On this episode of How To Money, Matt and Joel talk about money hacks with Forbes Advisor and Penny Hoarder writer Lisa Rowan. She should know: She literally wrote the book on it, detailing over 275 money hacks to help us spend less, save more, and reach our financial goals. Some are practical tips about our mindset around saving or spending, apps with rebates that pay you for shopping, websites that find unclaimed money you’re owed, or taking shorter-term loans to save on interest payments. Some are more surprising, like her opinion that we should pay for shipping and make fewer savings goals, or how we can rent ourselves out as a friend for a day to make extra cash. With so many hacks, there’s bound to be a few that work for you.
Matt’s favorite hack is “the stranger test.” Lisa says it’s a good game to play every time we’re making a purchase: Picture a complete stranger standing next to you, holding the item you’re about to buy in one hand, and the cash amount of the item in the other hand. Which one would you take? Sometimes it’s the item, she says; but more often, it’s the cash. And either way, we can let that guide our decision-making, instead of making impulse purchases that drain our wallet. Joel’s favorite is the service that lets people rent friends to do activities with, paying someone around $25 an hour to go to a museum or see a movie. Joel’s so extroverted that he would “do that in a heartbeat.” Lisa doesn’t recommend this one during a pandemic, she laughs, but any other time, it’s a great way to make cash, make friends, and do fun stuff all in one.
The hack she says people find most surprising is the one about searching for unclaimed money you might be owed. It’s completely free to search your name in your state’s unclaimed property database, and some people have found old paychecks, landlords with security deposits that didn’t forward, even stocks from old jobs that have been liquidated. “It’s like Craigslist Missed Connections, but for your money!” Matt exclaims. She also gets into the benefits of shopping at pawn shops, getting gas on Mondays, having fewer savings goals, electronics repair cafes, and so much more; hear all this great information from Lisa Rowan on this episode of How To Money.
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