Shannon M. Medisky - The Complete Idiots Guide to Stretching Your Dollar

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Everything costs more these days, and you seem to be spending more on the same items youve been buying for yearsand youre not getting more for your money. How can you continue to buy what you need without continually increasing your spending? The answer: you learn how to stretch your dollar.

When I quit my full-time job to stay at home and care for our children, I knew I was also taking on a new jobfull-time economistand I soon came to realize that when it comes to money and making ends meet, necessity is indeed the mother of invention. There are ways to make those proverbial ends meet, or at least get a little closer, and that doesnt have to mean drastically changing your lifestyle.

After wasting shameful amounts of money on magazines with headlines touting ways to save, I finally realized there are no real get-something-for-nothing, get-rich-quick tricks. Article after article told me what I already knew: make a budget and know how much money was going where. Well, duh, but where was the information to show me how to stretch the money I had? Out of necessity, I created new tactics for applying these commonsense techniques to stretch my dollar further. Rather than constantly worrying about how to bring in more money, I shifted my efforts toward how to get more for the money I had.

I want to emphasize the most important thing Ive learned along the way: the more effort you apply to stretching your dollar, the more success youll see. You dont have to apply all these tactics all the time to benefit from them, but the more you do, the more rewarded your bottom line will be.

In these difficult economic times, it can sometimes feel as if your finances are spinning out of control as the value of the dollar declines and prices go up. Use this book as your guide to maneuvering your spending in a tactical way. Outsmart the advertisers, demand more from what you purchase, and empower yourself to spend less while getting more. I know you can do it!

How to Use This Book

The first four chapters of this book cover the general how, when, where, and what to do to stretch and save your dollar. The information in these chapters is designed to help empower you to get more for your dollar in any situation and inspire you to find even more ways to whittle down your costs.

The remaining chapters cover specific ways to apply these concepts. While some of the ideas covered may seem overtly obvious, they are included because they obviously do work, and theyre later expanded upon in new ways.

Use this book to learn all the possible ways to stretch your dollar and how you can train yourself to discover new money-saving tactics to apply to your own situation.

Little Extras

Throughout the book youll also find sidebars to aid you in learning how to stretch your dollar. Heres what to look for:

Penny Pitfall

These boxes alert you to warnings to heed and ways to look out for your dollar.

definition

These boxes define terms every serious dollar stretcher needs to know.

Dollar $tretcher_

Look to these boxes for quick and easy tips and tricks to make your dollar really s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

Super Saver

Here youll find bits of information you may not have known that help you further stretch and save your bucks.

Acknowledgments

Id like to thank my best friend and partner in life, Jason. I will never take the life weve built together for granted. You have my gratitude and love forever. Thanks also to our two sons, Nate and Mark, who give me the incentive to be the best steward of our resources I can be. Thank you to my Creator for giving me the ability to seek creative solutions and the gift of finding contentment with what I already have.

Trademarks

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Penguin Group (USA) Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Chapter 1

How to Save Money

In This Chapter

What and who you need to know to save

DIY clearance items

When to buy quality

Cash, check, or credit?

Great ways to get and use coupons

If youre like most people, at one time or another (probably more recently than not) youve stood at the cash register waiting with slight trepidation for the total to ring up, or youve looked down at your outgoing bills with a flutter of fear in your heart. Rest assured, youre not alone.

We all want to maintain our current lifestyle while reducing the amount of money we spend to have it, right? Does that seem like wishful thinking to you? Well, its not! Stop wishing and make it happen. The tips and techniques in this book can help you keep your shopping cart just as full while you save money. Thats what stretching your dollar is all about: more for less.

Knowledge Is Your Key to Savings

Ignorance may be bliss in some situations, but its certainly not when it comes to saving money. Simply not knowing any better leaves you victim to higher prices, shoddy quality, and fewer options. Lack of knowledge isnt an excuse, but it may very well be the reason many people dont get the most from their money.

Educating yourself doesnt have to be drag, though. In fact, it can be fun because getting more for less can be a great challenge. Turn it into a game to see how much more you can get while keeping your spending at the same level it is now (or even dropping it!). Some things will be easy, while others will be more challenging. For instance, for small purchases, all you might have to do to stretch your dollar is simply look at all the options on the store shelf before putting something in your cart. On the other hand, major purchases will likely require more effort because more of your money is at stake.

The good news is that the more effort you put in to acquire all this spending knowledge, the more youll be rewarded when you shell out less money at the cash register and keep more green in your wallet.

What You Need to Know

Lets start with the what of stretching your dollars. If youve ever read anything on how to save money, youve likely heard it said time and time again: make a list and know what youre going to get before you go shopping. This is true, but theres a lot more worth figuring out before you plunk down your money.

Decide in advance exactly what you need to get out of your purchase so youll know how much money to invest in it. Advertisers pay big bucks to entice you to purchase their products. Knowing exactly what you want helps you withstand the siren song of more than you need, not to mention the advertising ploys. Sometimes good enough really is; dont allow yourself to get talked intoand pay formore.

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