﻿Alright, everybody, I’m Logan Allec, I’m a CPA, and today I want to talk about some of the best
ways to make the most of money you’ve already spent. Usually when I talk about saving money I’m
talking about buying less stuff or spending less money on stuff, but another component of saving
money is being conscious of how you’re using and maximizing the things you’ve already bought.
Even if you’re good at budgeting, you don’t spend money on things you don’t need,
well you might still be wasting cash on the other side by not using those items to their fullest
potential. So let’s get right into it, here are eight ways to save the money you’ve already spent.
Number one, don’t let your groceries expire. Buying more groceries is one of the best things
you can do for your budget, it’s usually a lot cheaper than eating out or getting delivery,
but that also depends on how efficient you are about using your grocery budget.
So let’s say food is 30% cheaper at the grocery store, well if you waste 30% of the food you buy
then you’re still going to have trouble cutting down that area of your budget. I know a lot of
people find meal planning really helpful, so maybe you buy groceries on Monday, you have an idea of
what you’re going to cook each day, and you can set it up so that you can reuse the ingredients
throughout the week and use most of what you buy instead of leaving everything in the fridge until
it starts to go bad. Like with anything else you have to find a strategy that works for you,
but throwing away less groceries is one of the best ways to make your budget go further and save
money you’ve already spent. Another way to save money on groceries is to use cash back apps like
Ibotta and Fetch Rewards, I use both of these, my links to them are in the description below. Number
two, reuse or repurpose your stuff. Obviously it’s impossible to totally stop throwing things away,
sometimes it’s just time to move on, but in our consumer culture it’s really easy to lose sight of
all the use you can get out of something before it’s broken or worn down. You do have to get a
little creative with this sometimes, but there are also some simple ideas that anyone can use like
washing out and reusing your containers, using toilet paper rolls to store grocery bags, giving
kids’ clothes or baby clothes to friends or family members with younger children, et cetera. So every
time you’re about to get rid of something, take a minute to think if there’s anything more you
can get out of it before you go ahead and throw it away. And if you really don’t need it anymore, you
might be able to post it on Facebook Marketplace or something like that to either sell it or give
it away to someone who will get more use out of it. Number three, claim your airline miles. A lot
of people don’t think to sign up for the airline mileage programs because they think it’s too
complicated, maybe they don’t think they’re going to fly again with the same airline, whatever.
Personally I would recommend signing up for those programs whenever you fly with a new airline,
you don’t know when you’re going to fly with them again, and you don’t want to miss the opportunity
to get those points and start earning some rewards. Most airlines will actually allow
you to earn miles retroactively, each airline has different rules about this, but if you’ve
flown with a particular airline recently then you should take a few minutes to look into their
policy and see if you can get miles for flights you’ve already taken. And even if you’re not a
frequent flyer you should be able to generate some miles over time for a free upgrade or even a free
ticket later on. Number four, use your credit card benefits, especially if you pay an annual fee on
your credit card. For a long time, I was guilty of just viewing credit cards as a rewards factory,
payment methods that I could use to get cash back or travel rewards when I spent money. But
credit cards, especially those with annual fees, often provide you with benefits that go beyond the
points and the miles and the cash back, if you’ve watched any of my credit card reviews, you know
this, and if you haven’t, there’s a link at the top of the screen as well as in the description
below to all my credit card review videos. So bottom line, you’re paying for that annual fee, so
maximize your credit card. Number five, keep your things clean and in good condition.
This one can apply to almost anything whether it’s your car, your refrigerator, your water heater,
your hose, whatever. It’s easy to put off routine cleaning and routine maintenance, and by the time
you get around to thinking about those things you might already be dealing with a bigger problem.
Personally, the way I handle this is I look at the manufacturer’s instructions when I buy something
new that I want to keep in good condition. Let’s say I get an air conditioner and it
says to get service once per year, well as soon as I get home I’m going to put a reminder in my
calendar for one year from now to schedule that maintenance. And I know it can be a hassle to take
a more proactive approach to these things, but in the end you can save a lot of time and money
by keeping your things working and getting them fixed before they need any major repairs.
Number six, take advantage of return and exchange policies. I’ve made the mistake of buying
something, planning to return it, and then leaving it in the trunk of my car for three months,
and ultimately that’s a really dumb way to waste money just to avoid going through the
process of returning something. Again I think it’s good to be proactive about this, so when
I buy something online or in-person I take a look at the return policy and I write down the last day
that I’ll be able to do a return or exchange. A lot of companies are starting to make this even
easier, some online vendors will even pay for return shipping and packing,
so there’s really no excuse to miss that chance if you buy something and you don’t think you’ll
use it. And I would also recommend looking at the return policy before you make that purchase
so that you don’t end up stuck with something you don’t want because you didn’t read their
policy. Number seven, learn how to fix things up. Nobody can fix everything themselves, obviously if
you’re not a licensed electrician you probably shouldn’t be repairing your electrical panel,
but sometimes when something is broken or it isn’t working right, it might pay off to learn
how it works and put in a little elbow grease to save a bit of money. For example many people will
immediately call a contractor for a leaky faucet, but in a lot of cases that’s actually easy to fix
yourself with some basic tools or a faucet repair kit. Again there are obviously situations where
you need a professional, but working on your DIY skills will help you make things last longer and
save money on repairs. That said, I would say that you especially have to weigh the value of
your time versus the tax-affected cost of fixing whatever the issue is. For example, while I find
it worth it for me to fix things around our house because I live here and there’s a Home
Depot nearby and I wouldn’t get a tax deduction for paying somebody to fix something in my house,
I don’t fix things myself at my rental units across town because A) I’d have to drive an
hour round-trip to get there and B) I could deduct a contractor’s fees for fixing something
at a rental property, of course I’m not saying that you should always pay others to fix up your
rental properties, but for me, it doesn’t make sense for me to drive over to my rental units
and fix things there when they need fixing. And finally, number eight, use your subscriptions
until they’re gone. One of the most common misconceptions I see is that people think their
subscriptions are over as soon as they cancel them. So let’s say you have a gym membership,
you know you’re moving away in a couple weeks, and you call the gym to cancel your membership.
Well even though your subscription is canceled it’s still going to be active until the renewal
period rolls over, so if you usually pay your bill on the fifteenth of the month
and you cancel on the twenty-fifth then you should be able to go to the gym
until the fifteenth of the next month at the beginning of the next billing cycle. And the same
thing applies to digital subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, whatever, so don’t forget
that you still have access for the remainder of your last month unless of course they prorate the
bill. Alright everyone that’s all I have for you today, obviously there’s a lot more I could say
but hopefully this gave you some ideas. Now I’m sure many of you have some great tips for reusing,
repurposing, and generally getting the most out of your things, so if you know of any other ways
to make the most of the money you’ve spent then please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below for
others who might be interested. And speaking of saving money, be sure to check out my video right
over here on all the ways that car dealerships are ripping you off. And if you like free stuff,
be sure to check out my video right down here on seven easy ways you can get free stuff today,
thank you for watching, everybody, and I will see you in those videos, buh-bye.