How to Stretch Your Budget for a One-Income Household

Living in a one-income household is like being a gymnast walking on a balance beam. You have absolutely no margin for error, and the slightest misstep can spell disaster.

The tens of millions of jobs lost to the COVID-19 pandemic have left millions of families surviving as one-income households for the first time. That’s a really hard thing to do these days, especially if you’re not used to it.

The cost of essential purchases, like groceries and rent keeps going up, making it harder than ever for families to get by on a single income.

Does all this sound familiar? If you’re in this position, we’ve got a list of money moves you can start making today:

1. Cut Your Food Budget by Planning Ahead

Groceries are a huge part of everyone’s budget, so they’re a big target for savings. Try preparing for the week ahead with some meal planning.

This goes beyond just making a shopping list. Real meal planning helps you save money because it helps you use what you buy, preventing food — and money — waste. It also prevents you from spending extra cash on emergency lunches or late-night takeout.

First, figure out how many meals you’re responsible for making every week. If it’s just you, your answer might be 21: seven breakfasts, lunches and dinners. If you have a family, count meals per person — a dinner for three people counts as three dinners, even if you all eat the same thing.

Now figure out how much food you’ll need to buy to make it until your next grocery trip. If you buy the same items repeatedly, you know which ones to stock up on when they go on sale. Stocking up on sale items also helps you freeze meals for the future. If there’s a way to buy in bulk and prep the foods you eat the most often, do it!

2. Get Paid Every Time You Buy Toilet Paper

No matter how strategic you are, groceries still account for a good chunk of your budget. Everybody’s got to eat. You may as well earn a little money back while your groceries are being bagged up.

A free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying toilet paper and more than 250 other items at the grocery store.

Here’s how it works: After you’ve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. For your efforts, you’ll earn gift cards to places like Amazon or Walmart.

You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here to start getting free gift cards.

Over a million people already have, so they must be onto something.

3. Stop Overpaying for Stuff Online

On a single income, you have to watch every penny. Wouldn’t it be nice if you got an alert any time you’re shopping on Amazon or Walmart.com and you’re about to overpay?

That’s exactly what this free service does.

Just add it to your browser for free, and before you check out, it’ll check other websites, including Walmart, eBay and others to see if your item is available for cheaper. Plus, you can get coupon codes, set up price-drop alerts and even see the item’s price history.

Let’s say you’re shopping for a new pair of shoes, and you assume you’ve found the best price. Here’s when you’ll get a pop up letting you know if that exact pair of shoes is available elsewhere for cheaper. If there are any available coupon codes, they’ll also automatically be applied to your order.*

In the last year, this has saved people $160 million.

You can get started in just a few clicks to see if you’re overpaying online.

4. Get Paid Every Time You Fill Up Your Tank 

Having to fill up your gas tank these days is downright painful. Prices for a gallon of regular unleaded top $5 in some states and it doesn’t look like there’s relief coming any time soon.

But a free app called Fetch Rewards will relieve some of that wallet-draining frustration by rewarding you with gift cards just for buying gas (and more than 250 other items at the store).

Here’s how it works: After you’ve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased gas from one of the stations listed in Fetch. You’ll earn 25 points for each purchase, which can be redeemed for a Visa gift card and can help you pay for your next tank.

You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here to start getting free gift cards. Over 13 million people already have, so they must be onto something…

5. Cancel Your Car Insurance

Here’s the thing: your current car insurance company is probably overcharging you. But don’t waste your time hopping around to different insurance companies looking for a better deal.

Use a website called EverQuote to see all your options at once.

EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.

Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.

6. Ask This Website to Help Pay Your Credit Card Bill This Month

Every month, you make payments toward your credit card debt. But you never seem to make a dent. It’s because of those sky-high interest rates — as much as 24% interest. It can feel impossible to get ahead.

But MoneyLion could help you find offers to cut your interest rate by 70% as soon as tomorrow.

Here’s how it works: MoneyLion can match you with new loan offers at a lower interest rate — as low as 5.20% APR*. That’s 70%* lower than the average credit card interest rate. And it’s the key to finally getting ahead.

You can use this new loan to pay off all your existing credit card debt, leaving you with one (cheaper) monthly payment that will help you get out of debt faster.

If you have a credit score of at least 620, you could get up to $100,000. With no collateral. And terms go up to 144 months.

Worried you won’t qualify? Take two minutes to check online and see if you could cut your credit card interest rate by 70%.

*Based on creditworthiness. Average credit card interest rate is 24.72% as of 8/14/24, according to Forbes Advisor’s weekly credit card rates report.

7. Get Paid $225/Month While Watching Movie Previews

If we told you that you could get paid while watching videos on your computer, you’d probably laugh.

It’s too good to be true, right?

But we’re serious. By signing up for a free account with InboxDollars, you could add up to $225 a month to your pocket. They’ll send you short surveys every day, which you can fill out while you watch someone bake brownies or catch up on the latest Kardashian drama.

No, InboxDollars won’t replace your full-time job, but it’s something easy you can do while you’re already on the couch tonight, wasting time on your phone.

Unlike other sites, InboxDollars pays you in cash — no points or gift cards. It’s already paid its users more than $56 million.

Signing up takes about one minute, and you’ll immediately receive a $5 bonus to get you started.

8. Leave Your Family up to $1M

Oh, to be a millionaire. Look, not all of us have the money to set up trust funds for our loved ones. But you could still leave them up to $1.5 million in life insurance — and you don’t even need to have the money in the bank.

You’re probably thinking: I don’t have the time or money for that. But this takes just minutes — and you could leave your family up to $1.5 million with a company called Bestow.

We hear people are paying as little as $10 a month.* (But every year you wait, this gets more expensive.)

It takes just minutes to get a free quote and see how much life insurance you can leave your loved ones — even if you don’t have seven figures in your bank account.

Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He knows what it’s like to survive as a one-income household.

*Capital One Shopping compensates us when you get the extension using the links provided.

*For a $500K policy, subject to eligibility. 

*Bestow: Policies are issued by Bestow Life Insurance Company, Dallas, TX on policy form series BLI-ITPOL. Bestow Life Insurance products may not be available in all states. Policy limitations or restrictions may apply. Not available in New York. Our application asks lifestyle and health questions to determine eligibility in order to avoid requiring a medical exam. Prices start at $10/month based on an 18-year-old male rated Preferred Plus NT for a $100k policy for a 10-year term. Rates will vary based on underwriting review.