How to Not Waste Your Rent Money

If you’re struggling to come up with rent money, then it’s time to change your spending habits. Stop wasting your rent money, and you’ll have more cash to apply towards rent.

Food Preparation and Preservation

You’re never too busy to cook your own meals. You may need tips, encouragement and time management skills, but any tenant living in apartment with a kitchen and appliances has the ability to cook meals. If you don’t have the appliances you need, take the necessary steps to get them. Go to yard sales and thrift stores if you don’t have money for brand new appliances. You may even find better deals online on new appliances, but you have to take the time to research and comparison shop.

Cook and freeze your meals ahead of time if you need to, and use a toaster oven to warm it up when you’re ready to eat. Go back to the basics and learn how to can produce that you buy from the farmer’s market or at the grocery store and learn how to make your own meals from scratch. It all sounds old fashion, but you’ll be thankful for all the rent money you’ll have available when it’s time to pay rent.

Entertainment

You’re most likely to overspend on entertainment when you’re renting alone. It’s lonesome and boring sometimes when you’re not living with anyone, and you may compensate for that by spending money on movies, dining out, theatre tickets, subscriptions to magazines and other publications, music downloads and books. Even if you live with others, you may be spending more money than you should for entertainment. It’s a hard spending category to gain control over, because of the underlying emotional issues often associated with it. However, you have to stop wasting your rent money on entertainment. Make a list of the ways that you entertain yourself and the dollar amount you spend on each. Circle the items that you’re willing to hold on to, even if it means losing your apartment over it. Cross out everything else, and stop spending money in those areas. Don’t fret if you’re left with nothing on your list. Find free forms of entertainment instead.

Energy

Your energy use can be a drain on your finances, and you may be wasting your rent money when you don’t need to. There are simple things you can do to see a difference in your bills, such as:

1. Stop using the heat pump, and start using heat radiators to stay warm
2. Use power strips to turn off computers
3. Shut off lights in other rooms not in use
4. Use a timer when cooking, and to remind you to turn off other devices, such as your air conditioner

Every renter needs to use energy, but you may be overspending on your electric and gas bills compared to others.

Even if you’re a frugal renter, there’s probably one or two areas where you can tighten the belt a little more to get the most bang for your buck. Having a roof over your head is a high priority, so don’t take the issue of wasting your rent money lightly.