Whether you’re an old pro at budgeting, or just starting to draft your very first budget ever, we can all agree it would be easier to budget if we just made a little more money. It’s easy to say that getting a raise or a new job would solve our financial problems and help us reach our goals. However, the easiest thing to actually do is give yourself a raise. Yep! It’s possible to increase your income today, without ever having a tough conversation with your boss.
One: Cancel Recurring Subscriptions and Memberships
One of the easiest ways to give yourself a raise is to stop letting companies take your money each month without your consent. Sure, you gave them your consent at some point, but how many recurring subscriptions and memberships do you have that you aren’t actually using? Do you need Spotify, Pandora and Prime Music? Do you need Netflix, Hulu AND Disney Plus? Do you use the premium features for all of the apps on your phone that you’ve signed up for? It might feel like $8.99 a month is no big deal, but that’s $108 a year just on ONE of these. Try canceling 6 or 7 and you just paid for Christmas next year.
- premium music subscriptions you don’t need
- audio book credits you don’t read
- premium memberships you don’t use
- free trials you never canceled
- annual fees on credit cards you don’t need
- magazine subscriptions you never read
- fees associated with MLM companies you no longer work with (ex: Beachbody, Avon, Mary Kay, Doterra, Scentsy, Arbonne, etc..)- this one is HUGE! SO many people continue paying fees because they paid a large fee to “join” and if they ever want to go back, they don’t want to pay again. Spoiler alert: you won’t go back.
Two: Cancel Auto Ship Services
Auto ship services like PrimePantry, Amazon’s Subscribe and Save, Beachbody Shakeology, Advocare Spark drinks, Stitchfix, Doterra Supplements, FabFitFun, Chewy Dog Food, and a hundred others sell you the convenience of not having to remember to reorder when you get low on something or the excitement of receiving items every month. While this convenience is appealing to most, you have to question the necessity of it all. I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever run out of something that I truly needed.
Most of these companies offer a discount on the product when you participate in auto ship to sweeten the deal, but the reality is most people wind up with more than they need and have cupboards full of diet shakes they don’t drink, more K Cups than they’ll ever need, and bottles of supplements they never take.
Another problem with auto ship services is most companies have a minimum quantity, total or frequency required in order to get a discount or get free shipping. An example of this is Amazon’s Subscribe and Save. The discount increases to 15% off all items when you subscribe to 5 or more items, but it’s only 5% if you just subscribe to one. So if you really only want to auto ship and save money on diapers, but you are searching for four more items to subscribe to, your discount isn’t as fruitful as you thought.
Three: Give Yourself a COLA
What is your weakness when it comes to spending money? Mine is TJ Maxx and Target. It’s my retail therapy. I could go there every day and find something to buy that would make me happy. Before I started following a written budget, I used to go to Target when I needed one or two items like face moisturizer or a storage bin. I would leave $200 later with 3 new t-shirts, a pair of heels, a cutting board, bags of Dove chocolates, vitamins, mascara, Sharpies, etc. Doing this once a month (or more!) was doing serious sabotage to any financial goals I had. $200 a month is $2400 a year. $2400 is a lot to spend on Sharpies and t-shirts.
I decided I needed to just avoid Target all together. I know, there are some of you who think you could never do it, but if I can do it, you can too. Now that it’s been a few years, I can go there now and stick to a shopping list. It takes discipline but by avoiding it for a long time, I learned that 75% of what I was buying there was unnecessary.
My other vice is TJ Maxx. Unlike my $200 Target trips, TJ Maxx felt like a small dip in the bucket. I would go to TJ Maxx if I had a few minutes to kill or if I was bored or stressed. I would spend $30-$40 on a candle, a pair of yoga pants, a magnetic fridge pad and a new whisk. Seemingly minor purchases that felt harmless. But once a week? Once I started following a written budget and I had a set amount of spending money, I saw TJ Maxx through a different lens. The harmless $30 purchases swallowed all of my spending money for the month, leaving me feeling restricted. I decided I needed to do the same thing I did with Target and avoid it at all costs.
When you consider these numbers and the COLA (3% cost of living adjustment) in the United States, I like to look at quitting Target and TJ Maxx as an additional 3% raise.
- If your salary is $50,000, your 3% COLA raise would be $1500.
- $30 a week (on lunch or Starbucks or TJ Maxx or craft beer) is $1560 a year.
- If your salary is $80,000, your 3% COLA raise would be $2500.
- $200 a month (on a trip to Target, a night out to dinner, an online shopping splurge) is $2400.
Give yourself a raise and stop going to TJ Maxx (or whatever your weakness is).
Four: Sell Your Clutter
Sell stuff. I used to hear people say this all the time when I would read about ways to save money and pay off debt. I always used to think this is only a great idea for people with valuable stuff. I don’t think I have anything particularly valuable, and if I do, it’s not the stuff I would sell. Garage sales are a tried and true way to make a few hundred bucks, but they require a lot of time to plan and good weather: two things that I don’t have a lot of.
Then came the internet. Websites like Poshmark, Mercari and Facebook marketplace make it SO easy to sell your stuff. It doesn’t have to be a $300 designer purse for people to want it. Last year I sold all of my cloth diapers on Facebook marketplace to another mom in my town. I recently listed all of my maternity clothes on Poshmark and made a few hundred dollars in a matter of 2 days. Poshmark makes it effortless because they provide you with the shipping label and they have a partnership with USPS to provide free shipping boxes. I always donate clothes when I am done with them, but Poshmark has opened my eyes to making extra money on the items I invested in.
Five: Limit Your Screen Time
Hear me out: every time you pick up your phone, you increase the chance that you’ll spend money. Whether it be shopping online, being inundated with ads on social media, being influenced by accounts you follow, opening emails from retailers with coupons, scrolling Pinterest and discovering a new hobby, recipe or decor you “need”. Limiting your screen time helps you become content with what you have. Scrolling through social media can make you feel like you need stuff, or a vacation, or a product to be content and happy. Make a point to unplug and enjoy the blessings that you already have. Contentment is a huge part of financial success and sticking to a budget!
