BEING SMART WITH YOUR MONEY

A co-worker and I were discussing ways to save and stretch your dollars and he said, "That's called being smart with your money."  It got me to thinking of all the ways to be smart with your money.  Today my sister and I spent a few hours together running errands and doing a little shopping.  We both went in the same car, so we cut traveling expenses, one way to be smart with your money.  Had to go to Walmart to pick up prescriptions and a few household items.  I used my cash back debit card to pay for my $4 prescription.  They only pay 10 cents cash back per check or card swipe, so I use it as often as possible on small ticket items to maximize percentage of return.  At any rate, in this case, my already low priced prescription was 10 cents less.  Not much you say, well it all adds up and I figure I might as well have it as giving it away.

From there we stopped at Starbucks for a coffee break, where my sister used her gold Starbucks card to pay for our drinks, netting a discount for having our own coffee mugs.  After a nice break at Starbucks we went by the local thrift store where my sister picked up a couple of chew toys for her dog (normally $10 each, she paid $2 each) and several like new brand name outfits for her granddaughter at a tremendous savings over retail.  I picked out a long sleeved Bass shirt and a short sleeved Croft and Barrow shirt, $3 each, which I figure I easily saved $50-$60 compared to normal retail.  That's called being smart with your money.  

My total spending for 2 shirts, a supply of household and laundry products, pet treats for Pickles and my prescription and over the counter medications amounted to just under $25.  If you think about it, if I'd paid retail for just one of the shirts I bought, it would have cost me more than the entire day's shopping.  Not to mention I used my cash back cards for everything except my thrift store purchases.  

These are just a few of the ideas we've come up with to stretch our dollars.  There are unlimited ways to make your money go farther, you just have to figure out how.