Tryin To Make A Dollar Out of 15 cents

No, this is not a post on the famous rap song, nor am I recommending that you follow any of the lyrics from the Tupac or Master P songs.??However, I am often asked the question: “How can I get more out of my paycheck?”?There are plenty of things you can do to stretch those dollars in your pocket.

A few years ago there was a?Wall Street Journal survey1?that asked “If you were to face a $2,000 unexpected expense in the next month, how would you get the funds you need?”?Only 24.9% of respondents reported being certainly able to come up with $2,000 in 30 days for an unanticipated repair or expense.?It begs the question you should ask if you have the emergency reserves for these expenses.

Here are a few things you can do to prepare for that unexpected expense:

• Know the difference between wants and needs
• Pay off credit cards (you probably do not need the item if you can’t pay the bill at the end of the month)
• Pay yourself first
• Reduce grocery bills
• Reduce phone?/??cable bills
• Clip (and USE) coupons
• Save your pay raises, don’t spend them
• Shop smarter?(especially big ticket items), learn to negotiate
• Learn to say “NO“

Let me know what Your Smart Money Move is for turning 15 cents into a dollar.

1 Wall Street Journal 5/23/2011 – ‘Nearly Half of Americans are Financially Fragile’