until your next raise).
However, not everyone has access to these plans. If your thinking that you don’t have enough to invest this next option may be for you!
Get Investing with Acorns
While not everyone recommends investing apps that charge a service fee, sometimes it’s better to just get started. If you think you have an extra $25 a month that you would like to put towards long-term goals, then Acorns may be right for you. Acorns charges $1 a month for the basic service, but allows you to invest when you make normal purchases, set recurring investments of as little as $5, and invest extra when the mood strikes you.
I have used Acorns “Lite” since Jan 2018 and at first this was just a test, since I was already contributing to a workplace 401k. I utilized the round-ups feature and never deposited more than $50 at a time. Most contributions were in $5 increments into the “Aggressive” investment option, and even with the recent dip here is my performance.
Sign up for Acorns Here and get $5 bonus to start your investing journey! Try it out today and let us know how it works for you!
Get started saving!
Now that you are equipped with a few easy tools to get saving, why not start today. Sign up for a library card or price out your household staples at Aldi’s or Amazon. It is never too late to learn new hacks that can help you get going on a path to financial stability and even financial independence! Let us know what your favorite hack was!
Let us know that you liked our content by
New to the blog? Check out our latest content:
New to the blog? Check out our latest content:
Connect with us today!
Great information! Thanks Brad.