Give Yourself A Raise, You Deserve It!

After watching a few episodes of Extreme Cheapskates I realized a few things:

•  You probably won't see me at the park picking weeds for a salad;
• I will opt for Quilted Northern in my bathrooms rather than cut up old pieces of cloth;
• I will not ask other diners if they are finished with their meals, and if I can have their leftovers;
• I will not boil a goat head for dinner simply because I could snag if for $1.17. 

What I will tell you is that not all of the things done, or said, were completely insane. Actually, one thing that stuck in my head was "if you pinch the pennies, the dollars will follow". Don't get me wrong, the guy wasn't a brain surgeon or anything, but simply understood a basic theory. Not only do those pennies add up over time, but the saying "a penny saved is a penny earned" actually holds some water.

A little extra cash

Let's say when you receive your next paycheck there is an extra $3000.00, completely tax free. After verifying it wasn't an error in accounting, would you not do a little happy dance? Of course you would! So why aren't you claiming your $250 a month raise now?

Before you stomp into your boss' office claiming I said you deserve a raise, let me clarify... YOU can give yourself that tax free raise by reviewing your budget and shopping smarter. Here's where that penny saved, penny earned thing comes into play.

Start saving now

When you save money on the services you use (car insurance, utilities, etc) and purchases (groceries, toiletries, household goods, etc), you are essentially giving yourself a raise. How? It increases your spendable income, while not having you put in more hours at the office. Still confused? Let me simplify...

If you make more money at your job, you pay more in taxes. So by decreasing the amount you pay for things, it increases your "left over income", allowing you to have more spending power to use for things like paying down credit card debt, car loans, and mortgages. By doing so, you are also decreasing the amount of interest you'd end up paying in the long run, which saves you even more money. 

How does it work?

What it really boils down to is that if you save money on the things you spend money on (including utilities), you really don't have to "make" more to do the same amount of stuff....

So how can you do that with your utilities?  By simply calling and asking. 

Electricity, cable, internet, satellite, and phone services...just make the call. Many of these providers will offer a special rate to keep you as a customer. Others may offer a free premium upgrade instead. 

Getting help

Don't like negotiating for yourself? Maybe you just don't have the time. Instead give BillCutterz a try. You just send them a copy of the bills you'd like lowered, and they take it from there. 

Kyle from The Penny Hoarder was able to get his bills lowered by $267. Not bad for just a couple of bills and a few minutes of time. 

So instead of putting in more hours on the job, spend a few on your budget. You might just be surprised how much you could end up saving.

Want to see more ideas about saving money? Check out my other posts on The Money Diet, and follow me on Facebook.