Welcome to this week’s edition of our Tuesday Top 5, Econ4U’s weekly tips post to help you manage your money in five easy steps.
When things get really tight, it’s important to know what your options are to get you through a bumpy ride. This week, we help you make a plan for how to make the best of a tight financial situation.
- Use your car as collateral. Many banks and credit unions will let you refinance a paid-off vehicle with a used car loan (assuming the car is worth enough). With interest rates under 3 percent at a lot of financial institutions, it essentially gives you a personal loan at a discounted rate. This could be your ticket to pulling cash out of a car you own outright without having to sell it.
- Know your best short-term loan options. Bouncing a check can be much more expensive than a short-term option like a payday loan, through which you can get an advance on your next paycheck for a fee as low as $15. Just be sure to pay it back as soon as you can.
- Negotiate your medical bills. According to a 2005 poll, two-thirds of people who asked their doctor or hospital for a discount were able to negotiate a lower medical bill or even get the cost of some services waived. If you don’t have insurance, try to pay for your care up front to save 10 percent or more. And check this website run by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) for assistance in getting discounted or even free prescriptions.
- Stretch your grocery bills. Foods like lentils, rice, ground beef, and canned goods go a long way for pennies per serving. And waste not, want not by using meat and veggie scraps in making hearty soups and stews. (Between roasting it, shredding the leftovers, and boiling the carcass for stock, a whole chicken can make several meals for less than a dollar per serving.)
- Learn to barter. You don’t always have to spend big to get a service you need if you can make use of the skills in your social circle. Barter with a mechanic friend by swapping babysitting services for an oil change, or save on clothing repair bills by offering to run errands for a friend who’s handy with a needle and thread.
