We partner with some awesome companies that offer products which can help our readers. If you make a purchase through one of our partner links, we may receive a commission at absolutely no additional cost to you! Please see my Policy & Disclosure page for full details. 

Mother’s Day is coming up and what better way to show your love and appreciation for the person who’s raised you! Put a smile on your mom’s face by getting her something special. If you’re stuck and have no idea what to get her, don’t worry. You’ll see below 60 of the best Mother’s Day gift ideas to get her all for under $50. There are lots of unique gifts you can get her from all different categories ranging from jewelry, things for the home, spa related gifts, beauty products, things for the garden, and books. You’ll be sure to find her something she’ll adore for Mother’s Day.

JEWELRY

Get your mom some special jewelry she can wear that will remind her how loved she is. She will be sure to love these special jewelry pieces. They vary from essential oil bracelets, specially engraved or customized necklace to symbolize your family, and more!

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HOME

If your mom loves decor, get her something around the home that will remind her how special she is. 

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SPA

Pamper your mom with spa gifts so she can indulge in a little Rest & Relaxation at home. Have her wind down with some sweet smelling candles, beautiful flower soap, colorful and fun bath bombs, hand treatment, and more.

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BEAUTY

Treat your mom to some beauty products that will help keep her looking beautiful, healthy, and flawless. Keep her looking great with beautiful eye shadow, jade face roller, face masks and gold under eye treatment, facial exfoliator, hair curling iron, and more.

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GARDEN

Surprise your mom with outdoor gardening decorations to put a smile on her face. Does she have succulents? Use these cute and decorative pots for propagating succulents.

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BOOKS

Get your mom some books if she loves to read or color to remind her you’re thinking of her on Mother’s Day

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Show your mom some love on Mother’s Day, give her a hug, thank her for all those years she raised you to become the wonderful person that you are. Find her something special from this list of 60 best Mother’s Day gift ideas under $50 to make her smile on her day. You can still make your mom feel special without spending loads of cash. Would you like to find out some more money saving tips? Check out the post below.

Related: Best Money Saving Tips to Start Now

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We partner with some awesome companies that offer products which can help our readers. If you make a purchase through one of our partner links, we may receive a commission at absolutely no additional cost to you! Please see my Policy & Disclosure page for full details. 

Let’s face it, being a teenager is hard. Especially when so many aspects of life is out of your control like your financial situation. There are ways to deal with financial circumstance and how you perceive it. We’ll dive a little deeper into how to deal with feeling poor as a teenager in this day and age.

Teenage life should be full of fun, building friendships, and socializing. Sometimes that may not be the case at all. Some teens may have very stressful lives filled with feeling insecure, inadequate, low self esteem, often times resulting from not having sufficient financial means. Sure people say all teens should focus on is school. But school is the place where many teens feel inadequate because they tend to compare themselves to their peers.

Growing up poor as a teenager could be one of life’s hardest things to endure. Your life and especially the financial situation you may be in is completely out of your control. If you want the best clothes, newest phone, makeup, or shoes, you most likely have to ask your parent/s. Depending on their financial status depends on whether you can get those items.

If you’re reading this and you are a teen who thinks you are “poor”, try not to be so hard on yourself! Most importantly, do not let material objects define you as a person. Stay strong because there will come a time where you will earn your own money and eventually lead the life you desire. Until then, there are ways you may be able to make some side money to buy certain things and to save! Let’s look at some ways that can help you deal with being poor as a teen.

Cover Your Basic Necessities

First and foremost, you have to make sure that you have food and proper shelter. If you’re enrolled in school please talk to a school counselor or even a mentor. If you belong to a religious organization, reach out to any of the leaders. They will have information in regards to guiding you to the right people to help you with basic necessities like food and shelter.

If your family’s struggling to pay bills, put food on the plate, or keep up with rent/housing payments then reaching out for some help is the best solution. There’s a lot of programs out there that can definitely help you and your family out in times of need.

Jobs For Those Who Are Not Old Enough

If your household is struggling financially, the last thing you want to do is go to your folks to ask them for money. Sure, as a teen you should focus on school and playing with friends. If you ever find some spare time, why not make the most out of it? Make some cash!

If you’re at least 13, there’s small jobs you can do to earn some money. You can earn some bucks on Swagbucks, earn some money around the neighborhood, and even come up with a great idea for YouTube.

• Take surveys online
  • Swagbucks – Minimum age is 13, you most likely will need your parent’s permission before joining. Get a $10 welcome bonus. You earn points by taking polls, surveys, watch videos, play games, complete daily goals, and by referring others. Those points convert to cash via PayPal or gift cards through Amazon, Walmart, Visa, iTunes, Starbucks, eBay, and more.
• Babysitter
• Dog Walker
• Lawn Care
• Clear out snow
• Sell crafts you make
• Sell lemonade/baked goods
• Are you talented? Post a YouTube video of your talents (if underage, ask your parents to post it for you)
  • Ryan Kaji – 8 year old earns $26 million
  • Anastasia Radzinskaya – 5 year old earns $18 million

Find Ways To Save Money

There are little ways you can help your family without sacrificing your childhood. You and your family can get cash back when grocery shopping or online shopping.

Ibotta

With Ibotta, you get real cash back when you grocery shop or shop online. They have over 300 stores that participate with them. For example, do you or your family shop at places like Kroger, H-E-B, C-Town, Aldi, Foodtown, Randalls, SHOP ‘n SAVE, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target, Trader Joe’s, and Walmart?

You and your family could be losing out on free cash back shopping at those places. Ibotta is really easy to use.

• 1. Look for the store you plan to shop at.
• 2. Scroll through the items you and your family plan to buy and add it to your list.
• 3. Get your store receipt and scan it.
• 4. Get money back!

Sign up for free at Ibotta and use the code YDIGCFJ to get your $20 welcome bonus

Checkout 51 Cash Back App

Checkout 51 is very similar to Ibotta. You and your family can get cash back from groceries and hygiene products. Just upload your receipt and redeem for cash once you hit $20. What’s great about Checkout 51 is that your family can get cash back at the gas pump too and they offer a digital Prescription Savings Card which can save up to 80% on medications.

Checkout 51 has multiple items that also allow manufacturer’s coupons as well.

Sign up for free and get your $5 bonus at Checkout 51 to start earning cash back the easy way.
Tip: Earn $2 when you upload your first receipt and $1 for each receipt three times after that which gives you a total of $5 bonus cash.

GetUpside Cash Back App

GetUpside is another easy cash back app to use. You can get money back on restaurants, groceries (Washington D.C. area), and gas.

Your family can earn cash back from getting gas and also from fast food places like Burger King, Popeyes, and more.

You can see savings as much as 35% at restaurants, 15% at grocery stores, and 25c/gal of gas.

It’s very easy to use, all you have to do is claim the offer presented, simply upload your receipt, and get cash back. Once you hit $15, you can get cash back via PayPal or reach $50 to get a cash payout.

Download GetUpside and use the promo code U5NBX to get $7 cash back on your first purchase

Fetch Rewards App

Fetch Rewards is another easy app you can use to earn cash back to redeem for gift cards or magazine subscriptions. You can certainly use the gift cards for yourself or give them out as presents during holidays and birthdays.

All you need to do is scan your receipts from most grocery stores, pharmacy, convenience store, and big retailers. You will then earn points which you can redeem for gift cards or magazine subscriptions.

Use the code 7JKFH when you sign up to Fetch Rewards and you’ll get 2,000 Fetch Points ($2.00 in points)
You can also refer others and earn 2,000 points ($2) yourself and your friend/family will earn 2,000 points ($2) as well.

Rakuten

If your family ever does any online shopping, then they could be missing out on free money.

Rakuten gets you money back via PayPal or gift cards when you shop online via their site. They have over 3,000 major stores listed on their site along with how much money back they’re offering.

Some of the stores they have listed are Kohl’s, Walmart, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, JCPenny, Target, and 3,000 others.

When you and your family buy something online, always go to Rakuten first to see if there’s any cash back offers. Then, click on “Shop Now” from Rakuten and you will be forwarded to the retailer’s site to shop as normal. After the purchase, you’ll get cash back to your Rakuten account.

Sign up today with Rakuten to get $10 in a welcome bonus and be on your way to start earning cash back for online purchases. Don’t miss out on FREE MONEY!

Groupon

Groupon is an awesome site that can get you and and your family some major savings. I’ve seen deals as much as 92% off.

For example, if you and your family wanted to enjoy a manicure day but can’t afford the high costs, checking out Groupon can help you all find some major deals in your local area.

Just the other day, I found a deal on Groupon for a women’s haircut at $9 which was 50% off. There are tons more.

Sign up for free here at Groupon to start getting your MEGA savings.

You and your family can save a lot of money by using the right apps and sites. Why not get cash back, it’s free money. The more savings you all find, the more you’ll have in your pockets. Plus, most of these apps and sites are offering you sign up bonuses which can get you over $40 in total. That’s not too bad just by doing what you all normally do.

Find out 95 more ways you and your family can save tons of money.

Read More: Best Money Saving Tips to Start Now

Where To Get Clothes For Cheap

If you made some extra money doing any one of those jobs listed above then you can buy some extra clothes you think looks nice.

No, you don’t have to go straight to the mall and buy a $50 top or a pair of hundred dollar sneakers.

Check out thrift stores or low cost retailers! There are some great thrift stores out there that sell real designer clothing at a fraction of the cost. Some items may be worn and you can even find some that still have tags (never worn). You can easily find local thrift stores near you with a simple Google search or check some out online.

Popular Online Thrift Stores

• ThredUP
• ShopGoodwill
• Poshmark
• Ebay

You can also find stylish and name brand clothes with huge discounts at the following retail stores. You’ll get way more for your money compared to shopping at the mall.

Popular Low Cost Retail Stores

• Ross Stores
• Kohl’s
• TJ Maxx
• Marshall’s

Where To Get Nice Cellphones For Free

Being a teen is all about fitting in. There are ways to do that without needing to spend tons of money. If your family is strapped for cash and can’t afford to get you a nice cellphone, look into Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile, or Metro by T-Mobile.

Affordable Cell Phone Carriers to Look Into:

• Cricket Wireless
  • Unlimited talk, text, internet – 1 line $55 and 2 lines $80
• Boost Mobile
  • Unlimited talk, text, internet – 1 line $45 drops to $35 a month after 6 months and 2 lines $80
• Metro by T-Mobile
  • Unlimited talk, text, internet – 1 line $55 and 2 lines $80

These cellphone carriers have ridiculously cheap cell phone plans with no hidden costs plus they offer a wide array of super nice cellphones for free! Ask your parent/s to look into these companies.

Changing Your Mindset

The most important aspect of who you are is your mind!

Don’t let your current situation get you down! Your financial situation of not being able to get all the things you want now doesn’t mean that you will live that life forever. Remember, it’s only temporary.

Most importantly, who you are today does not predict who you will be tomorrow. You will change, your circumstances will change, ultimately you will live your own life as an adult in a few more years.

“Who you are today does not predict who you will be tomorrow”

One thing to keep in mind is to change your mentality. Very important!

Don’t compare yourself to others and what they have. That kind of thinking leads to money problems later on in life. That is why most Americans are in debt. Now, that is something you don’t want.

An example of having debt is when people borrow money from banks and credit cards to get what they want and don’t really need. Having a lot of debt leads to money problems. It’s important to understand how to properly handle money. It is called budgeting and you are never to young to understand how to properly handle money so that you can learn how to be smart when you actually get money coming in.

Related: How To Budget Your Money For Beginners

Budgeting will teach you how to properly spend your money. Let’s say you made $200 babysitting, you can plan to spend $100 on nice clothes at less expensive retailers and thrift stores and plan to save the other $100 in a savings account. Learning how to properly spend your money wisely will help you tremendously in your life whether it be as a teen or in your adult life.

Change Your Future

As mentioned before, your current money situation does not define who you are as a person. You must look towards the future and take steps to be the person who you want to be. Let’s look at a few famous people who changed their life paths and reached financial success. I’m sure you will know who these people are, they grew up in poor households yet became millionaires and billionaires. If they can do it, so can you!

Oprah Winfrey

Estimated net worth 2.9 billion

I’m sure you know who she is! Well, she was raised from humble beginnings. She grew up without having running water or electricity as stated in an interview with Barbara Walters. She didn’t let that stop her, she pursued her dreams to work in radio and television. Now, according to Business Insider, she has an estimated net worth of 2.9 billion! She is a prime example of someone who didn’t let her past define who she was going to be in the future.

“The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work”

Oprah Winfrey

Jan Koum

Estimate net worth 9.1 billion

Jan Koum was born in Ukraine and moved to California when he was 16. He and his mother lived in government housing. He swept floors at a store to make enough money to get by. He later taught himself computer skills and ultimately co-founded WhatsApp which is the world’s most popular messaging service. Facebook later bought the messaging service for $22 billion in 2014.

Celine Dion

Estimate net worth 37.5 million

Celine Dion was one in 14 children. Her family struggled to support her and all her siblings. Growing up, she said there were 3 or 4 siblings who had to sleep in the same bed. She didn’t let her situation define her. She chose to go after her passion of singing. She was the artist behind her top songs “My Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic and “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”. She is now estimated to have a net worth of 37.5 million.

Howard Schultz

Estimated net worth 3 billion

Howard Schultz was 3 years old when his family moved into a public housing project in Brooklyn, NY. His family struggled with money due to his father getting injured and being laid off without any benefits. Howard says he worked and obtained loans just to get through school and even sold his blood for cash to get by. After college, he worked at jobs and eventually got linked to Starbucks where he took charge in the 1980s and launched the brand into the world’s most recognized coffee shop. Now his net worth is at 3 billion.

Takeaway

Let these famous people be your role models and help you to aspire to achieve your goals. Whatever those aspirations may be whether it is a talk show host, entrepreneur, singer, tech creator, and more. There are no limits to what you can achieve.

Don’t let your current situation hold you back from achieving your dreams. What you have in your possessions doesn’t define who you are inside. Sure, things may seem difficult but know that it won’t stay that way forever.

If you’re concerned about money at the moment, you can make some money even if you’re 13 years old. Also, learning how to save money can keep more in your pockets. It’ll be one of your greatest skills growing up to be an adult.

Most importantly, always think of your future. Dream of where you want to be as an adult and take the small steps to get there. Overall, try to enjoy being a teen. Have fun with your friends and family, enjoy all the great happy moments. Once you grow up, you’ll actually miss those days a lot.

We partner with some awesome companies that offer products which can help our readers. If you make a purchase through one of our partner links, we may receive a commission at absolutely no additional cost to you! Please see my Policy & Disclosure page for full details. 

Do you work hard for your money only to find that at the end of the month, you have no idea where it all went? What that means is you don’t have control over your money. But how come you don’t control your money? I mean, you or your household busts your butt to earn money right? Well, if you don’t have a system in place, then it’s hard to keep track of how you spend your hard earned cash. I’ll show you how to budget your money that even beginners can do. 

What Is A Budget?

To put things simply, a budget is a plan you set on how to spend your money over a certain period of time.

For instance, you can create a monthly budget which tracks your income and all your planned expenses for the month.

Sure, you can create a weekly or yearly budget. I really recommend sticking with a monthly budget. It’s not too time consuming as a weekly one or too lax in case of the yearly budget.

What Is The Purpose of a Budget?

A budget helps you take control over your money.

Don’t be scared off by this concept. You’ll be surprised, budgeting can really help get your financial situation in shape.

Also, just because you budget doesn’t mean you have to cut all the things you want out. No, not at all!

You can still buy the things you want, go on trips, and still have fun while getting your finances right. It’s all in the planning.

Why Budgeting Matters

So, budgeting helps you take the reigns of your finances. But, why does that matter?

Are you struggling financially? Have debt? Can’t seem to save a penny? Live paycheck to paycheck? Can’t afford that nice vacation? Working so hard but don’t feel like you have anything to show for it? Over drafting on payments? Always getting hit with late charges on bills? The list goes on and on.

Having a budgeting plan will help you to finally see what you can do with your money. Think of a budget as a way to help you:

• See Exactly Where Your Money is Going
• Pay Down Debt
• Save Money
• Have Money to Invest For Your Retirement
• Start Keeping Track of Bills
• Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck
• Buy The Things You Want
• Take That Nice Vacation
• Saves You Stress From Finances

Budgeting matters because it gives you the reigns over your financial life. You get to control how to spend your hard earned money. Don’t you want to be in control?

Zero Based Budget

There’s a lot of budgeting systems out there. The one that I prefer to use is called a Zero Based Budgeting system.

Zero Based Budgeting is my favorite because it’s very simple to understand and implement.

Basically, all you do is take your monthly income amount and plan all your expenses for the month.

For example, let’s say your household brought in $4,000 for the month. You’ll take that amount and start planning to set spending amounts for categories like rent/mortgage, utilites, food, etc. See example below. You pretty much want to make sure that you’ve planned every single dollar towards a spending category.

The whole idea behind this budgeting method is that you’ll do your best not to go over your set budget amounts. It’s super easy.

You can easily do this with a pen and paper.

Jot down your income and on one side go ahead and think of all your spending categories for your household.

Budget Items

When creating your budget, it’s important to list as many budgeting categories as you can.

List all your monthly expenses along with savings, and future expenses.

For example, start by listing all your necessary expenses for the month which may include:

• Mortgage/rent
• Electric, water, gas
• Phone
• Cable/internet
• Car loan/insurance
• Health insurance
• Medical payments
• Debt payments

Then you can add budget items for your savings fund which can be:

• Emergency fund (3-6 month worth of expenses)
• Cushion (1-2 month worth of expenses)
• Retirement account

Next you can add items for future expenses which can include:

• Kid’s braces
• Furniture
• Vacation
• School tuition
• Car maintenance

Every month, you can plan to set aside some money for each of budget line item within your own customized budget.

Keeping Tabs on Your Budget

Now that you’ve created your budget, it’s super important to keep track of all your budget items.

For instance, if you planned to set aside $500 a month for food and groceries, how will you know if you’ve spent more than $500 or less than $500?

This is why you’ll have to keep track of what you’ve spent for the month.

Then you can compare what you’ve actually spent to what you originally planned to spend for your budget items.

It’ll be a good idea to aim to stay within your budgeted amounts.

Evaluating Your Budget

At the end of the month, you’re going to see how you did overall.

Did you overspend in your budget or did you have a lot of money left over?

This will help you determine which budget line items to change and which ones you should leave alone.

For instance, did you plan to spend $600 on food but only spent $300? Then you can easily change your budget amount for food to $300 going forward.

If you’ve overspent on certain budget line items then you may have to make adjustments to accommodate the higher amount for the next month’s budget.

Overall, your budget is not set in stone and you can definitely customize it as you go along. But the whole point is to always make sure you’re trying to stay close to the budget.

Takeaway

Overall, budgeting can really change your life. It’ll help you see things you’re spending money on unnecessarily. It can also help you find tons of savings.

Once you set up your initial budget, it should be easy peazy from there. All you have to do is check in on your budget once or twice a month.

I highly recommend budgeting to help stay on track of your finances. It’s been so important in our debt payoff journey. We’ve paid off over $100,000 in 24 months and I accredit that to keeping a proper budget and saving money.

Do you need some more guidance when it comes to budgeting? I walk you through from A to Z and show you exactly how to create, set up, and use a budget monthly with one of my printables which is editable and does calculations for you. It’s part of My Financial Hill Budgeting Kit which also comes with tons of other resources that can help you finally take control of your money and get out of debt.

Grab the My Financial Hill Budgeting Kit

You can also get started by grabbing your free Debt Thermometer and join us in the free 5-Day Debt Free Bootcamp which will help you knock out your first $500 worth of debt within the first month.

We partner with some awesome companies that offer products which can help our readers. If you make a purchase through one of our partner links, we may receive a commission at absolutely no additional cost to you! Please see my Policy & Disclosure page for full details. 

B uying a car used can save you thousands! Who doesn’t want that brand spanking new car? You’ll be shocked to see how much money you can save by making the choice to buy a used car instead.

One thing you’ve got to keep in mind is that a car is considered an asset that loses value over time for the most part. Well, that’s unless you have one of those super rare beauty’s that you never drive around. Realistically, the average person buys regular cars that typically lose it’s value and that’s called depreciation.

How much does a car depreciate over time? 

Did you know that your brand new car starts to lose value as soon as you drive it off the lot! According to Car Fax, it’ll most likely lose 10% of it’s value during the first month as you happily drive it off the lot!

It’ll continue to depreciate and after the first 12 months the value will drop by 20%. It’ll keep losing it’s value year after year by 10%.

Think twice before deciding to buy a new car.

You can find used cars in excellent condition with much of the depreciation already taken place so you can get it at a fraction of the original cost. Check out Edmunds to check your car appraisal and to look for used cars.

First Year – New car can lose 20% to 30% of it’s value

By the Fifth Year – New car can lose as much as 60% of it’s original sticker price

How will car depreciation affect me?

Let’s look at a scenario with our fictional character Joe who landed a good paying job out of college. He’s a bachelor and living the prime of his life. Joe always wanted a smoking hot mustang so one day he went out and decided to get one.

First Scenario – Joe Got a New Car

Joe went to a dealership and found a nice looking one mustang for $40,000. It seemed like a lot of money but he figured if he finances it, he can certainly afford the monthly payments  He saved a couple thousand already so he put that money towards his down payment, financing fees, taxes, etc. 

Fast forward up to 5 years later, Joe met his wife and now is happily married. Joe’s wife Kate also has a small car. They’ve been managing just fine with two small vehicles. One day, Joe and Kate decide to have children. It turns out Kate is pregnant with twins and about to give birth in a few months! They decide that their two small cars just won’t cut it especially with twins on the way.

Joe and Kate decide that they need a new car preferably a much larger minivan or SUV. Joe finally paid off his mustang. He loves his car but they need a new vehicle plus some cash to start his new family.

Since Joe and Kate needed a new car, they decided to get a trade in value estimate for both their cars. Kate’s car had a trade in value of $1,800 and Joe’s car had a value of $16,000. Unfortunately, they both decided to sacrifice Joe’s beloved mustang due to the higher trade in value. Let’s calculate how much Joe lost in 5 years once he trades in his new car.

Can you believe that Joe lost roughly $30K in 5 years? That’s an equivalent of throwing $6,045 a year down the trash just to drive the new car. Now, let’s see how Joe’s situation turns out if he bought a used car instead.

Second Scenario – Joe Got a Used Car

What if Joe first bought a used mustang and ended up trading that in? For instance, let’s say Joe bought a used mustang for $18,000 with 65,000 miles on it instead of the brand new one for $40,000. 5 years later when it came time to trade in that car, how much would he lose with the used car vs. the new car?

Ultimately, Joe would save roughly $23,000 if he buys a used car rather than a new car. Depreciation is REAL and it hits hard, especially with new vehicles.

Saving $23,000 in 5 years sounds pretty good to me. That money can easily go towards getting out of debt, savings, or retirement accounts. It’s easy to lose track of how much we’re TRULY spending when buying new cars over used cars.

Another aspect to keep in mind when buying new cars are financing fees. Let’s be real here, a majority of people do not have $25,000-$60,000 lying around. Most people will have to finance their new cars.

Not only do you have to pay a hefty amount for a new car, there’s interest tacked on for financing plus loan fees. This can tack on thousands of dollars more to owning a new car.

Do you want to find out how much your car would be appraised for? Go to Edmunds-Appraisal Tool to find out how much it’s worth if you’re deciding on selling it.

Financing Burden

Financing a car whether it’s new or used can significantly add on more costs to owning a car. When taking out a loan for a car, there are certain major factors to consider.

• Loan origination fees
• Interest rates from 2%-15.24% (even higher)
• Need full coverage car insurance

Who doesn’t want a nice and brand new car? Are the extra factors of depreciation and financing all worth it in the long run? I don’t think so!

I had a co-worker who financed a brand new Nissan Maxima. She was paying $500-$600 a month for the car and an extra $350 every month for the full coverage insurance. That is almost a whopping $1,000 a month! Just for a car that’s depreciating in value! 

You can be wasting a lot of extra money on unnecessary costs when financing a car. The best choice would be to buy a used car in full so that way, you can avoid all the extra fees that comes along with financing.

Is Buying a Used Car Worth It?

When we look at Joe’s comparison from buying a new car vs. a used car. He would save an upwards of $23,000 in 5 years if he were to choose the used mustang. That’s a lot of money I’d say. New cars can depreciate nearly 60% after 5 years.

Not only can you use a lot more money from depreciation, you can waste even more by financing a car.

Buying a fully paid for used car is the way to go!

Buying used doesn’t mean you have to get a broken down car. There are TONS of used cars out there that are in perfectly excellent condition and much more affordable. When I bought my used car for $14,000, it was 2010 and already had about 40,000 miles on it. Yes, I financed it because I had no choice at the time. Now it’s fully paid off now and I will not finance another vehicle. My used car is still running great! In the 5 years I had the car all I did were oil changes, 2 new tires, and a tune up. That’s it!

Another great part about buying a used car is that although it will depreciate over time, the majority of the decrease in value already took place. So by the time you buy it, the price should be a lot more reasonable with all the depreciation that’s taken place. You could get more bang for your buck.

What to Consider When Buying Used

When buying used cars, there are other precautions that can be taken to make sure that you will not end up with a lemon. 

When purchasing your used car at a dealership, most of the time they will provide you with a carfax report. You can also have the used car inspected prior to purchase. Most often, test driving will also be allowed.

Also, if you go to a reputable used car dealership, they will fix any minor repairs that you uncover in the allotted time frame. One thing to keep in mind when it comes down to the actual purchase of the car is that you can do quick research on the make and model of the car on Kelley Blue Book. If the dealership marked up the price significantly, there is room to negotiate if you can find comparable prices of what the car should actually cost. 

Buying a used car from a private seller will in most cases be sold as is and they will not fix anything for you once you drive it off. However, the price of the used car will usually be less than dealerships. 

Buying a used car from a dealership may offer you better protections than buying from a private seller.

Takeaway

Most of us rely on cars. It helps us get to work, grocery shopping, picking up the kids, run errands, and so much more. A car can be a blessing or a financial burden.

Don’t let buying a car seep more money out your pockets when you don’t have to.

Buying a used car over a new one can save you thousands. Plus, it may be better to avoid financing any car. If you can, save up and pay for the car in cash. There’s lots of reliable used cars out there which can last you 10+ years.

And remember, money saved is money earned. Don’t give other people/companies/banks your hard earned money when it’s avoidable.

If you found this tip about saving money on cars useful, check out my other money saving tip posts.

95 Best Money Saving Tips to Start Now

How we Saved Over $500 a Month on Food and Drinks

Home Buying Tips to Save Thousands

How we Saved Over $60 a Month on Our Cellphone Bill

How We Paid Off $50,000 Within 10 Months

Did you know that getting out of debt can also be saving you hundreds of extra dollars a month. We’ve knocked out over $100,000 in 24 months using these tips from the free 5-Day Debt Free Bootcamp. Start your debt free journey with this free Debt Thermometer to begin.