How To Manage Your Money

How CAN I manage My Money when I have none?

This is a survey question I need to ask for my in english class.
Just give your opinion on how you yourself Manage Your Money in this economy.

When I have no money to spare for ‘extras’, I manage what I have by getting the absolute best bang for my buck that I can…

I plan all of my weekly meals based on sales in the weekly grocery fliers.

I only shop the outside of the grocery store (bread, dairy, meat… everything up & down the isles is junk food)!

And I don’t buy anything that isn’t on sale (I always check the sales / discount racks & Shelves first).

And I always, always ask the manager if they can “do better” on the price (the worst they can do is say “no”, and in that case, you’re no worse off… it’s not like you are going to have to pay MORE because you asked for a discount! LOL!)… I only ask for these discounts on things like clothes and household goods, but not for groceries (the food industry is already heavily subsidised with governments helping out the farmers with $… we actually pay less for food than it’s really worth!).

And if I’m feeling brave enough (or poor enough!), I’ll sometimes ask the manager if they can give me a small discount of 1 or 2% if I pay with cash instead of with a credit card (because if I pay with a credit card the store has to pay 3% to the credit card company)! It’s not much; 2% on a $100 purchase is only $2, but if you do that 100 x’s, that’s $20, which is a LOT when you have NO money, especially if you have to decide between buying food or medicine!

I sign up with coupon websites and I clip coupons from the newspaper.

And I try to grocery shop first thing in the morning, when they mark down the day old bread, meat, and dairy (I once had a friend tell me that marked down food is rotten, but it’s not bad at all — it’s actually ILLEGAL to deliberately sell rotten food — and if you look at the date, there’s still a day or two, or sometimes three days before it’s due to spoil!)… You just have to freeze it or cook it right away.

And I phone manufactures of the products I use most. like toilet paper, deodorant, and such (their phone # is usually on the product), to ask if they can send out some coupons.

I try to find “free” entertainment… invite friends over for cards, or charades.

Sometimes friends & I will pool a dinner or two through the week… someone will supply the meat, someone else the veggies, and someone else the starch (pasta / potato / rice), and we’ll all sit down together to a well-rounded, healthy, nutritious dinner topped off with the warmth & companionship of much-loved friends (who all really had no dinner to speak of, individually, and would have sat down *alone* to their 6 potatoes… LOL).

I double-duty things in my home… like old clothes that are too far gone to be mended end up being cut or shredded and turned into quilts & braided rugs (and sometimes I can sell them and make a little money for something treaty, like popcorn & pop & chips for our game night… it’s the only time I’ll get “extras”, and still try to buy it though, when it’s on sale, especially if I have a coupon, because then I can sometimes get stuff almost for free)!

Tips ‘N’ Stuff – How to Manage Your Money?

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