3 Easy Money-Saving Tricks You Need To Know
When money is tight, it’s good to have a few tricks up your sleeve for painlessly saving money. Everyone has heard the old advice about making coffee at home and skipping the fancy latte on the way to work, packing your lunch, and cutting back on little luxuries like new clothes and movie nights. But there are other ways to save money that don’t have anything to do with making sacrifices. These 3 easy tricks are painless, and can make a big difference to your bottom line over time.
• Take advantage of your credit card rewards points. If you have a credit card that gives you points for spending, be sure to redeem those points to get the most value from them. If your budget is strained, the best thing to do is redeem points for gift cards to stores you would shop at anyway. This might be a shoe store, a bookstore, or a gas station where you regularly fuel up for your commute. Often, redeeming points for gift cards rather than statement credits give you a bonus, so the points are worth more. You can easily stretch your budget when you put those credit card points to good use.
• Call and ask for credit card fees to be waived. If you’re getting slapped with late payment fees, over-the-limit fees, or other banking fees, you’d be surprised how effective it can be to simply call your financial institution or credit issuer and ask that the fees be waived. They are more forgiving than you might expect, especially if they want to keep you as a customer. There are so many banks and credit card issuers that don’t charge astronomical fees, or even don’t charge fees at all, that they are often willing to work with consumers. There’s no harm in asking that these fees be waived.
• Transfer your high-interest balances. If you have credit card debt you’re trying to pay off, the best thing to do is transfer your balances to a zero-interest card, so you can pay them off faster, with less interest. Many balance transfer credit cards offer no-interest promotional periods of up to one year, or even longer. There is usually a small fee to transfer the balance, but this is a fee well worth paying, if you have significant debt.
With these painless tricks, it’s easy to discover a little more wiggle room in your finances.
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