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Taryn Williams
It's no secret that the U.S. doesn't have many safety nets. From a lack of socialized healthcare to no minimum income, living in the U.S. can be expensive.
As someone who grew up extremely poor and chose a low-paying profession — teaching — my life has been focused on learning tips and tricks to make my money go further. Along the way, I've learned how to leverage credit cards to make my money work harder for me so that I have been able to enjoy my life no matter how much — or little — I've made.
These tips can stretch your budget further as long as you are certain that you can pay off your cards in full each month and don't carry credit card debt.
Although a lot of the narratives around credit card hacking focus on how much "better" travel cards and rewards are, cash-back credit cards can be what you need to get beyond barely scraping by, and I used them when I was starting out on my financial journey.
The travel rewards do end up being a better deal mathematically — and those are nearly all I use today — but when I needed groceries and wasn't traveling often, a travel rewards card wouldn't have been the most beneficial for me. Instead, I relied on cash-back cards that allowed me to splurge on whatever I wanted that was outside of my budget, such as movie tickets and nights out.
When my salary barely covered the bills in my budget, this extra bit made a significant difference in my quality of life. I would apply for a new cash-back card about every six months — usually ones that had high rewards rates in the categories where I spend the most money: dining out, entertainment, and groceries.
Whenever I reached a certain reward threshold (usually $50), I would use this money to splurge on treats that I otherwise couldn't afford. While this may seem like a small amount to some, $50 worth of treats now and then can really make a difference when you're struggling to make ends meet.
Many cash-back cards come with a sign-up bonus as well — often up to $200 extra. I would usually allocate this money toward larger purchases, such as new technology, flights with low-cost carriers, or snowboarding gear. I was often able to cover entire flights or a week at a hostel with these bonuses when I did have the opportunity to travel.
Ensuring that I was able to get a sign-up bonus each time I applied for a new card allowed me the flexibility to make larger purchases without having to stress about how I was going to cover them.
One of the tricks I still use consistently is ensuring that I check the discounts that are available on each card at least weekly. These discounts are usually offered at places I'm already going — drugstores and supermarkets — and are often upwards of 15%.
These savings allowed me to get discounts on items I'm already going to buy anyway — and stacking them with my cash back rewards, shopping portals (such as Rakuten or Capital One Shopping), and coupons allowed me to make routine purchases cost a fraction of what they otherwise would.
I would also arrange my shopping to benefit as much as possible from these discounts, such as buying things at the drugstore that I would normally buy elsewhere if the savings made enough of a difference for it to be worth it. These discounts remain one of my favorite credit card features, and I continue to benefit from them today.
Though travel rewards credit cards can be a better deal overall, they aren't necessarily the best choice for everyone — especially for people who don't travel or those who are struggling to find their financial footing. These tricks helped me make the most of my money when I was barely making enough to live on, and I plan to use some of them again as I prepare to go back to school and live on a significantly reduced budget.
