The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Find an Extra $1000 in Your Budget This Month

Starting point is 00:00:05 What if I told you that you could find an extra $1,000 this month without a side hustle? We'll stick around to find out how and make sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a friend. All right, so we have a money finder tool, which helps you understand through a series of questions to look at your monthly income and expenses. And on average, it finds an extra $400 in people's budget per month. Now, before you start to deep dive here, here are five quick tips to get this ball rolling. Number one, if you have debt, pause retirement investing to get that money back in your paycheck.

Starting point is 00:00:40 So let's say your salary is around $75,000 and you are participating in your company's 401k match. Well, this would be about $400 back in your paycheck immediately. And many of you, especially those of you that have a two-income household, would actually double that amount if you pause retirement. So again, pausing, not stopping. I like the word pausing, but in the stopping. Stopping sounds like forever and a moment. it's not forever and ever. It's just pausing for a period of time because when you get that money back in your paycheck, you're able to throw it at debt. Get debt out of your life as quickly as possible

Starting point is 00:01:14 because when your income comes in and it's not going back out to debt payments, you get to keep it, which means you get to invest even more into retirement, which is 15% of your income, and you'll do that later after you've paid off debt. All right, number two, if you had a large tax refund, make sure to adjust your withholdings. So again, let's say the average salary, is in that $70,000 to $80,000 range, you could have $200 back in your monthly paycheck pretty instantly, which is amazing because getting a bet, a big tax refund is not a great thing. It can feel like free money when you get a check and it's maybe a couple, I don't know, $1,000 or something.

Starting point is 00:01:49 You're like, oh, my gosh, look at this. That's your money. That's your money that could have been being used to pay off debt or to save even in a high-yield savings account, right, where you get maybe 4% or 5%. But instead it's just been in Washington doing nothing. for you, not earning anything, and it's just sitting there. That's money that should have been in your paycheck. So don't look at your tax refund.

Starting point is 00:02:11 It's like a great thing. Look at it, like, okay, I need to adjust my withholding so I can get my money back. Number three, make a few significant budget cuts in your current spending routine. So again, this doesn't have to be forever, but some of these cuts can make a huge difference. Because when you look at gym memberships and streaming services, restaurants, food delivery fees, when you cut all of that out, You could easily get $2 to $300 back into your account, your money that you're not spending. Because I'm telling you, when you cut out, even just restaurants, when you look at how much money we spend going out to eat, it is insane. It is insane.

Starting point is 00:02:47 And then you look through all the things that you really don't need. Maybe it feels like you need them, but they're really just wants. And for a season, you cut everything out, you will find hundreds of dollars, you guys, which is amazing. Now, every dollar is a great way to track into organize your spending. If you've not checked out that app, I'll put a link down below. But this is going to help you actually see where your money's going so that you can cut some things out. Now, another amazing resource that you need in your life is Christian Healthcare Ministries. More than a hundred million Americans carry medical debt, which often shows that traditional

Starting point is 00:03:21 coverage leaves people to face big bills alone. So families need more than just coverage. They need community. And that's why I love Christian health care ministries. CHM is a budget-friendly faith-based alternative to health insurance, and they've paid over $12 billion in medical bills. Now, that is faith in action. With CHM, there are no networks, no insurance headaches, and programs start at just $98 a month.

Starting point is 00:03:47 Y'all, CHM is where your faith and your finances agree. So go to CHMINestries.org slash budget to learn more today. All right, number four, sell an item or two. or three, I don't know, look around, look at furniture, electronics, clothes, shoes, bags, golf clubs, kitchen gadgets. I mean, even just like two things on Facebook marketplace could get you, you know, a hundred bucks, right? 50 for each item or something. Or if you have some great things, ladies in the closet, and it's kind of just sitting there and you haven't used it in a while, make some money. Make some money. Now is the best place to sell things online because, I mean,

Starting point is 00:04:26 even like 15 years ago when we talk about selling your stuff, it'd be like a garage sale. It'd be like all these like kind of old school ways to do it. And now because of so many online options, there's so many great fashion, reused fashion websites that you can do, like that were pre-owned items, Facebook marketplace, all of it. There's so many easy ways to do this. It does take some efforts, but man, you could get some, you could get a few hundred bucks by just doing this. Number five, shopping at Aldi.

Starting point is 00:04:53 I'm not kidding, y'all. This could immediately save you. I'm going to say 100 bucks or more versus another grocery store. Like, it is crazy. My family, we have shifted majority of our shopping to Aldi. And I can't even tell you. I lowered our food budget for like, I think that was one of the first times in years. We've lowered it because our grocery shopping is, I'm not going to say it's quite in half,

Starting point is 00:05:18 but it is close to it. Like, it is wild because you still get some great things. And again, great quality items, but they are just a fraction of the price. Like, it is so wonderful. And it's funny, too, because my kids literally now beg for certain things from all day because we started buying, like, our mac and cheese, like certain things from there, some staples. And our kids prefer that over other places. And it's just, it's still, every time I go up to the grocery, too, and I go up to check out and they tell me the total because I'll have like a week's worth of groceries in there. I'm like, are you kidding me?

Starting point is 00:05:50 It is wild. So this is one of the best tips, though, for real, because your food budget, like we mentioned about restaurants earlier, we spend so much money on food. And so if you can walk into a store knowing that you're going to save money just by where you shop, it is worth it, hands down. Now, sometimes adding a side hustle to the mix is going to help you get this ball rolling even more. And it could be the next right move for you. So be sure to check out my episode. Searching for the right side hustle. Well, watch this. You can click right here, or if you're listening on podcast, I'll leave a link below.

Starting point is 00:06:23 All right, you guys, remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.

The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Find an Extra $1000 in Your Budget This Month

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