Do This 1 Thing No Matter How Tight Your Budget Is

Look, I know we are in the middle of a pandemic and for millions of Americans, times are tough financially.  People are job searching, redoing their budgets, and cutting corners.  2020 is not a year many of us will miss when it finally packs its bags and leaves.

Years ago when my husband and I got married, my dad passed down some advice for budgeting.  He said, (paraphrasing here because it was nearly 2 decades ago): "Always have some money that you each get that isn't accountable to the other one."

You need to have spending money each month that is YOURS.  

Here are the rules:

• The amount is agreed upon ahead of time and each person gets the same amount. It might be a minuscule amount. That's fine. Write it in the budget. 
  
  
• You get your spending money. You spend it on whatever you want.  
  
  
• The other person does not get to complain about what you bought with your spending money.
  
  
• If you want to spend it all at Starbucks. Fine.  
  
  
• If you want to save up your spending money for awhile and buy something big? Fine.

Why do we need spending money in our budget?

If you don't budget spending money for both you and your partner, you will either a) overspend, b) underspend, or c) be resentful of your partner.  

If money is super tight and your spouse comes home with a $5 frappe from Starbucks, you might be ticked.  

But if it came out of their spending money, then you can't get mad---it was their money and furthermore, you have YOUR money so if you want a frappe too, you can get one!

Having your own spending money allows each person to feel free to purchase something without feeling guilty for taking money from another budget category.

How much should we budget for spending money?

It depends greatly on your budget.  Generally we now do $50 each, each month.  Sometimes we do less if a big expense is coming up.  In the early years of marriage when money was really tight, we started with $5 a month and worked up to $10.

Can we use a credit card for our spending money?

Uhh.  It should really be cash so that once it's gone, it. is. gone.  If you must use a card (or order online), be sure to write down what you spent and keep track of how much you have left.  Do NOT go into debt for spending money.  If you can't afford more than $3 that month, then you only get $3!  

Why should I listen to you?

My husband and I aren't financial advisors, we're just people who've been married for a long time, rarely argue about money (you can count our money arguments on one hand), have been poor, have been not-poor, and have no debt except our reasonable mortgage.  

Plus, technically this advice came from my dad and he's the smartest person I know.  ;) 

4 Easy Ways to Make Money Online

There are oodles of ways to make a little extra money online.  I've written about several of them before but thought it would be helpful to compile it all into ONE post.  Here are some of my favorite ways to get a little extra money in my wallet:

This used to be called eBates. Which makes sense because it sounds like "rebates"--you know, cash back?  But then they inexplicably changed the name to this Rakuten nonsense.  Goofy unrelated name? Yes.  But, then again, I'm the idiot who named this blog Zucchini Summer when it has nothing to do with zucchini, nor summer.  So.  I guess we'll call it even.

At any rate, Rakuten/Ebates is a legit way to get some cash back if you are shopping online.  They do have a shop-in-person way to earn as well but I have not tried it and therefore cannot vouch for it.  The online is legit though.  You simply go to the ebates site, click the link to the store you want to shop at, and boom. A % cash back will be credited to your account.  This is CRUCIAL if you are Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping!  Around that time of year you can often get 10-50% cash back!  The rest of the year tends to run 2-8% depending on the store.  Ebates/Ratuken will pay you quarterly via PayPal or check.  You can even earn cash back by using the ebates Ratuken link to Turbo Tax when you file your taxes!

Join and they will give you a bonus $10 after your first eligible online shopping trip!  Here's my referral link.

You're sick of me talking about this, aren't you?  Swagbucks was my first "money online" venture and it really does work. It's free to join and use.  You earn points called "SB" and then can cash them in for gift cards (Sephora, Kohls, GameStop, Best Buy, Starbucks, etc) or PayPal cash.   I've earned the equivalent of $1,700 doing Swagbucks.  I average about $300 a year though some users get much more.  You earn those points by searching the internet, answering a survey, doing the daily poll, and so on.  Most recently I cashed in points for a $25 PayPal payment that I am donating to charity*.  

Again this one changed names.  It used to be called Bing Rewards but now is just Microsoft. You click the search links and earn on your desktop. I actually love the daily "trending" scroll. I click and get the main headlines for the day AND some points.  I earn $5-10 a month using this. No referral links but you can try this to see if you can get an account up and running. You can redeem points for Hulu, Starbucks, Sephora, Xbox credits, and more.

This app sounds like you are saying "I bought a..." really fast. My friend told me about it and I've been using it for a little over a year now.  When you shop at a store (Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Target, etc) you upload your receipt and get $$ credited to your account.  You can often get .20 for any item and then larger rewards on other things.  For example today I got $2 back when I bought a Neutrogena face wash that my dermatologist recommended.  It sounds small but it all adds up!  I've earned over $100 in the past year.  Be careful to only buy products you were going to buy anyway, or that end up being cheaper than store brand after the discount....otherwise you may wind up spending more than you're saving!

If you would like to join, you can get a $3 bonus by using my referral code: fnupyjf.  

*Raices!  Help those seeking asylum in the United States, including children and families.