3548: How To Enjoy Life Without Going Broke by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents

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[00:00:51] This is Optimal Finance Daily. How To Enjoy Life Without Going Broke by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of MakingSenseofCents.com I used to have the mindset that you couldn't have fun unless you spent a lot of money. Life isn't all about money though, and there are plenty of ways to have fun without going broke. The items or experiences I'll share today are not all free. Is anything absolutely free anyways?

[00:01:18] But there are ways for you to enjoy life without paying a ton of money for it. Number one, have a potluck. I always love a fun potluck. You can have one at your home or you can even see if your group of friends or family want to have a rotating schedule with a different person hosting one each week or each month. This can be a great way to get everyone together at a much cheaper price. I would rather have a fun get-together at home instead of at a restaurant anyways.

[00:01:48] The atmosphere is just better. Number two, use Groupon or other discount websites. If there is something that you know you plan on buying, you should always try to see if there's a coupon or discount out there first. There almost always is. Different websites to look at include Booking.com, Groupon, LivingSocial, Airbnb, Restaurant.com, and RetailMeNot. Number three, earn extra money.

[00:02:16] Of course, I included this point on this blog post. I think there are so many positives of earning extra money, so it only makes sense. If you know that you need to save a certain amount of money in order to do something, such as taking a vacation, skydiving, or something else, then you may want to work on making extra money so that you can afford it. You could sell items, earn free cash back from shopping online, take up a part-time job, freelance, or something else.

[00:02:43] You can then put all of this extra money towards what you're saving for so that it's not coming directly out of your budget. Number four, find a trail. We've been taking long walks and bike rides on the Caddy Trail near our home a lot lately. I think last week we did around 20 miles altogether by just walking the trail with our dogs. It's a lot of fun, and it's a great way to relax, enjoy the nice weather, and get a frugal workout in.

[00:03:10] If you live by a lake or beach, utilize that and walk near it. Whenever I go on vacation to the beach, I always talk to the people who live there and tell them how lucky they are to live near the beach. Almost every single time they say, Yeah, it's nice, but I haven't been on the beach in over a year. What? You guys are crazy. You need to utilize the areas around you. I'm sure 99% of you have a great public area to use. You can go for a hike, bike ride, walk, run, and more.

[00:03:40] Number five, use rewards points. If you can trust yourself with credit cards, then you may want to try earning some free travel or free gift cards by using your credit card just like you normally would. Number six, read a book. I will admit that I don't read as many books as I would like, but whenever I do start reading a good one, it's nearly impossible to put it down. Reading a book can be a lot of fun, and it can be free if you get your books from the library.

[00:04:09] Seven, use your student ID. Even though I graduated with my MBA in 2012, I still carry around my student ID. Many stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and other places will give you a discount if you show them your student ID. Some may say that this crosses into the cheap or maybe even stealing category, but I don't really see anything wrong with it. It doesn't save me a huge amount of money, but I can usually save somewhere around 10 to 25%

[00:04:37] when I go places just for carrying a small card in my wallet. And number eight, get an annual pass. This may exceed budgets for some, but if you have a place that you love to go to, such as a national park, amusement park, etc., and you know that you would get good use out of it, then you may be able to justify the cost. If you average out how many times you use it by the annual cost, you may find that you're actually just spending a couple of dollars each time you go.

[00:05:04] It can be especially cheap if you live close to the park because you can save on gas as well. You might be saying, but the food is so expensive at amusement parks. Yes, that's true. However, you can always pack your lunch, bring it in a cooler, and take a break from visiting the park to eat your packed lunch. You just listened to the post titled, How to Enjoy Life Without Going Broke, by Michelle Schroeder Gardner of makingsenseofsense.com.

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[00:06:03] What I love is that Monarch monitors your money so you don't have to. Their AI recap can even catch a spending spike before it becomes a problem. It's like having a financial advisor in your pocket. I can ask the AI assistant, can I afford this vacation without touching savings? And get a real answer. Use code OPTIMAL at Monarch.com to get your first year half off at just $50.

[00:06:29] That's 50% off your first year at Monarch.com with code OPTIMAL. Most leaders have a clear picture of how work is supposed to get done, but almost no visibility into how it's actually happening. So decisions about what to fix end up being based on gut feel, not data. I've been there with the Economy Conference. Pretty sure a process was slower than it should be, but with no numbers to prove it, nothing moves. Traditional process mapping takes months and is outdated before it's finished.

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[00:07:24] It flags inefficiencies, suggests AI-powered fixes with estimated time savings, and keeps user data anonymized. It's the kind of visibility that used to take months. Now it's always on. To see what Optimize could look like for your organization, visit scribe.how.ofd. That's S-C-R-I-B-E dot how slash O-F-D. I thought Michelle had some great ideas on this list. When I started reducing my expenses to get out of debt,

[00:07:53] I found the creativity and resourcefulness I used to get my needs met very satisfying. And when a new, cheaper way of doing something came with a superior result, that was even better. So for example, I've never really liked shopping for clothing, but it's a necessary thing that needs to be done. I used to spend more money than I would have liked just to get it over with. I didn't have patience to look around for the best, most cost-efficient options. Then I had an epiphany.

[00:08:22] I'm surrounded by fashionable friends with full closets of clothes they don't wear. So I started hosting clothing exchanges. My friends would clear out their closets and come to my place for an afternoon of mimosas, music, and trying on each other's clothes. It was way more fun and cheaper than shopping. And I've always ended up with nicer, more fashionable clothes than I would have purchased on my own. This is just one example of getting a need met in a resourceful, creative way.

[00:08:51] And the point is not to encourage you to do clothing exchanges. The point is to encourage you to think outside the box. We all have different circumstances, preferences, and skills that we can leverage in different ways to get our needs met. The key is to get creative with it. And that's another installment of Optimal Finance Daily. Thanks as always for joining me. Have a great rest of your day. And I'll see you again tomorrow where your optimal life awaits. Let's go.