Five Important Questions for Stretching Your Dollar

If you have been searching the internet for idea to help you save money on your groceries, gas, or anything else you buy, generally you find the same advice. For groceries, there is the repeating old news of using coupons, going for store brand, and using a price book. There is the ideas of recycling containers in your house for storage for other things and even making your own cleaner. All of these are great ideas, but most people already know all these tricks. So instead of not only searching for the creative solutions others have came up with, use these five questions to creatively come up with your own solutions as you go through your daily activities.

1. First question is “How can we get this cheaper?” What unique stores are in your town where you might be able to purchase the item for less. Think thrift stores, dollar stores, and so on. Generally, I begin at the dollar stores before moving to Wal-Mart or Kmart. This is a general repeats, just like the clipping coupons, but still important to ask.
2. Next question, “How can we make this last longer?” A large expense that I ask myself every week is how can I make my laundry money stretch. Living in an apartment building with the laundry mat being the only choice as we can’t buy washers and dryers, it’s costs us two dollars a load. For five people, it really adds up. To use this question, one search for other places where it is cheaper to wash. Next, drying in the house instead of the dryer. Being creative, I think about the fact that sleepwear can be worn all week because you can’t get dirty in bed. After baths, you are clean and the towel is only to soak up clean water so it’s reusable. Asking this question produces many ways to stretch my laundry change.
3. Do we really need this? This is a question I ask often which is generally everyday. If I can come up with creative ways to go without it, such as the convenience some items offer then I don’t get it. This is another repeat question but yet again a good one.
4. The previous question is generally followed by “How can we do without this particular item?” It helps to answer the question if I really need it. Using creative thinking can give us other ways to accomplish what we want without spending the extra money on this we really don’t need.
5. The last question to ask yourself is “What creative way can we make this work?” One creative solution I found was a tip from a woman who loved the ready mops. The convince of just being able to place the pad on the bottom, pull the trigger, and go is really nice not to mention expensive. This woman had taken some of her rags, added Velcro to them, and using them on the bottom of the ready mop instead of buying those disposable pads. This is a great creative solution while still having the convenience.

There are many ways to find creative solutions to stretch your dollar. They are not huge savings, but even saving a couple pennies will add up. If anything, take what you have saved on your next creative solution and put it in a jar. At the end of the month you can see exactly how much you saved by using your own creative solutions just by asking these questions.