Yes, college is expensive. The real surprise: Housing can be pricier than tuition. At public four-year colleges in 2023-24, the average cost for housing and food was $12,770 — higher than the $11,260 for tuition and fees, according to a 2023 College Board report. Students at community colleges and private schools also faced similarly high housing costs.
High housing prices can impact a student’s ability to thrive at college or complete their degree. According to a 2019 report by Temple University’s Hope Center in Philadelphia, about 56% of surveyed students said they experienced housing insecurity — including the inability to pay rent — in the previous year.
“We see escalating prices and escalating costs whether you’re on- or off-campus, and so it’s becoming a bigger piece of the college education funding puzzle for a lot of families,” says Olan Garrett, associate vice president of student affairs at Temple University.
There are strategies to lower your college housing costs, from getting roommates to carefully comparing on- and off-campus options. Advisors at your college can guide you toward affordable options, even in emergency situations.
Before you take out more student loans than necessary to pay for college housing, consider these expert-approved tips.
Start early and do your research
Start looking for housing as early as possible — for many students looking off-campus, that will be mid- to late-fall for the next academic year, says Garrett. You may have more time if you want to live on-campus: that selection process typically opens in the spring, he says.
“The later you wait, the fewer options there will be,” Garrett says.
One way to get ahead of the curve: reach out to leasing agents in your community. “For example, if you’re going to an open house or an apartment tour, find the leasing agent and get in contact with them about what other available units might come up,” suggests Matt Aini, chair of the Student HOMES Coalition, a student-run organization that promotes affordable student housing policies. This could help you find apartments that aren’t yet listed online.
Do some research on your potential landlord or rental management company before signing a binding lease. Reach out to friends and peers and look up online reviews.
“How have people perceived the way the landlord works? Is it a landlord that’s very responsive to requests?” says Garrett.
Compare on-campus and off-campus options
Off-campus living may come with more independence and cheaper rent — but when it comes to comparing costs with on-campus options, it’s not always “apples to apples,” says Garrett.
With on-campus living, utilities like heat, water, electricity, trash and WiFi are typically baked into your housing fee. The dorm may also come fully furnished. Off-campus rent doesn’t usually include these services, so you’ll have extra college expenses. Off-campus apartments may also require a security deposit and first month’s rent upfront.
Most college websites offer online cost-of-living calculators that can help you compare average costs of living on- or off-campus.
If your school is close to home and you have the option to continue living there, you may consider commuting to save money on housing.
Aini, who is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, lives with his parents nearby and commutes to campus.
“I made a very conscious decision,” Aini says. “And among other things, you see the cost. And I think it just makes things easier.”
Get roommates and manage expectations
Having a roommate is part of the quintessential college experience for many freshmen at American universities. Even after freshman year, living with roommates allows you to split rent and utility bills.
“I do believe there’s value in roommates or shared living environments,” says Brenda Ice, senior associate dean and senior director of residential life at Brown University in Providence, R.I. “This isn’t me saying, ‘try to pack in as many people as you can in a particular house or apartment,’ but I do believe there is both a social benefit of living with more than one person in a shared space, while also helping to cut down on costs.”
Be willing to compromise on amenities to get a place that’s within your budget. You may not be able to live in a brand new or recently renovated residence hall without roommates.
“Understand the first goal of this is to be able to live in a place of comfort that allows you to sleep, study, do the things you need to do,” Garrett says.
Reach out to university resources
For help navigating housing options, reach out to your university’s housing and residence life office. School administrators can walk you though on-campus options, and some can help with off-campus housing.
“Have a conversation with a housing officer,” Garret says. “In most cases, one size does not fit all.”
Many colleges offer off-campus housing databases with vetted landlords and properties. Some may even offer free workshops. For example, Brown works with a campus partner to teach students about financial literacy, understanding leases, connecting with neighbors and more, Ice says.
Even if your school doesn’t offer such robust housing resources, it likely has a housing officer. At North Seattle College, a community college, housing resource specialist Shannon Thomas helps students through emergency housing situations.
“I make connections with agencies and programs all throughout the area, whether it’s community service organizations, city or state programming, private landlords, or other schools and agencies,” Thomas explains.
Submit the FAFSA to minimize borrowing costs
If you need to take out student loans for housing, then prioritize federal student loans, which have more generous protections and flexible repayment options. You must submit the FAFSA to qualify for federal student loans and need-based Pell Grants. If you’ve borrowed the maximum amount in federal loans, consider private student loans as a last resort to fill in any funding gaps.
Read your lease and communicate with landlords
If you plan to live off campus, understand that leases are binding legal documents with major financial implications. Violating your lease terms may result in extra fees, eviction and a stain on your record that could make it difficult to rent an apartment in the future.
Some schools, like Brown, employ attorneys to help students with legal advice, including reviewing lease terms and navigating landlord disputes. You can also bring your lease documents to a free legal clinic at your school or in your community, says Aini.
If you’re already living off-campus and foresee an issue paying rent, reach out to your landlord proactively, Garrett says.
“I’m channeling my wife here, who’s a property manager, she would say, ‘communicate with your landlord early … if you know you’re going to be an issue, let them know you’re going to be an issue.’ Most landlords are willing to work with you up front,” he explains.
Apply for emergency housing grants
According to the 2019 Hope Center survey, 14% of students at four-year colleges said they experienced homelessness in the past 12 months. At community colleges, that figure was 18%. The vast majority of these students temporarily stayed with a relative or friend, the survey found.
Grants can help you get by in emergency situations where you’re at risk of losing housing. States, cities and institutions usually offer these grants. To learn about your options, reach out to the housing officer at your institution.
For example, colleges in Washington state can dole out the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) emergency grant.
To apply for the WSAC grant, students typically first meet with a housing coordinator at their school, says Thomas, who oversees the WSAC grant program at North Seattle College. The amount of money students can get from this grant is flexible, though Thomas says it goes up to roughly $3,000.
“We will assess their housing needs, their basic needs and then we’ll prioritize what those are and set a course for finding them,” Thomas says. “A student might drop in and say, ‘we’re moving into an apartment that’s going to cost us ‘X’ amount of money. I only have so much. I am not receiving assistance from my family, or can’t pay for a variety of reasons. And so can you help me with this?’ And so what happens is, we take a request for financial assistance and we explore it as a team.”
In an urgent situation, Thomas says he may refer students to a shelter or arrange for a stay in a motel.
“It’s pretty clear that if you’re addressing the basic needs of your students, that you’re going to improve your retention rates … and you’re also going to improve the quality of community on your campus,” Thomas says.
Looking for ways to earn extra cash online? Websites like Freecash can give you many chances to make money from home. You can try surveys, watch videos, play game apps to win real money, and more to earn rewards. These sites give you fun ways to make money in your spare time. Some pay better…
Looking for ways to earn extra cash online? Websites like Freecash can give you many chances to make money from home. You can try surveys, watch videos, play game apps to win real money, and more to earn rewards.
These sites give you fun ways to make money in your spare time. Some pay better than others, so it’s smart to try a few. You might find new favorites that work well for you.
With a bit of effort, you could earn some nice extra spending money each month.
I have earned over 100 free gift cards and PayPal money by using many of the sites below, so I know they are real!
What Is Freecash?
Freecash is a website where you can earn money by doing fun activities online. It’s like getting paid to play! You can make extra cash by taking surveys, trying out new apps, and even playing games on your phone or computer.
Freecash started in 2020 (you can find my full Freecash review here). Since then, lots of people have joined and earned money. In fact, Freecash users have made over $75 million combined!
Here’s how it works:
Sign up for free
Pick an activity you like
Complete the task
Get coins as a reward
Every 1,000 coins equals $1. When you have enough coins, you can trade them for real money or gift cards. You can get paid through PayPal, choose gift cards from places like Amazon or Google Play, or even get paid in crypto (like Bitcoin).
Freecash has many ways to earn:
Welcome bonus when you join
Surveys that pay $1 for 5 to 10 minutes
Games that can pay up to $650
Download apps that pay $1 to $75
You can even make money by telling your friends about Freecash. Plus, there are contests where you can win extra cash by being a top earner.
It’s pretty quick to start making money on Freecash. On average, people earn enough for their first payout in just 17 minutes.
I have personally made $302 by playing games on my phone on Freecash in just one week. You can read about it here – How I Made $302.80 Playing Games on My Phone (In One Week).
Click here to sign up for Freecash.
Best Websites Like Freecash
Here’s a quick list of the best sites like Freecash:
Below are the best websites like Freecash to make money.
1. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a rewards platform where you can make side cash online.
I started using Swagbucks years ago, and it’s helped me earn extra cash from home or while traveling. I’ve personally earned over 100 free gift cards through Swagbucks, so I know it’s a real app that pays you!
You can earn points called SB by doing easy tasks. These include taking surveys, watching videos, shopping for cash back, scanning receipts, and playing games. You can also get SB for shopping online or searching the web.
It’s free to join and only takes a few minutes to sign up. The points you earn can be turned into free gift cards, such as to Amazon, Target, Visa, and PayPal.
To play games on Swagbucks, just go to the “Play” tab after logging in. When I logged in, I saw over 20 games I could get paid to play, with a total reward value of $2,264.02 or 226,402 SB points.
Swagbucks won’t make you rich, but it’s an easy way to get some extra spending money. You could use it for small treats or to help pay bills. Give it a try and see how much you can earn!
If you join Swagbucks through my referral link, you can receive a $10 bonus.
Recommended reading: Swagbucks Review
2. KashKick
KashKick is a Get Paid To (GPT) site that pays you for doing simple tasks like taking surveys and playing games. It’s free to join and easy to use.
One of the best things about KashKick is the variety of games you can play. You might try Monopoly GO, Yahtzee, or Bingo Blitz. Some games can even earn you over $100 if you reach certain levels.
Example: Here’s how you can make money playing Monopoly Go on KashKick: Install the game (make sure to allow tracking on your device!) and reach Board 27 within 8 days to get $30. If you reach Board 42 in 12 days, you’ll earn an extra $40, and if you reach Board 71 in 24 days, you’ll get another $50. Altogether, you can earn $120!
Surveys are another good way to earn on KashKick. You’ll answer questions about products and services, and each survey usually takes less than 20 minutes and pays between $1 and $5.
When you’re ready to get paid, KashKick uses PayPal. You need to earn at least $10 before you can cash out.
Please click here to sign up for KashKick for free.
Recommended reading: KashKick Review
3. InboxDollars
InboxDollars is a popular site that pays you for doing fun online tasks. You can earn money by taking surveys, watching videos, and playing games.
It’s easy to use and free to join.
InboxDollars pays through PayPal cash and free gift cards to places like Amazon, Apple, Target, Dunkin’ Donuts, Lowe’s, Barnes & Noble, and Gap.
Sign up for InboxDollars here and get a free $5 bonus.
4. PrizeRebel
PrizeRebel is a great choice if you’re looking for a site like Freecash.
You can take surveys, play games, watch videos, and shop to earn points. Some of the games on PrizeRebel include Bingo Blitz, Solitaire Grand Harvest, Age of Apes, Kingdom Guard, Yahtzee, Woody Sort, Viking Rise, and others.
These points can be turned into cash (PayPal money) or free gift cards.
Like Freecash, PrizeRebel also has a referral program so you can earn extra by inviting friends to join.
You can sign up for PrizeRebel here.
5. MyPoints
MyPoints is a popular rewards site that lets you earn money in different ways, just like Freecash. You can take surveys, play games, and shop online to get points.
To get paid to play games on MyPoints, log in to your dashboard and go to the “Games” tab. There, you’ll find games like Bejeweled, Bingo, Catch 21, Puzzle Match, Wheel of Fortune, and more.
You can sign up for MyPoints by clicking here.
6. Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is a popular website where you can make money by taking online surveys. They don’t have games to play like Freecash, but they have a lot of surveys that you can answer in your free time.
It’s easy to use and free to join. You can earn points for each survey you complete.
The surveys on Survey Junkie cover many topics. You might answer questions about products, brands, or your daily habits. Most surveys take between 5 and 20 minutes to finish.
You can sign up for Survey Junkie here.
7. Branded Surveys
Branded Surveys is an easy way to make some extra cash in your free time by answering surveys.
Each survey can pay you between $0.50 and $5. The amount you get depends on how long the survey takes, and most surveys only take 5 to 20 minutes to finish.
You can also earn points by inviting friends and answering a quick daily poll. If you’re really active, you might even win bonus points on their leaderboard.
Once you have 500 points, you can cash out. That’s equal to $5. You can choose to get paid through PayPal or pick from over 100 different gift cards.
You can sign up for Branded Surveys here.
8. Scrambly
Scrambly is a popular GPT site where you can earn money by doing simple tasks online. It’s a lot like Freecash and other reward sites.
On Scrambly, you can make money by taking surveys, playing games, and trying out new apps. These are quick and easy things to do in your free time.
When you finish tasks, you get points. You can trade these points for real money or gift cards. Some popular gift card options are Amazon, Walmart, and Starbucks.
One good thing about Scrambly is that it has a low cash out minimum of just $1. This means you don’t have to wait long to get your rewards and you can get paid pretty quickly.
Please click here to sign up for Scrambly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to common questions about websites like Freecash.
What are some other websites like Freecash where I can make money?
My favorite websites and apps like Freecash are Swagbucks, KashKick, InboxDollars, PrizeRebel, and MyPoints. These sites let you earn money by doing tasks online such as by taking surveys, watching videos, playing games, and more.
What’s better than Freecash?
Swagbucks is a popular choice and I have been active on this site for years. It has many ways to earn and has paid out over $500 million. You can get cash back for shopping, take surveys, and play games. Some people like it better because it has more options to earn money.
How much money can you typically earn using sites like Freecash?
The amount of money you can make on sites like Freecash can vary, but most people make $1 to $5 per day. Some people are able to make $10 to $15 daily. It depends on how much time you spend and which tasks you do. I definitely don’t think you should expect to get rich, but you can earn some extra cash.
What are some tips for maximizing earnings on websites that pay cash for tasks?
To make the most money on sites that pay cash for tasks, I recommend doing the highest-paying tasks first and checking for daily bonuses. Also, try different types of tasks to see what pays best for you. For some people, it may be playing games, and for others, it may be answering as many surveys as possible.
How much can you earn with Freecash?
Freecash pays an average of around $15 to $30 per day (it depends on the day). Your earnings can be higher or lower. It depends on the tasks you do and how much time you spend. Some users make more by doing lots of tasks every day.
Which is better, Freecash or Swagbucks?
Both Freecash and Swagbucks have pros and cons. Swagbucks has more ways to earn and has a longer history. Freecash might have better payouts for some tasks like playing games. Try both to see which you like better, or you can simply just use both at the same time. For me, I really like both Freecash and Swagbucks.
Websites Like Freecash – Summary
I hope you enjoyed my article where you learned about other websites like Freecash.
If you’re looking for easy ways to make extra money online, websites like Freecash have many options. You can earn money by doing surveys, playing games, watching videos, and trying out apps.
These sites won’t make you rich, but with some effort, you can earn a little extra money each month.
I have personally earned over 100 free gift cards as well as PayPal cash by using many of the sites listed in this article. They are all real.
Here’s a quick summary of my top websites like Freecash:
Mortgage interest rates are in a pretty good place this week, rising so minimally that the incline could be easily mistaken for a flat surface. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate rose three basis points, averaging 6.19%. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Mortgage rates are one piece of the puzzle when it comes to the housing market. Other big variables, like the number of homes for sale and home prices, also influence how friendly the market feels to home buyers. As we kick off the last quarter of 2024, let’s look at where things stand.
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Rates are fairly favorable
Even though we’ve seen a couple weeks’ of rate increases, mortgage interest rates remain the lowest we’ve seen them in just over two years. The last time we had average 30-year rates in the sixes was September 2022. Current rates are also well off the highs we saw last year. Rates are nearly two percentage points below the high of almost 8% hit back in October 2023.
Lower interest rates allow home buyers’ budgets to stretch further. At last year’s peak of 7.79%, a buyer who could swing $2,200 in monthly principal and interest could afford a roughly $278,000 home. But at today’s 6.19%, that same buyer can afford a $318,000 home — an additional $40,000 in buying power.
You might think okay, if I can afford that much more in the 6% range, imagine what I could get if interest rates were even lower. But given current economic conditions, forecasters are predicting rates will only edge down slightly through the end of this year and into 2025. We’re talking going from the very low sixes to the very high fives, which for most will not make a huge difference.
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Get personalized rates. Your lender matches are just a few questions away.
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Inventory is edging upward
A dearth of homes for sale has been an issue for years, but inventory is finally starting to pick up. In August 2024, there were 1.35 million existing homes — a number that doesn’t include new construction — on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors. (August is the most recent data available.) It’s the largest inventory the U.S. has seen since fall 2020, which was, by comparison, a boom time for home sales.
Last time inventory was this high, the number of homes sold per month was more than 40% higher than it is today. At the same time that inventory’s coming back, home sales are relatively slow. One way the NAR measures inventory is months’ supply, which feels sort of like a word problem. This number basically says if no new homes were put on the market and every home currently on the market was sold at the current sales pace, how long would it take for the current inventory to be cleared out?
In August 2024, that came to 4.2 months. Last time inventory was this robust, it would have sold in just 2.6 months. A larger number of homes for sale selling at a slower pace could give buyers more leverage than they’ve had in quite some time.
Prices still a sticking point
More homes being listed, and more listings languishing on the market, should translate to lower home prices. It’s supply and demand, right? If there’s more supply, we should see the price go down. We haven’t really seen that happen though, because as more supply enters the market, there’s plenty of demand to meet it. According to NerdWallet’s annual Home Buyer Report, only 23% of Americans who began 2023 with the intention of buying a home succeeded.
Median existing home prices hit record highs this summer, and though we’ve seen slight month-over-month decreases, prices remain stubbornly high. In August, the median price of an existing home was $416,700, according to NAR data. That complicates affordability. If mortgage interest rates are going down but home prices are going up, how much are lower rates helping?
It’s vital to remember that national-level numbers like the ones we’ve been using here don’t necessarily capture what you’ll see on the ground in any given market. Take median list prices, for example. Realtor.com data from September 2024 looking at the 50 largest U.S. metro areas shows substantial variation. Last month, the median list price in Rochester, New York, was up 13% year over year. Baltimore and Houston saw no change. And in Miami, the median list price dropped more than 12%.
Similarly, what’s going on with the broader housing market — or even your local one — probably doesn’t make as much difference to your individual homebuying choices as what’s going with you. If you’re at a point where you can afford a home that meets your needs in a place where you want to put down roots, you’re in a housing market that works for you.
As a house flipper with over 20 years of experience, I’ve often heard misconceptions about how flipping affects the real estate market. Some believe flippers drive up housing prices or take homes away from owner-occupants. In reality, the situation is much more nuanced, and flippers actually play a vital role in stabilizing the market.
Table of Contents
Video: House Flipping’s Impact on the Real Estate Market
Do House Flippers Take Homes Away from Owner Occupants?
Many assume flippers are outbidding potential homeowners, but that’s rarely the case. In fact, owner-occupants typically have a competitive edge. Here’s why:
Flippers Have More Costs: When I buy a home, I have to factor in repair costs, labor, materials (which have skyrocketed), holding costs (utilities, insurance, taxes), and financing. Homeowners, on the other hand, don’t incur most of these expenses.
Owner-Occupants Can Pay More: Since they’re living in the house, owner-occupants can often afford to pay $20,000 to $30,000 more than a flipper, still getting a great deal and building equity.
Livability Standards: Most owner-occupants use loans like FHA, VA, or conventional loans, which require the home to be in livable condition. Houses that flippers buy—like those with holes in walls or broken plumbing—often don’t meet those standards, meaning we’re not competing for the same properties.
Why Are We Buying the Homes No One Wants?
The homes we buy usually aren’t competing with those available to owner-occupants. They’re homes that need serious work, often too much for the average buyer to handle. Whether it’s through a foreclosure auction or from sellers who want to avoid showings and inspections, many of these homes would otherwise sit vacant.
The reality is, most buyers don’t want the hassle of dealing with broken heating systems, electrical issues, or mold. That’s where we come in, using our expertise to restore the property.
Fix and Flip 70 Percent Rule Calculator
Are House Flippers Raising Housing Prices?
Another common myth is that flippers are raising housing prices. However, this idea doesn’t hold up to scrutiny:
Appraisals Keep Prices in Check: After we renovate a house, the new buyer still needs an appraisal, and appraisers typically won’t value a house beyond what comparable homes in the neighborhood are selling for.
Neighborhood Caps: In many areas, there’s a price cap on what homes will sell for, regardless of how nice the renovations are. Trying to exceed this cap can lead to financial disaster.
Low Appraisals: Sometimes, appraisers will even come in low, assuming that the flipper is making too much profit, which can further limit prices.
Flippers can’t single-handedly raise prices. In fact, most of us aim to buy at a discount to cover our renovation and holding costs while ensuring the home’s final price is competitive.
Do Flippers Just Put “Lipstick on a Pig”?
It’s true that some flippers only make cosmetic improvements, but that’s not the norm. My team and I thoroughly inspect the homes we purchase, addressing major issues like plumbing, electrical, and structural repairs. While cosmetic flips happen, they’re usually the result of specific situations, like a seller needing a quick, hassle-free sale.
When buying homes, we focus on making the property safe, livable, and up to code—because if we don’t, it’ll be impossible to sell it later. That said, bad actors exist in every industry, and there are some flippers who cut corners. That’s why inspections are crucial for homebuyers, especially with flipped homes.
What is the Best Way to Invest in Real Estate?
How House Flippers Help the Real Estate Market
The idea that house flippers hurt the market is flawed. In reality, we contribute by:
Adding Inventory: Many of the homes we buy are vacant, unlivable, and have been off the market for years. By fixing them up, we make these properties available to buyers, increasing the housing supply in tight markets.
Revitalizing Neighborhoods: Many homes we flip are eyesores that have been neglected. Renovating these properties improves neighborhood aesthetics and prevents further deterioration.
My House Flip Case Studies
Landlords and Flippers: A Misunderstood Group
Like flippers, landlords are often seen as contributing to housing problems, but this isn’t accurate. There are fewer single-family rentals today than in 2016—1.2 million fewer, in fact. While corporate landlords dominate the headlines, the reality is that more homes are being purchased by owner-occupants than landlords, which reduces rental inventory and contributes to rising rents.
When landlords do buy and renovate dilapidated properties, they’re also adding to the housing supply, particularly for those who can’t afford to buy a home. This added inventory helps stabilize both rental prices and the overall market.
Conclusion
The real estate market is complex, and while there are bad actors, most house flippers are providing a necessary service. By buying homes that are unlivable, fixing them up, and putting them back on the market, we’re helping to increase supply in a housing market that’s always in need of more options. While we aren’t perfect, flippers aren’t the villains of the housing market. We’re just another piece of the puzzle.
Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money podcast, where we answer your real-world money questions. In this episode:
Learn how to negotiate for a higher salary and better benefits when you get a job offer. Plus: tips for boosting your earning potential.
What are the best ways to negotiate for a higher salary? How can you elevate your earnings and overall compensation package? Hosts Sean Pyles and Alana Benson discuss strategies for increasing your income and negotiating for a raise to help you understand how to navigate salary discussions confidently and effectively.
Alana speaks with Catherine Tinsley, Raffini Professor of Management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, about who should make the first offer, how to leverage market data, and the challenge of overcoming emotional hurdles. They also discuss the benefits of changing jobs for higher salary potential, practical advice on boosting your earning potential, and why understanding power dynamics and perceived expertise could help you come out ahead in your next negotiation.
Check out this episode on your favorite podcast platform, including:
NerdWallet stories related to this episode:
Episode transcript
This transcript was generated from podcast audio by an AI tool.
Sean Pyles:
So, my friends, what are you worth? Or at least what are your skills worth? That’s the question you have to ask yourself every time you ask for a raise, or mull an offer from a potential employer. Today we’re looking at strategies for increasing your income through negotiation.
Catherine Tinsley:
The most powerful anchor in any negotiation is the first offer that’s thrown out there. And so if you are anchoring the negotiation, they are playing your ball game. And so that’s why you want to be making the first offer.
Sean Pyles:
Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money Podcast. I’m Sean Pyles.
Alana Benson:
And I’m Alana Benson.
Sean Pyles:
This is our third and final episode of our nerdy deep dive into investing in your income. Basically finding ways other than cutting back on spending to boost your bottom line.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, Sean. So, as we’ve been talking about throughout the series, sure, you can cut back on some of the daily indulgences you might be able to do without, but cutting back five or 10 bucks here and there, even daily, is unlikely to make you rich, or even to be able to retire. What really makes a difference is having more money coming into your bank account. And as we’ve discussed, there are a lot of ways to do that, but one of the best ones is by getting a bigger paycheck.
Sean Pyles:
Yep. And of course there are a couple ways that you can do that. You could ask for a raise or some other form of compensation from your current employer, or you could get a new job.
Alana Benson:
And here is why that second option is the real winner. So, stay with us. There are a lot of numbers here, but I promise it is worth it. US inflation in December 2023 was 3.4%, and according to WTW’S December 2023 Global Salary Budget Planning Report, average salary increases in 2023 were 4.4%. That leaves you with essentially a 1% raise if you were to stay at the same company, if you’re accounting for inflation. On the other hand, if you change jobs, you can often expect an increase between 10 and 15%, or even up to 30% or more, if you play your cards right.
Sean Pyles:
Okay. So, the key to getting any of that, whether you’re asking for a raise or seeking out a new job, is that you’re likely going to have to negotiate. And that’s a word that gives a lot of folks hives.
Alana Benson:
Hi, it’s me. I’m the one with hives. Do you remember the first time you did a salary negotiation, Sean?
Sean Pyles:
Yeah, it actually was at NerdWallet, and it did make me really uncomfortable. I knew that I deserved more money, but I just didn’t know the right process for having that conversation. My boss and I worked it out, but it wasn’t enjoyable. I can tell you that. Alana, what about you?
Alana Benson:
Yeah, I believe it. I alluded to this in the first episode, but at my first job negotiation, I was told that I was greedy and selfish. I was told that it was completely unprofessional to negotiate even though I’d googled this within an inch of my life the night before. My boss told me that they would forgive me because I was, quote, “young and didn’t know anything about the job world.” The good news is that I left that job soon after and close to tripled my salary. But yeah, I have a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to negotiating, but that’s part of why I’m so passionate about this topic. I want people to know that there are some really specific ways that we can make this whole negotiation process easier on ourselves, and we are going to hear about those today.
Sean Pyles:
All right, well, we want to hear what you think too, listeners. To share your thoughts about ways to boost your income, leave us a voicemail or text the Nerd hotline at (901) 730-6373. That’s (901) 730-NERD, or email a voice memo to [email protected]. So, Alana, who are we hearing from today?
Alana Benson:
Today we are talking with Catherine Tinsley. She’s the Raffini Professor of Management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She’s an expert and teaches courses in negotiation, so she’s going to walk us through some of the do’s and don’ts when you’re asking for more money.
Sean Pyles:
That’s coming up in a moment. Stay with us.
Alana Benson:
Cathy, welcome to Smart Money.
Catherine Tinsley:
Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Alana Benson:
I just kind of want to start us off with talking about negotiation in general. Why is it so difficult for a lot of us to negotiate, whether that’s at a job for more money, with our partner for household equity? Negotiating is just a really difficult thing to do. So, why is that?
Catherine Tinsley:
Yeah, it’s true, and I think there are a couple of things that tend to block us. The one thing to think about when you’re negotiating with a job, or you’re negotiating with a friend, or you’re negotiating with a partner is that you know it’s going to be a repeated interaction. So, there’s some sort of interdependence. You may not want to ask for something if your fear is going to trigger some sort of negative response. Maybe you’ll get your way now, but down the line, you won’t get something that you would’ve. So, the fact that it’s this repeated interaction over time tends to make people a little bit more wary of negotiating. I think another reason, particularly at a job, is that there’s a presumed power difference. Now, you’ll notice that before I said with the repeated interaction, there’s an interdependence.
Interdependent means that there’s actually power on both sides, but we tend not to think of the power that we have. We tend to think of this big company as having the power, and we don’t have any power. So, there’s sort of a presumed power asymmetry. And then the other thing I think that goes on is that there’s sort of a presumed information or expertise asymmetry that they know a lot more than you do. So we’re just a little bit wary of engaging with someone where we feel like we might be at a disadvantage.
Alana Benson:
That’s such a great point about the power dynamic because I’ve definitely felt that going into things where you just feel like you’re the dumbest girl in school, as I like to call it. Everyone else knows all this stuff, but that really isn’t necessarily true. In reality, these jobs are looking at you because of what you know, and you are an attractive candidate because of that.
Catherine Tinsley:
Exactly. And so that’s one of the things that you have to remind yourself is that power is the inverse of dependency. So, the more that we are dependent, the less power we have, but it’s all about relative dependency and relative power. To the extent that you’re an attractive candidate or you’re an attractive worker relative to their other alternatives of other workers, then you do have power. So, they have power to the extent that you really want to work for them, and there are no other attractive job opportunities for you. But you have power to the extent that you are a more attractive candidate than other people are, or you’re a more attractive worker, you’re a good worker.
Alana Benson:
I want to kind of get into the nitty-gritty here of when it comes to negotiating, and I want to first make the differentiation between negotiating at your current job to get a raise or negotiating for a new position at a different job, or even leveraging a new offer at your old job. They’re all so different. How would you start the process if you were going to just try to negotiate for a raise at your current job?
Catherine Tinsley:
There are some contextual differences in all of the cases that you just mentioned, but there are a lot of common themes. What I might suggest that we do is actually talk about some of the common themes first because it makes for a little bit of a checklist, and I want people to be able to think, okay, first I do this, then I do this, then I do that. Because I think breaking down the process might help people a little bit.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, definitely.
Catherine Tinsley:
The first thing is that you have to negotiate with yourself. What’s really important to you? Yes, salary is important, but what else? These could be non-monetary things like freedom, flexible work arrangements, promotional opportunities, job assignments, those things that could be important to you. Or they could be other monetary things that are not salary, like performance bonuses, training bonuses, reimbursements, memberships, childcare, student loan help, all these kinds of things that we tend to not think about as directly related to the negotiation, but they really are, and they can be incorporated. One of the classic moves that you want to do in negotiation is to open up the negotiation space. You don’t want to make it just about salary if you can because in making it about multiple issues, you’re giving an opportunity now to create trade-offs, which is kind of going to bring me to my second thing. So, my first thing is to negotiate with yourself. What are all the kinds of things that you want, and how important are each one of those things for you?
Alana Benson:
And maybe write out a list of that kind of thing.
Catherine Tinsley:
Yeah, exactly. The second thing is to do your homework. You want to think about the other party and think about what is important to them, and what might be important to them other than money. This kind of pivots you from a demand approach to a mutual problem-solving approach, which people feel a lot more comfortable with. If you can think of yourself as part of a team with the other party that’s trying to mutually solve this puzzle so that both of you can get most of your way, I think that helps people psychologically. So, how are you helping them to meet their needs? And then the other way that you should be doing your homework is that you should be looking at comparables, at benchmarks. You should be looking at internal and external labor market standards. For example, what you’re asking for in terms of salary, and information is really gold here.
To the extent that you can find out any information about what peers are making, about what people in similar companies are making, what people with your same education that have done a similar type of job, any information that you can find out in the marketplace, both in the internal labor market, by which I mean within the company, and the external labor market. That’s really helpful.
Alana Benson:
And that’s the kind of research that you can do on a site like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, other places that have those types of comparison data, correct?
Catherine Tinsley:
That’s right. And if you are currently employed, you can probably ask some of your friends. I know that a lot of people think, “Oh, my gosh, asking about salary is so confidential,” but there are big pushes now to actually make salary data publicly available in many contexts. You would actually be surprised if somebody is a good friend, too. They’re probably going to be sharing some information with you.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, I think that it’s so immensely important to have those conversations with people at your company, with people in your industry, because the only people that benefit from salary conversations being taboo is employers. That is incredibly unhelpful to employees, and incredibly unhelpful to the people trying to make a fair wage. By saying, “Oh, it’s culturally inappropriate,” that is very, very beneficial to one of those parties and very detrimental to the other party.
Catherine Tinsley:
Right. And so that should help people to go ahead and ask the question. It should help people to go ahead and answer the question, too, for their friends. One of the things I say to my students, I say it to my kids, I say to anybody that listens to me is life is about reciprocity. Life is about making relationships, and in making relationships, you have to have some amount of trust. That means there’s always going to be some give and take. I think it’s really great if you can give before you’re asking.
Alana Benson:
So, how can we kind of get into the specifics? Do you just go to your manager and say, “Hey, I think I should be making more money?” What should that conversation look like when you are asking for a raise?
Catherine Tinsley:
My advice is twofold. First, be specific. Don’t just say, “Hey, can you help me out a little bit? Could I have a raise? I was thinking I should make more.” Vague is not going to help you here. You need to anchor them by giving them specific numbers. Now, what’s really interesting that people won’t think about is that non-round numbers make for stronger anchors. For example, it’s better to ask for $83,500 than to ask for $85,000. Why? Non-round numbers are somewhat surprising. When I just said give a non-round number, say it like 83-5, you’re probably thinking, “Well, that’s kind of an odd number.” It makes you think. If it’s a round number, there’s something called cognitive fluency, which is just like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, I get that.” It’s sort of like your mind doesn’t have to think as hard about it, so it doesn’t click in there, but if your mind has to think a little bit, it clicks in for the other person.
So, it’s more likely to be a strong anchor. Now, what does that mean? If you think of an anchor, like an anchor of a boat, once you put the anchor down, that boat is not moving around too much, right? It’s hard for the boat to move too far from the anchor. Similarly, in negotiation, it’s hard for the other party to move too far from your anchor, and the stronger the anchor, the less likely they will deviate from it. So, the first thing is that non-round numbers tend to be stronger anchors.
Now, this I don’t have any scientific evidence for, but it’s what I believe, and that is when you give them a non-round number as an anchor, it tends to suggest that you’ve put some thought into it. The fact that you’ve come up with 83-5 seems like you’ve done some sort of calculation that is making that an important number for you. So, that’s your anchor. You need an anchor, and you need accounts. By accounts, what I mean is why is that anchor relevant? Why is that anchor justifiable? You have to be able to say with a straight face why that is the right number. That relates to what we just said, too. It relates to the whole idea of doing your homework with the benchmarking and the comparables.
Alana Benson:
So, say you’re a salesperson, and you are currently making just for round numbers’ sake $100,000, and you go on Glassdoor, you do your research, you see that salespeople at your company on average are actually making 120. You look at people at other companies that are in a similar industry, and you see those salespeople are making around 125. Based on what you bring to the table, your years of experience, you say, okay, I think 123-5 is the number that’s most appropriate for me to ask for. Is that kind of how you would come up with that number?
Catherine Tinsley:
There’s a couple of things to unpack there. The first is if you decide that you really want 123-5, you actually have to open higher than that, right? You actually have to open higher than what you’d ideally like to settle for. That’s suggesting to me that what you need to open with is something that is closer to 129, $129,000. If they say, “How did you get there?” Then you can say, “Well, I’ve benchmarked, and it looks like it’s about $125,000 is the average, but I’ve always considered myself to be an above-average worker,” and you’ve got to be able to justify that too, right? Based on either the performances you’ve had in the company or based on something that you can demonstrate from the interview. You use sort of this notion that this is the average, but I know that I’m getting recruited because I am above average, and I think we’ll both feel comfortable with this, and it’ll make me work really hard for you to know that I’m getting paid above average. Will you get that? I don’t know. But you have to start higher than what you’d ideally like to settle for, right? We all know that.
Alana Benson:
So, how would this sort of differ between if you were leveraging an outside offer to try to make more money at your existing company versus if you really don’t like where you’re at right now and you just want a new job? What would those situations look like, and how would they differ?
Catherine Tinsley:
I think that you’re getting at what everybody knows to be true, which is that if you have an outside offer, you have a lot more power than if you have no offer that you want to take. If you have an outside offer that you are very happy with, then you use that alternative as a way of increasing your confidence to be able to ask for more within this particular negotiation. Now, let me caveat that by saying if you actually aren’t serious about the company, this company that you’re negotiating with, you shouldn’t negotiate with them. If you aren’t seriously going to consider an offer from them, then please don’t negotiate with them because that just eventually hurts everybody. It really should only be because you seriously think you could work for this company. I actually think that salary is one of the least important criteria in deciding whether or not you’re going to work for a particular company. I think the assessment of culture and fit, and whether you like the people that you’ve interacted with, are way more important than an extra $10,000 or $20,000.
Alana Benson:
You touched on this in the beginning, but there are so many different components to a job offer, and I wanted to talk about some of the things that maybe people don’t realize that they can negotiate on, such as vacation time or remote work possibility. Company equity is, I think, a really big one that people forget to ask about. How do they phrase asking for those things?
Catherine Tinsley:
So, there’s a lot of things, right? You can ask for continuing education or training possibilities. You could ask for certain job placements, you can ask for student loan help, you can ask for childcare help, you can ask for a housing allowance, you can ask for moving expenses. You could ask for a signing bonus. In years past, people have asked for things like transportation vouchers as well as what you said, equity, some kind of variable pay, pay for performance. The other thing that you can ask for if they say, “We just have this package that we give everybody, all our entry-level people get this,” then you ask for an early review date. I’d love to have an early performance review, and at that time, then we can assess how my performance has been, and make me eligible for promotional opportunities.
Alana Benson:
That way you bring up that opportunity to potentially make more money faster.
Catherine Tinsley:
Alana Benson:
To go back to when you’re in this stage of figuring things out, what is your take on salary ranges? When to state a number if there is no salary range? I’ve heard some people say you should say your number first. I’ve heard other people say, you’ve got to wait for the company to say a number. What do you think people should do when they don’t have any information on a salary range? And how do you think people can get to that topic?
Catherine Tinsley:
Common wisdom is that it’s better for the other party to throw out the first number, the first anchor, but it turns out that common wisdom is wrong. Now, I’m going to caveat this in a minute, but let’s just think about why. So, common wisdom is wrong because the most powerful anchor in any negotiation is the first offer that’s thrown out there. If you are anchoring the negotiation, they are playing your ball game. That’s why you want to be making the first offer. Now, that said, a couple of things. One, to the extent that you feel a power differential, and you really are feeling like, “Oh, my gosh, I’m this little thing, and they’re this big company,” you’re going to lowball yourself. So, they don’t even have to do the negotiation work at all. You’re doing it for them.
The second is, the more you’ve prepared, the less it matters who really throws out the first number, because you still have your opening offer, your number in hand, and you won’t necessarily be thrown by their anchor. So, if you have absolutely no information from the company about salary, I kind of find that difficult to believe that companies put out zero information about a position. But if that’s the case, then I think the best thing that you can do is try to get external labor market information for comparable jobs. You need something to back up what you’re asking for.
Alana Benson:
Do you have any tips for particularly women, or people of color, other marginalized groups who historically have kind of been at a disadvantage in the workplace generally, and when it comes to negotiation? I saw a study that came out recently that was saying some of the traditional wisdom for women negotiators may differ. What is your take for people who are kind of coming at this from a different experience?
Catherine Tinsley:
Obviously, we can’t solve a legacy of structural inequity by people negotiating, and I do think that it’s a little unfair to put the burden on the historically disadvantaged people that have to now be brilliant negotiators to make up for it. That said, I know that’s not what you’re saying. One thing I might also mention is that you sort of have two choices with your emotions. Either you can own them, or they will own you. So if you know that you’re going to be uncomfortable, you need to own it, and you need to figure out what you can do for yourself to not be uncomfortable while you’re asking for things, whether that’s practice, whether that’s getting a coach, whether that’s having a friend give you feedback on things. Otherwise, you’re going to be owned by your emotion. One other thing I guess I will say, too, that it’s just sort of dawning on me as I talk about this is I sometimes put my emotions on the table when I’m negotiating if I am uncomfortable.
You don’t have to hide it. I’ll say something like, I’m feeling a little bit of discomfort in having to negotiate this. I know it’s part of the process, but it’s not something I have a lot of practice with. If you name it, then I think it actually in some ways shows a courageousness because you’re saying, this isn’t completely easy for me to have these conversations, but I know they’re important, and so I’m going to have them. I’m having this difficult conversation with you because I trust you, and I think that you’re going to do right by me, and I’m just going to put myself out there. If you can give them implicit messages, how is that not endearing?
Alana Benson:
And I love how that humanizes you, too. Again, it’s like building that connection with the person that you have to negotiate with. Instead of forcing you to sit on opposite sides of the table, it really brings you around to sit on the same side of the table and solve a problem together.
Catherine Tinsley:
That’s right. You’re showing empathy, and you’re acknowledging that they’re showing empathy. I mean, it’s sort of like acting as if, and I find that oftentimes people come through for you. You do not agree at the table when you are negotiating, you do not agree and say, “Okay, great. Done.” You can say things like, “Well, this all sounds really good. Can you send me the offer in writing, please?” Always get it in writing. You’re not agreeing at the table. The point of the negotiation at the table is to get something in writing that you can then later evaluate.
Alana Benson:
I love that tip. Catherine Tinsley, thank you so much for helping us out today. It was great talking to you.
Catherine Tinsley:
Thank you so much for having me on.
Sean Pyles:
Alana, I so appreciate how you and Catherine talked about how negotiating doesn’t have to be this combative exercise that it’s often made out to be. Yes, you may have to navigate a power imbalance. Yes, this can feel uncomfortable. But reframing a negotiation as a means of collaborating so each party gets what it wants can make it feel much more accessible. You are there to get the raise or benefits that you deserve. The employer is there to ensure that they have the skilled, happy workers that they need. You both have something to gain from this negotiation.
Alana Benson:
Yes, exactly. So, it can be easy to feel like you’re on opposite sides of the table, but you’re right. In the end, it’s likely that your employer and you want the same thing, for you to stay and be happy there. If you keep that in mind, it’s easier to remember that you have the same goal. You just have to agree to the terms.
Sean Pyles:
I think the really big lesson here is one we’ve been talking about throughout the series, which is yes, you can sweat the small stuff. It’s fine if you think it will help you to cut down on lattes and dinners out and that sort of thing. If you want to improve your finances, do what works for you. But if you’re looking at big financial goals, you’re going to want to take much larger steps to meet them.
Alana Benson:
Yep. And finding ways to boost the money that’s coming in the door instead of obsessing over what’s going out could be a faster and more efficient way to achieve those goals in the timeframe you want to accomplish them. So don’t be afraid to negotiate, don’t be afraid to ask for what you believe you are worth, and do the homework to prove it. And really think through the skills you bring to the table that can bring in more income, whether that’s at your existing job or at a new one.
Sean Pyles:
Well, Alana, thank you so much for leading the series. I’ve certainly learned a lot, even if I’m still a little bit nervous about getting too deep into LinkedIn.
Alana Benson:
That’s okay, Sean. I am so honored to be here. Thank you for having me.
Sean Pyles:
Always happy to have you. For now, that’s all we have for this episode. Do you have a money question of your own? Turn to the Nerds and call or text us your questions at (901) 730-6373. That’s (901) 730-NERD. You can also email us at [email protected]. And remember, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes.
Alana Benson:
This episode was produced by Tess Vigeland. Sean helped with editing. Kevin Berry helped with fact-checking. Sara Brink mixed our audio. And a big thank you to NerdWallet’s editors for all their help.
Sean Pyles:
And here’s our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
Alana Benson:
And with that said, until next time, turn to the Nerds.
Do you want to learn how to start a print-on-demand business? Print-on-demand businesses allow you to create and sell custom products like t-shirts, mugs, and phone cases without needing to store any inventory. Today, I have a great interview to share with you all about this business idea. It’s with Jessica Roop, who has had…
Do you want to learn how to start a print-on-demand business?
Print-on-demand businesses allow you to create and sell custom products like t-shirts, mugs, and phone cases without needing to store any inventory.
Today, I have a great interview to share with you all about this business idea.
It’s with Jessica Roop, who has had a print-on-demand side hustle for a couple of years. She’s been designing and selling her own products, and she recently launched a course on the subject I Love Print on Demand.
She profits around $500 and $1,500 per month with her print-on-demand side hustle. She has made over 6,000 print-on-demand product sales too!
In this interview, I ask Jessica questions about how to start a print-on-demand business from home.
So, if you are interested in starting a flexible and in-demand side hustle, I ask her questions you may be wondering about, like:
What is print-on-demand? How does print-on-demand work?
What are print-on-demand items a person can sell?
How much can a new person make selling print-on-demand?
How much does it cost to start and run a print-on-demand business?
Can someone with no tech skills start a print-on-demand business?
Today’s interview will help you get started on your path to becoming a successful print-on-demand entrepreneur.
I recommend signing up for the freebie 17 Hot-Selling Print-on-Demand Products That Can Pay for Your Next Vacation and More! to learn more.
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This freebie will teach you about print-on-demand as well as give you a list of 17 hot-selling products you can sell via print on demand.
How To Start a Print-On-Demand Business
Below is the interview all about how to start a print-on-demand business.
1. Please give us a little background on yourself and how you got started with a print-on-demand business. How much do you earn monthly from print-on-demand?
Hi! I’m Jessica. I’ve worked full-time online since 2017, doing everything from food blogging to offering virtual assistant services.
In 2020, like many of us, I found myself with some extra time on my hands because of COVID. In my free time, I became a little obsessed with how well e-commerce was doing, so I decided it would be a good side hustle to pursue. In 2021, I started planning my e-commerce business with an early 2022 launch. I was so excited!
I wish I could say that this was the beginning of my print-on-demand journey, but unfortunately, I dove into e-commerce the hard way: I started an online gift company that carried physical inventory.
Seeing as I live in a 692-square-foot apartment, this did not turn out to be a great idea. Plus, I completely underestimated how long it would take to pull products, package them, print shipping labels, and take boxes to the post office. It was exhausting, and my fun little e-commerce “side hustle” became a nightmare.
One day, print-on-demand randomly popped into my head, probably out of complete desperation!
A few years prior, I had created a few print-on-demand products after hearing about the idea somewhere. I never took selling the products I designed seriously, but the idea suddenly sounded intriguing. It would solve all of my problems because I wouldn’t have to carry any inventory and wouldn’t have to pack, package, or ship anything.
I launched my first print-on-demand product on Etsy in May 2022 and quickly had a best-selling product on my hands. I was hooked and haven’t looked back since!
My profit averages between $500 and $1,500 per month. I’m pretty busy with my “day job” income streams, so print-on-demand has always been a side hustle for me. It’s a super fun creative outlet and a great way to generate extra cash every month.
2. What is print-on-demand? How does print-on-demand work?
At its core, print-on-demand means that products are produced “on demand,” meaning they aren’t produced until an order comes through. For example, a design isn’t printed on a blank mug until a customer orders it.
Print-on-demand has evolved into a term for a business model where regular people can team up with a print-on-demand production partner and sell a wide variety of products without ever holding physical inventory or doing any of the fulfillment.
Let’s say you sell on Etsy like I do. Here’s how the process would look for you:
You create a digital design file (much easier than it sounds; some of my best sellers are text-only designs!) and upload it to your production partner’s site; in this example, let’s say you’ve designed a t-shirt
You list your t-shirt for sale on Etsy
A buyer finds your t-shirt, loves it, and purchases it
The order is sent to your production partner, and you click a button to confirm the order
Your production partner prints your digital design file on a t-shirt in the customer’s preferred size, packages it, prints a shipping label, and sends it off to your customer
Your production partner uploads the tracking information to Etsy and marks the order as complete
That’s it! Etsy pays you (minus transaction fees), and you pay your production partner. You pocket the difference, typically about 30% of the price you listed it for on Etsy. Your customer pays 100% of the shipping costs.
As you can see, at no point during this process do you hold a physical item in your hands. Your production partner takes care of all of it for you.
3. What are print-on-demand items a person can sell?
Pretty much anything! Although I don’t have any exact figures, I’d say there are thousands of different products available for print-on-demand.
Every production partner offers something different, and the vast majority of production partners are adding new products all the time. And within each product category, there are often many different variations. For example, there isn’t just one type of mug out there – there are different sizes, different shapes, different colors, different materials.
Here are just a few of the products available for print-on-demand:
Mugs
Tumblers
T-shirts
Sweatshirts
Tote bags
Makeup bags
Wall art
Blankets
Desk mats
Cell phone cases
Ornaments
Bumper stickers
Jigsaw puzzles
Pet bowls
Can coolers
If you can dream it, it’s probably available!
4. How much can a new person make selling print-on-demand?
As long as you dedicate yourself to the process, making ~$500/month in profit on Etsy within the first 3-6 months is possible.
I started making that amount only about a month in, but I was lucky to have a best-selling product very quickly. That wasn’t my intention (I was just excited to get a single sale!), but I just happened to release a product that really spoke to people.
After that initial start-up period, for a part-time effort on Etsy, $500 to $1,500 a month in profit is totally doable. For a full-time effort on Etsy, $40,000 to $70,000 a year in profit is achievable.
You probably noticed that I’m saying on Etsy. If you create your own store (Shopify is a popular platform for self-hosting) and start doing a lot of paid ads and/or social media, you can scale a lot higher. There are people making multi-six figures a year in profit!
5. How much does it cost to start and run a print-on-demand business?
If you’re starting your shop on Etsy like I did, here is a general overview of costs:
Etsy (sales platform): $0.20 per new item listing, plus transaction fees of 6.5% after you make a sale
Creative Fabrica (to source fonts and images to use on designs): $3.99/month
Printify (production partner): No subscription fee, although they do offer a Premium plan for $24.99/month that allows you to purchase the products cheaper (highly recommended if you start making more than ten sales a month)
*Some people use Canva, but I’ve found that Adobe Illustrator makes it easier to produce quality designs. That said, Canva is making improvements all the time, so switching over will hopefully be possible eventually!
6. What do you like about print-on-demand? Is it worth it?
I like to joke that I’m a mix of highly motivated and highly lazy, and I’ve found that print-on-demand, especially on Etsy, is perfect for someone like me!
I love that I can publish as many product designs as I want with minimal effort and minimal risk. If something doesn’t work out, it’s no big deal… I can just move on to the next product. After seeing the other side of things with an inventory-based business, print-on-demand is so easy and super low-stress.
I’ve also come to really love the creative process of designing new products. I’ve spent my whole life feeling like I’m not creative, but print-on-demand has ignited a creative flame in me that I didn’t know existed. My designs are pretty basic, but sometimes I’ll spend hours designing products without even realizing time is passing.
It’s 110% worth it. It’s such a fun hobby – one that makes me money! Print-on-demand is a great way to fund vacations, home improvements, “me time” things (like time at the spa), and to pay off bills. Plus, if taking it full-time is your goal, that’s doable as well.
7. How does a person get customers for print-on-demand?
I highly recommend starting with Etsy because they have a built-in customer base. Etsy has about 92 million active buyers globally, so the potential is enormous! People don’t go to Etsy for any other reason than to purchase something, so you can be laser-focused on acquiring customers.
Like many online platforms, Etsy heavily relies on SEO for listings, so as long as you optimize your listings for their search engine, they can be found by potential buyers.
Etsy is the “easy button” for print-on-demand customers, but there are other ways to get customers, namely organic social media and paid social media (ads). For these methods, instead of hosting your products on Etsy, you would likely have your own online store through platforms like Shopify, Wix, Woocommerce, etc.
TikTok Shops are also becoming popular ways for print-on-demand sellers to reach customers. With a TikTok Shop, you sell directly on the app, and customers can purchase directly on the app, so you don’t need to have a separate store somewhere.
TikTok has strict rules for selling through its shops, including the maximum number of days that can pass before the product is shipped to the customer. This used to be a barrier to entry for print-on-demand since some products can take a little while to be fulfilled (because they need to be printed before they’re shipped), but now more production partners are making sure their products are shipped within TikTok’s timelines.
8. Can someone with no tech skills do this?
Yes! You don’t have to be super tech-savvy to start; you just have to be open to learning new skills. People of all tech levels can be successful with print-on-demand.
Even when it comes to graphic design, you don’t have to be skilled. As I mentioned before, some of my best-selling designs are text-only! Plus, with an inexpensive subscription to a place like Creative Fabrica, you can source millions of images and fonts to use in your designs.
9. Which is the best print-on-demand platform?
I use Printify and love it.
The two biggest players in print-on-demand are Printify and Printful, and I decided to go with Printify because I preferred their pricing structure and product selection. They have been fantastic and I have zero regrets!
10. Can you list the steps needed to get started selling print-on-demand?
If you choose to go the Etsy route, here’s what you need to do:
Set up a Printify account
Sign up for Creative Fabrica or a similar site to source fonts and images
Choose a product or two to start with on Printify (mugs are always a good choice) and download the design templates
Download Adobe Illustrator, open the design templates, and start designing
Upload your designs to Printify
Open an Etsy account and connect Printify to Etsy
Upload your products to Etsy
Start selling!
This is just a general overview, of course. There are other important pieces of the puzzle like researching niches, choosing from different design styles, and crafting your Etsy listings in the right way so they show up in Etsy results.
11. Can you tell me more about the course you have?
I Love Print on Demand is the course I wish I had when I started my print-on-demand journey.
With it, you will set up your print-on-demand business for success from day one so you can skip the stress and start making money faster!
I honestly had no clue what I was doing when I started, and it’s a total miracle I figured out the eight steps listed above, let alone any of the other moving pieces and parts. It was a slow learning process for me, and I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning, which was a pretty stressful experience.
When I created my course, I thought about all of the questions I had and all of the things that slowed me down and then created a course that addressed all of those aspects.
I also made sure to keep it simple by narrowing the focus to the top three products that sell best for me. Print-on-demand can be a little like the Cheesecake Factory menu—there are so many product options, and you can easily get overwhelmed! It’s okay to branch out to other products later, but I keep you laser-focused so you focus on what works right from the beginning.
If you’re interested, you can check out my I Love Print on Demand course here.
You can also sign up for my free ebook, 17 Hot-Selling Print-on-Demand Products That Can Pay for Your Next Vacation and More!, here.
Do you want to learn how to start a print-on-demand business? What would you sell?
Note from Making Sense of Cents: I hope you enjoyed this helpful article on how to start your own POD business. There are many marketplace and ecommerce platforms (your supplier who does your order fulfillment) that you can get started with, as you learned above. And, there are many unique designs that you can sell to stand apart from the crowd. I have bought many items (a wide range of products such as apparel, accessories, and home decor) from POD businesses over the years, and I expect this to continue for myself and many others for the future. There are many ways to grow a print-on-demand business too (such as Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube), so that can help you to make more money and maybe even increase your profit margins. I hope you see lots of success!
This post may contain affiliate links, which helps us to continue providing relevant content and we receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the full disclosure here.
When do you typically think about Christmas shopping?
Around Thanksgiving? Year-around? Christmas Eve?
Regardless of when you plan to start your Christmas shopping, it is never too early to start creating your Christmas budget. Especially if you are Christmas shopping on a tight budget!
When are trying to figure out what should I buy for a Christmas gift on a budget? It can seem like you are putting together a jigsaw puzzle based on what you can afford.
Well, there is great news you will find out in this post! By starting a little early and planning you can guarantee Christmas shopping on a low budget will work for you! Then, you can keep on charging around with your personal money goals.
One of the best tips for Christmas shopping on a budget is to save money all year for the occasion.
That way you avoid the trap of not having money to spend and then resorting to charging your Christmas presents on a credit card. Just a warning… a small amount of debt can turn into a slippery slope and can snowball into much, much more!
Back in the day, many families received a bonus around the holidays. They would determine their Christmas budget on the amount of money they are awarded in this bonus for gifts. However, there is a downfall and risk to use this strategy because these bonuses aren’t guaranteed. Nowadays, very few companies actually give out Christmas bonuses.
So, take it upon yourself to save money on a consistent basis. This could be in the form of bank account or cash envelope. Either way, you can set aside a set dollar amount or a percentage of your income throughout the year for Christmas shopping.
If you are serious about learning how to Christmas shop on a budget, then it is crucial to start with a budget and share your plan for Christmas gifts without exceeding this pre-determined budget.
By spreading out the amount saved for Christmas shopping or actually buying gifts throughout the year, you can successfully keep your budget in control. More importantly, you can eliminate a great deal of stress, which often accompanies last-minute Christmas shopping.
This is exactly how do you make a Christmas special on a budget.
Simple Ideas on Budgeting for Christmas Shopping
One of the best budgeting for Christmas tips is to actually plan out your Christmas shopping. For some of us, who despise planning, you may loathe the idea.
However, in the end, it is one of the best money saving ideas to embrace for long term financial freedom.
If you are trying to figure out how can I do Christmas cheap, then this post has eight simple ideas for budgeting for Christmas shopping.
1. Decide Your Christmas Budget
It is necessary to determine how much to spend before your start Christmas shopping and especially Christmas shopping online.
It is never too early to start thinking about creating your budget for Christmas shopping. As much as I would like to be able to purchase everything under the sun for our friends and family, I must make choices on where my hard-earned money should go. (Hint: This is wise money management advice all-year-around.)
With most of our unfortunate reality, we must budget carefully to be able to purchase Christmas gifts for everyone on our list. With this in mind, it is very imperative to set a budget for Christmas shopping and stick to that budget you agreed on.
2. Make a Christmas List (and check it twice)
After creating a Christmas budget, making a Christmas list in the one of the best budgeting for Christmas tips you can take away!
Just like with regular money management, it is a smart move to make plans for your money BEFORE you start spending it.
Grab our free printable gift tracker and start writing down everything you can possibly buy during the holiday season.
Review your Christmas list and make sure your dream list is something that you can truly afford. Make sure to check it twice!
3. Limit the Number of Gifts
What is the true meaning of Christmas? Buying loads of presents you can barely afford or spending quality time with family and friends?
It is absolutely okay to limit the number of gifts you buy for each person on your list.
Many people apply the 4 gift rule at Christmas to stay within their Christmas budget, avoid overspending, and to teach their kids that materialistic items is not the purpose of Christmas.
This gift-giving idea is simple and based on each child receiving four presents:
a want
a need
something to wear
something to read
4. Shop Early or Shop Late?
Decide what type of shopper you are. Do you prefer to shop throughout the year and pick up frugal bargains? Or are you scrambling at the last minute to shop to do your Christmas gift shopping on a budget?
Honestly, there is no right or wrong answer.
You need to decide how to Christmas shop on a budget that will work for your personality.
Your shopping habits will decide how you will best stay within your Christmas budget and not stress more during the holiday season.
5. Use Cash
Okay, cash is becoming phased out as credit cards and debit cards are the norm. In this case, we are talking about the premise of using cash.
You have the cash available to spend on Christmas shopping sitting in your bank account.
It doesn’t matter if you shop with cash, debit card, or credit card, you can cover all of your Christmas shopping with the money allocated in your Christmas budget. The goal is to enjoy a debt free Christmas.
Before you begin to shop online, evaluate the amount of Christmas gift money you have saved. Then, double-check that amount equates with the budget set for your Christmas shopping.
Even if you are using a credit card and the bill will arrive the following month, today you must have enough money to repay the bill in its entirety and avoid paying interest.
6. Buy in Bulk
Buying in bulk is a term that refers to the idea of buying large quantities of goods or services at a discounted price.
If you’re low on money or short on time, bulk shopping can be a good idea. Many stores offer discounts for customers who purchase large quantities of goods at one time.
This is great for someone who needs to buy a large number of gifts for extended family.
7. Negotiate a better deal
Negotiate a better deal.
Sometimes all you have to do is ask for a discount.
If the company has any promotions or special offers, make sure to ask them about them before making your purchase. Just click the chat or help button when shopping online.
8. Add to Online Cart & Don’t Buy (Yet)
This is probably my favorite trick for Christmas shopping online!
Add the item to your cart and make sure you go far enough through the checkout that the company has your email address. But, don’t buy yet.
Wait for 24 hours.
More than likely, the company will send you a promo code for 10-25% off.
Shopping on Amazon? Add to a wish list. Then, the Amazon app will notify you of a lower price or lightning deal!
Cha-ching! Saving on Christmas shopping.
9. Combine Presents with Needs
This money saving tip is truly my personal favorite!
Think ahead of what the person you are buying for needs and try to find presents that suit that need.
For example, our kids wanted their own snorkeling gear for our next vacation. We have no idea when that trip will happen. So, we bought them snorkeling gear for their birthdays. Instant win-win!
Curious to know how we afford trips… We use a vacation fund.
10. find extra savings
Key tip for Christmas shopping on a budget… always look for deals and a lower price!
Given that so much Christmas shopping is done online, this is a great way to find a cheap presents for much less.
Here are some great apps to make sure you either get cash back or they check for extra coupon codes:
During this time of year, you should never pay for shipping. Honestly, it is one of the reasons, I truly like Amazon prime membership. They will drop ship your gifts to your destination at no extra cost to you.
11. Skip the Bags
Pull out the wrapping paper, ribbon, and bows!
You can spend about $10 a year to wrap all of your gifts, which is a bargain given most holiday gift bags cost about $2-5 each.
Plus if you have little eyes that like to peek, a wrapped box with ribbon is much harder to figure out their presents. This is my favorite book to teach kids about waiting patiently for their Christmas gifts. (Also, it is a big hit with my kids, too!)
Frugal Saver Tip – If you absolutely despise wrapping your presents, then save the gift bags and tissue paper to reuse year after year. That is one of the most fabulous money saving tips for Christmas shopping on a budget!
Christmas Shopping Tips:
The tips outlined are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. The key to saving money throughout the year is making sure you check your budget and keep an eye on how much you spend before Christmas hits.
It’s easy to get caught up in the season and overspend without realizing it.
The best time to save money is before Christmas hits.
Here are some Christmas Shopping Tips to remember.
Make a list of people who would like gifts
Check out sales at stores around town
Buy gift cards for stores where you know people shop
Make your gifts more personal by decorating them yourself
Avoid the guilt of overspending on Christmas with these ideas to make your next holiday a little more affordable
The key to saving money throughout the year is making sure you check your budget and keep an eye on how much you spend.
It’s easy to get caught up in the season and overspend without realizing it.
My Christmas Gift Shopping on a Budget Went over
Yikes, this is exactly what you didn’t want to do. But, the temptation to keep grabbing a couple of things was too much.
We all have the best of intentions, but may find themselves going over your budget when Christmas shopping. You need to keep things in perspective when this happens.
The key is not to go too far over Christmas budget.
If you spent more than planned on one or two people on your Christmas list, then you can recoup this by purchasing less expensive gifts than planned for a few other people to compensate.
Don’t throw in the towel and give up completely when Christmas gift shopping on a tight budget.
What are your favorite for christmas shopping Tips?
Whether you are looking to figure out how can I do Christmas cheap? Or just to save a few extra dollars with these money saving tips?
In this post, we covered the best ways to be prepared for Christmas shopping on a budget.
But, don’t just stop there, use these tips to improve your money management all year around.
Saving extra money just for Christmas is one of the frugal living tips you can start with. Starting in January, stick around Money Bliss and learn a few more ways to improve your money situation.
You won’t regret learning budgeting tips for Christmas. That will change your finances forever.
More Christmas Shopping Money Saving Ideas:
Know someone else that needs this, too? Then, please share!!
Did the post resonate with you?
More importantly, did I answer the questions you have about this topic? Let me know in the comments if I can help in some other way!
Your comments are not just welcomed; they’re an integral part of our community. Let’s continue the conversation and explore how these ideas align with your journey towards Money Bliss.
The current average interest rate for a fixed-rate, 30-year conforming mortgage loan in the United States is 6.960%, according to the most recent data available from mortgage technology and data company Optimal Blue. Read on to see average rates for different types of mortgages and how the current rates compare with the last reported day prior.
Type of Mortgage
Current Rate
Rate Last Reported
30-year conforming
6.960%
6.992%
30-year jumbo
7.160%
7.269%
30-year FHA
6.737%
6.743%
30-year VA
6.500%
6.532%
30-year USDA
6.795%
6.696%
15-year conforming
6.431%
6.553%
30-year conforming
6.960%
6.992%
30-year jumbo
7.160%
7.269%
30-year FHA
6.737%
6.743%
30-year VA
6.500%
6.532%
30-year USDA
6.795%
6.696%
15-year conforming
6.431%
6.553%
30-year mortgage rates
30-year conforming
The average interest rate, per the most current data available as of this writing, is 6.960%. That’s down from 6.992% the last reported day prior.
30-year jumbo
What exactly is a “jumbo mortgage” or “jumbo loan”? Simply put, it exceeds the maximum amount for a normal (conforming) mortgage. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency set this maximum.
The average jumbo mortgage rate, per the most current data available as of this writing, is 7.160%. That’s down from 7.269% the last reported day prior.
30-year FHA
The Federal Housing Administration provides mortgage insurance to certain lenders, and the lenders in turn can offer the consumer a better deal on aspects such as being able to qualify for a mortgage, potentially making a smaller down payment, and possibly getting a lower rate.
The average FHA mortgage rate, per the most current data available as of this writing, is 6.737%. That’s down from 6.743% the last reported day prior.
30-year VA
A VA home loan is offered by a private lender, but the Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees part of it (reducing risk for the lender). They are accessible if you’re a U.S. military servicemember, a veteran, or an eligible surviving spouse. Such loans may sometimes allow the purchase of a house with no down payment at all.
The average VA home loan rate, per the most current data available as of this writing, is 6.500%. That’s down from 6.532% the last reported day prior.
30-year USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates programs to help low-income applicants achieve homeownership. Such loans can help U.S. citizens and eligible noncitizens purchase a home with no down payment. Note that there are stringent requirements to be able to qualify for a USDA home loan, such as income limits and the home being in an eligible rural area.
The average USDA home loan rate, per the most current data available as of this writing, is 6.795%. That’s up from 6.696% the last reported day prior.
15-year mortgage rates
A 15-year mortgage will typically mean higher monthly payments but less interest paid over the life of the loan. The average rate for a 15-year conforming mortgage, per the most current data available as of this writing, is 6.431%. That’s down from 6.553% the last reported day prior.
Why do mortgage rates fluctuate?
While your personal credit score largely determines the mortgage rate you receive, several external factors also play a role. Important considerations include:
Actions by the Federal Reserve: When the Federal Reserve raises or lowers the federal funds rate, lenders typically adjust their interest rates in response. This strategy helps the Fed control the money supply and influence borrowing costs for both consumers and businesses.
Inflation levels: Although related, inflation and the Fed’s actions are distinct factors. The Fed raises or lowers rates to control inflation, but lenders may also adjust rates independently to protect their profits when inflation is high.
General economic conditions: Lenders consider factors like economic growth and housing supply and demand when setting mortgage rates. These are just a couple of the many puzzle pieces that can influence mortgage rate changes.
Learn more: How are mortgage interest rates set by lenders?
Choosing the right mortgage for you
There is no one-size-fits-all mortgage. While most mortgages are conventional, government-backed loans (FHA, VA and USDA home loans) can be a more affordable option if you qualify.
Here are a couple other terms you may encounter in your mortgage research:
Jumbo mortgages: These aptly named jumbo loans are ideal for purchasing homes that exceed the limits of conforming mortgages, although they may be more expensive in terms of interest paid over the long run.
Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs): ARMs typically offer low initial rates that can increase over time. Consider this option carefully.
The rate data provided in this article reflect averages for fixed-rate mortgages.
If you’re uncomfortable comparison shopping for rates on your own, a mortgage broker can assist you (for a fee) in finding the best mortgage offer for your situation.
How high have mortgage rates been in the past?
While mortgage rates may feel sky-high these days compared to the sub-3% rates some homebuyers scored in 2020 and 2021, what we’re seeing currently isn’t that strange when compared with historical data on mortgage rate averages. Below are a couple charts from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED for short) online database for context.
30-year fixed-rate mortgage historical trends
If you think rates between 6% and 8% today are scary, consider September through November of 1981, which saw the average rate hovering between 18% and 19%, according to FRED.
Check out the FRED 30-year mortgage rate chart:
15-year fixed-rate mortgage historical trends
Rates today on 15-year mortgages, as shown in the Optimal Blue data above, are roughly on par or even slightly lower than what we see during many previous periods. For example, take a look at FRED data for the end of 1994 and beginning of 1995, when rates neared 9%.
See the FRED 15-year mortgage rate chart:
Frequently asked questions
What’s a good mortgage rate in 2024?
With current market conditions, applicants with excellent credit can expect rates between 6% and 8%. Those with lower credit scores, particularly in the low 600s, might see rates above 8%.
Keep in mind that credit score is just one factor affecting your mortgage rate. Other factors include your down payment, location, and loan term.
Learn more: Easy ways to check your credit score.
How does a mortgage rate lock work?
Due to potential daily fluctuations in mortgage rates, a mortgage rate lock (or lock-in) can help secure a favorable rate. These locks usually last 30, 45, or 60 days and can be extended if necessary.
However, rate locks have potential downsides. If rates decrease, you won’t benefit from the lower rates, and extending a lock can be costly if the initial period isn’t long enough.
Additionally, a rate lock doesn’t guarantee your rate won’t change. Factors like changes in your credit score or unexpected appraisal values can still affect your mortgage rate.
Why are interest rate and APR different?
The interest rate is the cost of borrowing, while the APR (annual percentage rate) includes any additional fees, making it higher. Although these terms are distinct for mortgages, they are often used interchangeably for credit card rates.
Inside: Money gift ideas for any occasion! Learn how to wrap money as a gift. These are cute ideas for giving money. Find simple ways to hide money in a gift.
Giving money as a gift can be one of the best gifts that you can give today.
A lot of times though people don’t feel like giving money as personal or creative or thoughtful enough, which is a complete joke because honestly, cash is king.
More often than not, the receiver of the gift actually loves to get money – especially kids!
Even better, one of these money surprise ideas!!
There are many reasons to give money because, yes, gift cards are nice, but what if you find something else at a different store that you want, or their policy to redeem gift cards is really difficult? Also, some people don’t want to add more items to their houses. Others are just plain hard to buy for because they go out and buy everything they need.
That is why giving money as a gift is so absolutely awesome.
Today we are going to cover so many terrific ways on how you can give money as gifts. You can purchase some of these money gift ideas or pull out your DIY skills.
In this post, we are going to dig in and find super creative and fun ways to give money.
Best Surprise Money Gift Ideas
These money gift ideas will wow at any birthday party, Christmas exchange, graduation, or any other time of the year because there’s a little bit more thought behind how to give the gift.
Cash is a really thoughtful gift, too. Don’t forget that.
This post may contain affiliate links, which helps us to continue providing relevant content and we receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the full disclosure here.
My Money Surprise
The first time I personally received a money gift was in college. The best gift ever!!
My parents hid cold hard cash in a room divider screen that I needed. I had cash to pay for groceries, cash for gas, and other incidentals I needed. That was one of the most epic Christmas presents that I ever received because it was something that I truly needed.
Then, I could decide what do I want for Christmas and spend money on what I truly wanted!
More importantly, it was something that I could choose how to spend or save. It wasn’t something that would just sit in my closet because I would actually use the cash.
What is a unique way to give money as a gift?
You can make the gift out of money itself.
Even better, there are plenty of ways to hide money inside another practical gift. You can make find many gift money ideas using a few crafty DIY skills.
So many creative ways to give money as a gift!
How To Wrap Money For A Gift
This is exactly how to gift money.
Now, don’t think that you have to be super, super creative, and hone all your crafty skills just to give the best money gift ever.
I’ll be very honest, learning how to wrap money for a gift is super super easy!
You’re probably going to need just a few items and most of them are sitting in your house!
The fun part of these money gift ideas is you get to be creative on how you want to give the best gift ever!! Some of the creative ideas include a little tape, some glue, and maybe saran wrap. Or you can hide it inside a jar with M&Ms for a money snack.
These are just a few of the ways that you can wrap money for a gift.
It is just taking the gift, one step further and finding a unique way to give money gifts.
In fact, find graduation specific money gift ideas.
Money Puzzle Gift Boxes for Cash
One of the MOST popular gifts!
This maze puzzle cube is a unique cash holder. Perfect for kids and adults, it’s a thrilling puzzle box and money maze.
Get yours now and turn gifting into an adventure!
Buy Now on Amazon
02/19/2024 09:47 am GMT
Who To Give Money Gift Ideas
These types of gifts are so flexible and can be used by anyone!!
Everyone loves to get cash and spend it how they choose. Then they can cross something off their Christmas bucket list.
How to Give Money as a Gift & Not Be Rude?
Is giving money as a gift rude?
Absolutely not.
As we’ve said many times here at Money Bliss – cash is king.
With cash, you are able to do what you want to do with the money. You don’t have another thing collecting dust on your shelf or set in the basement.
You can give a money gift box!
Don’t look at giving money as a rude thing to do. It is actually freeing because the receiver of the gift can choose how they spend it on the reverse side as the recipient of cash.
Feel empowered in the decision to give cash as a gift instead of an actual materialistic item.
Grateful Tips: I always recommend writing a thank you card immediately. Once you use the cash, then write another note on how you used the cash and how much you appreciated it. Then, the gift giver knows how you used the cash, and the ways they helped you, and then they won’t question their decision to give money as a gift.
Cute Ideas for Giving Money
In this section, you will find cute ideas for giving money. These are the absolutely adorable ways that people would love to receive money.
These are great for Christmas and birthdays, and especially for kids, teenagers, and young adults.
You will learn how to roll money for a gift and so much more!
May 19, 2023
Inside: Find money cake ideas! Learn how to make a money cake or buy pre-made kits. This guide has you covered with…
Money Balloons
Super cute way to give money for any occasion.
It’s fun to watch the recipient get spooked by a popping balloon, covered in confetti, and of course, count the money inside!
Read More
Photo Credit: sugarandcharm.com
Sneak Peek Birthday Card
Such a cute and sneaky way to roll cash into a card.
Make candles using a dollar bill or go big and use a $20 bill.
Read more
Photo Credit: Stamp with Jill
Money Lei for Graduation Gift Idea
Everyone needs some cash and this money lei is a fun and creative way to give the gift of cash!
Learn how to make your own money lei today!
Read More
Photo Credit: yourhomebasedmom.com
Funny and Fun Ways to Give Cash
This list is about the funny and fun ways to give cash.
This type of money gift idea works best for a white elephant exchange, a coworkers exchange, a friend exchange, or someone who loves a good joke.
Let’s be honest… sometimes you just to be really funny with how you give the gift.
Honestly, I’m not sure if there are any annoying ways that you could give money. (Cash is still cash, right?) For those who enjoy crisp dollar bills beware!
Easy Peasy Money Tree Topiary
It is proven that money does grow on trees. This DIY tutorial will teach you exactly how to make your own money tree.
This beautiful money tree topiary is ready for one very lucky gift recipient!
Read More
Photo Credit: sunburstgifts.org
Money Tree on Etsy
Perfect gift for the Dad who always says money doesn’t grow on trees! This is a funny gift idea for the father who has everything and has a great sense of humor. Because now…
Money DOES grow on trees!
See Now on Etsy
Photo Credit: Etsy.com
“In An Emergency” Graduation Gift
Super fun way to give money and withhold the desire to spend the cash right away. You can place any amount of cash in these, so they fit virtually any budget.
Simple DIY tutorial!
Read More
Photo Credit: sendomatic.com
Money Chain Gift for the Graduate
Paper chain gifts are a great way to decorate for the holidays. But, it is also a fun way to give money! Very simple DIY project to complete.
Read More
Photo Credit: lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.com
Christmas Money Printable
Running low on time?
This Christmas money printable is a fun and easy way to give some dough this season. So adorable!
Read more
Photo Credit: tessiefay.com
Easy Ways to Hide Money in a Gift
Okay, let’s be honest, we don’t want everybody to know right away that they’re going to get money inside their gift.
How do you hide money as a gift? This gift list is filled with perfect ways to hide money inside a gift.
When they open it, they are excited about just the outside part of the gift and they don’t even know the monetary gift that you have waiting for them inside!!
August 28, 2023
Inside: Looking for a creative and easy way to give money as a gift? Look no further than these Money Gift Boxes!…
Handmade Money Surprise Bath Bomb
Time for a lovely bath with a hidden surprise! A fantastic way to hide money especially for teen girls!
This unique gift idea also is made with all natural and vegan skin care products. Perfect for small budgets!
Buy Now on Etsy
Photo Credit: Etsy.com
Funny Christmas Money Gift: Cash in a Can
This is such a clever idea! Giving money was so much fun this year.
You can hide a roll of cash inside any canned goods – preferably what the recipient hates the most.
Since it is wrapped like a normal household item, no one will expect it to have anything inside but what is on the label!
Read More
Photo Credit: itsalwaysautumn.com
Birthday Money Box Gift Idea
Money is something every teenager wants! This money box can easily be created with items you already have at home.
Unique and sneaky way to give money!
Read More
Photo Credit: myinspirationcorner.com
Book of Money
Such an easy DIY project to give money!
You probably have all of the supplies in your house.
Read more
Photo Credit: marthastewart.com
Money Cake Pull Out Kit
$16.99 $15.50
Perfect surprise for your kids, grandkids, spouse, or best friend with the most versatile and widely-appreciated gift of them all: cash?
We know how you can do it in style: the amazing money cake dispenser, an incredible accessory that you will use on endless occasions.
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02/19/2024 05:27 pm GMT
Hidden Gift Jars
Want to make your money gift a little more special this year? Make these Hidden Gift Jars!
Stash your gift inside a secret hiding spot in the jars, covered by a favorite candy or treat (we used M&Ms), and watch the recipient’s eyes light up when they realize there’s more to their gift besides just candy!
This also makes a great gag gift!
Read more
Photo Credit: myhomebasedlife.com
Creative Ways to Give Money – Which is Your Favorite?
What is the best way to gift money?
Honestly, is there any bad ways to get money? Maybe if the gift giver never opens where the cash is heading, but let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
In this post, we have covered all of the best ways to gift money.
A simple way to say I appreciate you! You have so many ideas to choose from!
Which creative ways to give money did you like the best? There are DIY methods to giving cash and some that you can quickly pick up.
Follow for more inspiration on our Gift Ideas on a Budget Pinterest boards.
I can’t wait to see your pictures with what you’ve come up with, and how you plan to do this.
More Gift Ideas:
Did the post resonate with you?
More importantly, did I answer the questions you have about this topic? Let me know in the comments if I can help in some other way!
Your comments are not just welcomed; they’re an integral part of our community. Let’s continue the conversation and explore how these ideas align with your journey towards Money Bliss.
Inside: These festive money saving ideas you need to have a magical frugal Christmas! Rediscovering a Christmas with no money is still possible with a little bit of planning, fun, and creativity.
Just like throughout the year, the word frugal can have a bad connotation. When you put the two words together – Frugal Christmas, most people think of a sad holiday with no joy or excitement.
However, just like with a frugal lifestyle, being frugal means you are looking to stretch your dollar to the fullest.
A frugal Christmas means to be economical with the spending of your Christmas funds. You prudently set money aside for Christmas ahead of time, but remember your overall money goals. When it is time to buy Christmas gifts and decor, you are not wasteful with your money and make your money go further.
Everyone’s level of frugality is different.
The same holds true at Christmas. Your frugal Christmas will look different than your neighbor’s or a friend’s. There is no reason to trap yourself in a comparison mode.
Why a Frugal Christmas Traditions Matter?
If you are looking at Christmas with no money, don’t despair! There are plenty of money saving tips in this post to make sure you still enjoy a festive season.
If you want to stay on course to pay off debt or reach FI, then a frugal Christmas would be part of your innate nature to do. You just need some frugal living tips related to Christmas.
You can create a magical frugal Christmas.
More importantly, these frugal money saving ideas for Christmas will help you stick with your budgeting goals and lower your stress level.
This post may contain affiliate links, which helps us to continue providing relevant content and we receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the full disclosure here.
How to Survive Christmas with No Money
Before we just into the Christmas frugal living tips, let’s discuss the big elephant in the room… what if you can’t afford Christmas gifts?
First of all, that is an unfortunate circumstance that you are in right now. I say “right now” because you have the power to dictate your future.
And it all starts with your mindset… you are focused on surviving Christmas with no money.
Not the fact that you are surrounded by your loved ones. With the chance, to enjoy time together, laugh together, create traditions, and make memories.
That is what Christmas is about.
So, before you move forward, you need to change your mindset. Your current money mindset is focused on having no money, being poor, and being broke.
If you want to change your financial future, then it all starts with your thoughts consuming your mind.
Start with writing down three positive things that happen in each of your days. Make sure one of them is related to money.
Frugal Christmas Tips & Money Saving Ideas
Okay, now, we are going to dig into specify ways to make a frugal Christmas a reality.
These are frugal traits that will improve your money management throughout the holiday season, but you can also start to carry these over to all aspects of your life.
To keep in the spirit of Christmas, let’s dig in and learn how to create a frugal Christmas that won’t leave you broke!
1. Focus on the Important Things
When you make the conscious decision to become more frugal, your center of attention is on the bigger picture.
For a frugal person, they view Christmas as part of a bigger puzzle. Their spending at Christmas needs to align with their money goals and desires.
This is the point when you must ask yourself the hard questions… Would you rather stay on track to pay off debt faster? Keep on saving money so you can take some time off next summer.
These are where you decide what is important in your life.
Just to be clear, I am not saying Christmas isn’t important because it definitely is. I am saying the Christmas that has been defined in our culture that focuses on gifts may not be the overarching focus of Christmas.
2. Plan to Spend Half of “Normal”
Did you know most people plan to spend an AVERAGE of $800-900 on Christmas?
For most folks, that will break any budget with a lot of debt hangover coming in January.
Challenge yourself to a Frugal Christmas of $400 or less.
When you create your frugal Christmas budget, plan to spend half of what you did the previous year. Don’t know how much you spent previously, then stick to the $400 or less.
If you are tempted to overspend, then set your budget at $200.
Now, you need to use Christmas budget template to plan your gifts into your budget.
3. Make Your Frugal Christmas Plan
Now, that you know how much you can spend on Christmas, you must make your budget line up with your gifts, Christmas decors, parties, etc.
This step is often overlooked and we typically fly by the seat of our pants.
However, one of the best money management tips is to plan how you will spend your money before you start spending anything!
In our free printables areas, we have worksheets and spreadsheets to help you.
Also, this is the chance, to be honest with friends and family about your desires for a frugal or no money Christmas. You have the time to plan a no gift holiday, gift exchange of unwanted items, etc.
4. Ask Around for Gifts
Oh my goodness! This is seriously my favorite money saving idea all year round.
Ask around and see what others don’t want anymore.
Another man’s trash is the next man’s treasure.
A recent example in my life… Someone posted in our NextDoor group that they were looking for fly fishing equipment. I politely responded that once the original poster got what they needed I would be interested in anything leftover since my hubby took up this hobby. A neighbor messaged me and we got a bunch of fly fishing equipment for a fraction of the price.
You can always find Christmas decorations and maybe even gifts for no money.
Don’t be afraid to post in Facebook groups or NextDoor. Search Craigslist or thrift stores. You will be AMAZED by what people are happily willing to get rid of.
5. Shop Based on Price
This is where you go into the store and look for gifts that can suit those on your list – more importantly, at your price level.
This is a great chance to pick up items on clearance or deeply discounted sale.
For instance, my son loved LEGOS (okay, what boy doesn’t go through that phase) and they can get quite expensive. Throughout the year, I would always look for LEGOS when they were on sale or being discontinued. This is one example of enjoying a frugal Christmas
6. Creative with Gift Exchanges
With gift exchanges, you don’t need to go out and buy a brand new present. This is a chance to find something in your house that will make a great gift for someone else.
Here are various types of gift exchanges that cost little or no money:
White elephant gift exchange
$5 gift exchanges
Unused item gift exchange
Cookie Exchange
Used toy, puzzle, or book exchange
Coffee mug exchange
Charity donation exchange
Craft supply gift exchange
Dollar Store Finds Gift Exchange
Fabulously fashionable clothing exchange
Dropped that hobby gift exchange
There are just a few ideas on how you can get creative with holding gift exchanges. Not everything must be expensive to be an awesome winner!
7. Buy in Bulk and Divide Up for Gifts
A frugal trait is buying things in bulk to save money. When the holidays roll around, this is where you use your DIY skills to come up with frugal Christmas gifts.
If you find a lot of people on your list to buy small gifts for, you can create nice packages of presents to give. Typically, these holiday gifts are ideal for teachers, neighbors, co-workers or other special people that you want to wish a Merry Christmas.
For example, you can buy scented candles in bulk and wrap a beautiful bow on the glass jar. That is an easy way to divide them up for multiple gifts.
Another idea is to buy Christmas treat bags and divide up assorted miniature candies to quickly put together many small presents.
These are ideal gifts because they are thoughtful, but also budget-friendly.
8. Plan At-Home Parties
One of the most expensive areas for any budget is entertainment and eating out. The same holds true at Christmas.
To combat extra costs, plan at-home parties where you can control the prices of food, drinks, and decor. And as a bonus, your friends and family may be relieved to spend less as well!
You can hold a potluck or cookie exchange for a fraction of the price of a night out or booked Christmas party.
There are plenty of ways to make it fun. You can still have cocktail hour with the festive dresses that are already in your closet. Don’t have something to wear – pretend you’re a teenager and shop your friend’s closets!
9. Stop Christmas Shopping
When you are done, you are done Christmas shopping. Block your eyes and ears from all of the last minute shopping and stocking stuffers.
One of the frugality traits is to make a plan for your money and stick to it.
Remember, marketers are good at their job of getting you to open up your wallet and spend money. Be stronger and stop shopping for the holidays.
Don’t go over your Christmas budget and your plan.
10. Track How Much You Save
Every frugal person likes to know how much they save.
Not everyone likes numbers, but it is pretty motivating to see how much you save.
With a financial freedom mindset, you know that every penny saved is a penny earned.
This is where you realize your out-of-the-box thinking to create a frugal Christmas is worth the time and effort. You can see your savings on the gifts, decor, and thinking adds up.
Bonus Tip: Eliminate the Stress
One of the traits of becoming frugal comes with learning to live with less. It doesn’t have to be full minimalism. A better term is living simply.
The more you do around Christmas (buying gifts, putting up decor, hosting parties, attending parties, participating in cookie exchanges, cleaning for guests, traveling for events, the list can go on and on) will cause stress.
Look for ways to take a step back and focus on what is most important to you.
That was the first tip mentioned in this post because it is the one that is overlooked the most often. You don’t decide what you want Christmas to look like. You let others and life decide how your month of December rolls out.
Eliminate the undue stress surrounding the Christmas season.
Frugal Christmas Ideas for Kids When You Have No Money for Gifts
Okay, we are going to spend a little more time around one area that causes us the most stress around the holidays – giving gifts.
There is extreme pressure to provide the Pinterest-perfect, movie-ready, Insta story each and every year.
Regardless of what you spend on Christmas, you will never be able to live up to the self-created expectations you put on yourself.
Just remember that statement when you have no money for gifts.
This is where you get super creative and honest with your loved ones.
Be Honest with Your Finances
The first step is to be completely honest with your financial situation at the moment. You aren’t looking for handouts. You just want a dose of empathy and maybe a hug.
Just like everyone else, you want to give your family the world and shower them with gifts.
However, the center of Christmas is coming together as a family and spending time together. You don’t need money for that.
Time for Creativity and Maybe a Little DIY Christmas
This is where you get creative and start digging to find gifts.
Unfortunately for society, we are flooded with materialistic items. (Just look at any donation center or walk around on trash day.) There are plenty of gifts floating around that would cost you no money.
Post in a No Buy Facebook group or Nextdoor and see if anyone is getting rid of what you want.
More than likely, you will find Christmas gifts for no money. Sometimes, you may have to a fraction of the retail price.
Another option is to use your DIY skills – learn to sew, knit, bake, etc. Give away some of your treasured handmade gifts.
No-Spend Christmas Activities
For frugal individuals, like me, the key enjoyment of the festive season does not rely on these costly aspects, but rather on the spirit of unity, shared experiences, and thoughtful gestures. This is where the concept of ‘No Gift Christmas‘ comes in, emphasizing value-driven festivities that foster warmth and happiness without the need to break the bank.
The good news is you can enjoy the holidays with plenty of things that don’t cost money.
Fun and Frugal Christmas Activities at Home
Enjoying a festive holiday season doesn’t have to break the bank. In fact, there are several fun and frugal Christmas activities you can do at home!
Roast marshmallows: Whether you have a fireplace or a stove, roasting marshmallows at home can be a delightful way to savor the season.
Christmas movie night: Why not curl up on the couch with some popcorn and a Christmas movie? Consider a crowd-pleaser like The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix.
Bake cookies: Get the whole family involved in baking and decorating Christmas cookies.
Make a popcorn garland: This is a festive and fun craft you can enjoy together and later use to decorate your Christmas tree.
Play Christmas Charades: Searching Google for free printable charade cards can give you a night of fun that is sure to create hilarious memories.
Hot Chocolate Night: Warm up and gather around with the sweet treat of homemade hot cocoa.
DIY Christmas Cards: Create and send handmade Christmas cards to local nursing homes or soldiers abroad. A personal touch to your season’s greetings will mean a lot to the recipients.
Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt: Turn your Christmas light viewing into an adventure! Print out a free scavenger hunt, bundle up, and enjoy a hands-on game during your neighborhood stroll. Remember, the true spirit of the holidays can be found in the joy of being together—not the amount of money spent.
Taking Advantage of Free Christmas Events in Your Town
There are usually plenty of free Christmas events in your town or city if you know where to look. Here are some festive events you can attend without spending a penny:
Visit the Christmas tree in your town square: Most towns have a community tree lighting ceremony that often includes free musical performances too.
Check out community holiday parades: Many towns host Christmas parades that are open and free to the public.
Look for free events at local libraries and community centers: Many libraries and community centers host free Christmas-themed activities for children, from story readings to crafts or even visits from Santa!
Go Caroling in your neighborhood: Gather your friends and family for a simple and heartwarming tradition of spreading Christmas cheer through carols.
Visit Church ceremonies: Attend church services or watch local choirs perform their favorite Christmas hymns.
Volunteering: Use the season of giving to volunteer at a local food bank, soup kitchen, or charity. It’s free and can be a rewarding experience.
Christmas Lights Tour: Drive around or take a leisurely evening stroll to enjoy the holiday light displays in your local neighborhoods. Remember to check your city or town’s events website for a complete schedule and details. The holiday spirit is abundant and can be found without breaking the bank.
For more ideas, check out the Christmas bucket list that has plenty of fun holiday-filled events.
Shopping Strategies for a Frugal Christmas
While we have plenty of tips for shopping smart on our website, we are going to focus on two areas when preparing Christmas for the frugal.
Tip #1 – Start Buying Christmas Stuff in January
Starting your Christmas shopping in January means you get to spread the cost over the whole year, taking advantage of these deep discounts.
It’s very budget-friendly and helps control the infamous last-minute Christmas shopping spree.
Now, it’s important to note that you should only buy items you are reasonably sure you will use the following Christmas, to avoid clutter or unneeded spending.
Expert Tip: make a list during the holidays of the items you need, so you know precisely what to look for in the January sales.
tip #2 – Using Money-Saving Apps for a Frugal Christmas
To save money while shopping for Christmas presents, consider using money-saving apps. These apps give you cash back, coupon codes, and discounts while you shop, reducing the overall cost of your purchases, and essentially making you “earn” while you spend.
Here are some trusty tools to help you achieve a frugal Christmas:
Rakuten (formerly Ebates): This cash back app provides discounts on purchases from thousands of retailers when you shop through its site or the app.
BeFrugal: This app offers coupons, promo codes, and cash back offers to save on everything you buy. Sign up here for your $10 bonus.
Ibotta: Ibotta allows you to earn cash back on everyday purchases online and in-store with a snap of your receipt.
Honey: Honey automatically searches and applies the best coupons when you shop online.
Hip2Save: This deal website and app posts about a wide range of heavily-discounted products, from toys to housewares. One of my favorites!
Bonus: Paribus: Although not exactly a cash back app, Paribus is worth mentioning as it scans your digital purchases, seeking price drops and getting you a refund if an item you’ve bought goes on sale or if it finds the same product cheaper elsewhere.
By keeping these apps at your fingertips and using them proactively, you can stretch your Christmas budget further and end the year on a high note, financially.
Ready to a Magical Frugal Christmas?
The best part of being frugal is focusing on what is most important and saving money along the way.
That is why frugal living tips are so very helpful!
As a frugal person, there are some years that we can have Christmas on very little money, and in other years, we choose to spend a little bit more. Never ever have we spent close to the average Christmas spending.
That right there my friend defines a frugal Christmas.
If you are still on the fence about a frugal Christmas and spending $400 or less, then let’s think about it like this…
For 20 years, you spend half of the average spending at Christmas time, you will save over $8000. That amount doesn’t include inflation.
So, you need to ask yourself, how much are you willing to spend on the Pinterest perfect Christmas? That spending must be able to be paid in cash in full – not charged to a credit card.
We have shared many frugal living tricks to make your Christmas magical. What else would you add to the list?
Happy frugal Christmas!
More Christmas Gift Ideas:
Know someone else that needs this, too? Then, please share!!
Did the post resonate with you?
More importantly, did I answer the questions you have about this topic? Let me know in the comments if I can help in some other way!
Your comments are not just welcomed; they’re an integral part of our community. Let’s continue the conversation and explore how these ideas align with your journey towards Money Bliss.