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Stretch Your Money as Far as You Can

It’s a tricky time for the economy, and when it comes to saving money, tricky times call for tricky tactics. Jeff Yeager, known as “The Ultimate Cheapskate,” honed his money-saving skills during his 25 years working with under-funded non-profit agencies. He offers the following tips for stretching your money. We got them from the Bottom Line Personal.

• Tip #1: Join the $4 per Gallon Savings Club. When gas hit $4 a gallon last summer, Yeager says we all complained about it - but for the most part, we adjusted our budgets to accommodate. Even better, we cut down on driving for the first time in decades! Well, now that prices are back down, here’s what he says we should do: Every time you fill up, calculate the difference between what you pay at the pump, and what you would’ve paid in the $4 per gallon days – you could basically double it right now. Then “deposit” that amount into a savings account, or even just into an envelope! It’ll encourage you to lay off the gas pedal and help you save money. Yeager says he’s squirreled away more that $700 doing this.
• Tip #2: Conduct a financial fire drill. Don’t wait to be blindsided by bad news. Spend a Sunday afternoon brainstorming worse case financial scenarios – losing your job, a big decline in your 401(k), losing your health care benefits – and how you’d handle each one. Yeager says it’s important to involve your family in these discussions, so you have a unified plan of attack. Also, when you get things out in the open, they’re usually not as scary as they seemed before – and you tend to sleep a lot better.
• And one last tip for going head-to-head with a tough economy: ASK for a better deal! A study by the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that more than 90% of people who got up the nerve to ask for a discount, got it – whether it was for electronics, appliances or even medical expenses. The average saving was $50! The key is to be polite, even if you’re using the less-than-perfect condition of merchandise as a bargaining tool.

Want more tips? Check out The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches.