In this article, I want to discuss some ideas for how to increase your cash flow. Often times, you can look at your “big-ticket” items in your expenses and find ways to reduce the amount you spend. By reducing your expenses, you are increasing your cash flow. In this article, we will look at food, utilities, and rent/mortgage.
Ideas for Reducing Your Groceries/Food Bill to Increase Your Cash Flow
We all need to eat! The first of four ideas for how to increase cash flow is by reducing the amount you spend on groceries and food. Food is often a big-ticket item for many people and can easily get out of hand quite quickly. Eating out at restaurants and getting take-out can really reduce your cash flow. So, if you are already eating out a lot, consider cutting back to an amount you think is reasonable. Try packing your lunch for work each day instead of eating out. Will you miss out on spending time with your coworkers who go out to eat? You could suggest to your coworkers that they bring their lunch as well. Then, you and your coworkers can play a board game during lunch at a communal table area.
Couponing/ Ibotta
Many people often coupon as another way to save money on their groceries. Many people see great returns with this. I personally don’t do so much couponing, but one thing I do is called Ibotta. Ibotta is an app that is essentially a digital form of couponing. I find that it saves time. I scroll through the app on my phone and select which deals I want. Additionally, I don’t have to remember to bring my coupons to the store or present them at checkout (which I always forget)! I get the cash back right through the app.
Meal Prep Ideas To Increase Cash Flow
Another way that you can regain time is to meal prep. This is also an effective way to save money. When you need a meal, you’ll be able to put together your whole meal with zero cooking. You will only need to heat it up in the microwave when it’s meal time.
For example, you can batch cook a few different proteins and carbs on the weekend. Some examples of things I like to prep for my proteins would be chicken, ground beef, or ground turkey. Those are all pretty simple but you could also grill some pork chops or instant pot a whole chicken. I also like to prep a few carbs while I’m prepping the protein. This often might include a batch of rice and sweet potatoes. Some people also prep veggies at the same time. I don’t usually prep my veggies because they are easy to cook at a meal. They also can often get soggy when reheating. However, if I do prep them, I roast them on a sheet pan or in the air fryer with a little olive oil and salt.
Ideas for Lowering Your Utility Bill To Increase Your Cash Flow
Electricity, gas, and water! This is the second of four major ideas for how to increase your cash flow. We typically all have to have these utilities for our households so this isn’t something you can eliminate completely from your bills. However, you can definitely reduce your bill and save money on them.
Electricity and gas.
If you lower your thermostat a few degrees in the winter, you can greatly save money on your heating bill. Wear socks and cozy up in your favorite hoodie with a cup of hot tea! It’s also known that sleeping in a room with cooler temperatures at night greatly benefits your sleep! Win win.
During summer time, consider raising the temperature of the thermostat a few degrees. This will save you money on your cooling bill! Additionally, be sure to turn the thermostat up when you are not home. There’s no need to cool a house that nobody is in.
Lights.
You’ve probably heard the advice to turn off lights if you aren’t in that room. Well thankfully, now a days, most LED lights are much more energy efficient which already will reduce your electric bill. So, you should check that all the lights in your house are LED. Changing from incandescent lights to LED lights will significantly reduce electrical usage and in turn, you’ll save money.
Water.
There are a few different ways you can save money on your water bill. Depending on how hard core you are, there are some easy options and more extreme options in my opinion! Take a shower instead of taking a bath! That’s not too hard of a swap. You will greatly reduce the amount of water that you use. You can set a timer for your showers to reduce your water usage if you tend to get sidetracked and your showers run long. Set a timer for 5 minutes or less if you want a harder challenge! Another option is to run the water only when you need to rinse and turn the water off when you are soaping up!
Ideas to Increase Your Cash Flow Through Your Appliances
Another set of ideas for how to increase your cash flow is by having efficient appliances in your home. You can save money by ensuring your appliances are energy efficient and water saving! There will be an initial upfront investment to purchase these but there are also ways you can save money here.
Liquidation stores offer appliances at a discounted rate. The appliances might have had something wrong with them out of the box but have been since fixed. They also might have appliances that have small cosmetic issues such as dings or scratches.
A cost-effective way to purchase different appliances is to shop through something like OfferUp, Facebook Market Place, or Craigslist. People are often moving and are looking to get rid of things fast and cheaply. We recently purchased a nearly new stainless-steel dishwasher on OfferUp for $100 (including the rental truck) that originally retailed for approximately $3000. Looking on such websites can often be a hit or miss and might take a little patience.
Rent/Mortgage
Rent or Mortgage is often your largest item you pay for monthly! This means it’s a good place to look for ways to save money here before you sign that next lease or buy that next home. This is the last area of ideas for today for how to increase your cash flow. There are a few different aspects that you can look for that might affect the price of your rent/mortgage.
Location. Often the location you choose to live in a city can have a large impact on the price you pay for rent/ mortgage. For example, I used to live in Houston, TX and when I was looking for an apartment before moving there, I was getting recommendations from people who currently lived there and worked at the place I was going to work. They were recommending apartments in a very up and coming area. That area was very popular with many new bars and restaurants around within walking distance. The apartments and condos were beautiful with the newest designs. It was definitely a scene for those without children who were looking for more community with people their age.
However, this came at a price. The rent was often above 2x what I was looking to pay. In that area, the rent was running no lower than approximately $2,000 per month. Personally, I was not looking to spend that much on rent. However, everybody values things differently and this might have been of more value to someone other than me. I ended up looking in an area about 15 minutes outside of downtown. There, it was much quieter and the rent was much more reasonable.
Determine Your Non-negotiables
I came up with a list of necessities that I would want the apartment to have and then I was able to define my search based on that. This allowed me to ensure I had my specific needs met without going overboard by falling in love with a beautiful apartment that was expensive.
For example, I wanted the apartment to have its own washer/dryer in my unit. I wanted the apartment complex to have a gate around the apartment since my car would not be in a garage. And I wanted to hopefully pay < $1,300. I ended up finding an apartment for $1,100 with those amenities that was also in an area where I’d feel safe at night. One thing you can do if you aren’t in the city to physically be able to look at the area is to go on google maps and run through a street view of the surrounding area. If you have someone who also lives in the area, you could have them drive through the area for if you’d like!
Quality of Life
One thing to think about is cleanliness. Often times, when you are really trying to save money, you think, okay I’m going to get this apartment for $300 a month and I’m going to save so much money! Well, sometimes that can backfire. One time, me and my significant other moved to Wyoming. We were looking for apartments and found a unit in a building that had 4 total units. They were offering $500 a month for the unit and it was a monthly lease! We looked at the unit, and it seemed good enough and we signed the lease and moved in a few weeks later.
Looking back, there were a few things we should have noticed. When we toured the unit, the windows and the front door were left open to the outside…to get fresh air in we later realized. After we moved into the unit, we realized how dirty and unkempt the unit was. The carpets were never washed or cleaned as we were told they would be. The carpets were very old and pet dander was the likely cause. I attempted to vaccuum and wash the carpets and they were abysmal.
We both ended up getting really sick. I’ve never been so sick before. We would avoid being in the apartment at all cost just so we didn’t have to be in there hacking and coughing. It took me weeks to recover (even after moving out). There were also mice who’d run around in the kitchen. I finally had enough and we realized it wasn’t worth saving that money and risking our health from whatever was in that apartment. We didn’t stay for another month and moved into a “standard” apartment across town and paid approximately $1200 a month for it.
Is There Value in it?
As you can see, there are many ways you can save some cash here and there. And sometimes, if you go too far trying to save money, it’s just not worth it. But it’s a very personal choice on what you find value in. Everybody will be different on where it makes sense for them to cut money and where they’d like to spend more money. With that said, everything above is where I find value in cutting money that I feel like it won’t affect my quality of life. You might feel different about different things.
Saving extra money takes a little research and thought on your part but it surely is possible. When you save money on your cost of living, you essentially increase your cash flow. It’s like you got a raise without even having to ask your boss! However, maybe the next step after reducing your cost of living IS asking for a raise from your boss! I can write an article on that in the future if there is interest. Want more ways to learn to save more money? Read this article on how to save more money on 3 common everyday use items.
Thanks for stopping by Freedom Financial Path!