15 Ways to Make Money Stretch as Inflation Soars

Inflation has been surging in recent months. In fact, March data showed an 8.5% increase in the price of goods and services compared with the prior year. That's the biggest 12-month jump since 1981.

With prices rising much faster than wages are growing, many families are feeling some financial pain. But the good news is, there are steps you can take to make your money stretch even as costs increase.

Following these 15 tips can help you avoid blowing your budget even when essential goods have become much costlier.

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Often, simply changing the products that you're using can help you to keep spending costs down even as prices rise. That's because some items are inherently less expensive than others.

For example, if you always bought name-brand items, consider switching to generic instead. Or if you tend to eat a lot of meat, see if you can make one or two meals a week that are plant-based and thus more affordable.

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Rising food prices are one of the leading drivers of inflation. But you can keep grocery costs down by looking at what's on sale during the week and planning meals around discounted items.

Grocery stores usually send out sales flyers, so it's easy to make a menu plan that incorporates mostly items that are on special. You can also be on the lookout for items in store that are nearing their expiration date and that may be marked down because of it.

Bulk buying can sometimes help you to get a better price. Warehouse clubs and online stores both make buying larger discounted quantities easy.

If an item that you know you'll use regularly goes on sale, you can also stock up by buying enough of it to last until the next time it's discounted.

Sale cycles usually run every eight weeks, so if your favorite brand of cereal is on sale, for example, consider buying an eight-week supply.

ALSO READ: Amazon Prime vs. Warehouse Clubs: Which Is Better for Buying in Bulk?

Another great way to save on groceries is to make large batches of meals at once and freeze portions for later.. This enables you to buy ingredients in bulk without worrying about them going bad. You can also save time.

By building up a store of meals in your freezer, you can also reduce or avoid dining out expenditures since you'll have food at home to eat when you don't feel like cooking a fresh meal.

If you can sign up for a credit card that rewards the spending you do most often, you can get cash back or points for buying necessities. This helps to lessen the sting of higher prices since you'll be getting some of the money you spent back.

You can use these rewards to help you cover future costs. For example, you can claim your cash back as a statement credit so your credit card bill is cheaper. Or you can use credit card miles to avoid buying a plane ticket for your next vacation.

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Online and printable coupons can all help you reduce the cost of purchases, as can coupons you cut out from your local paper. Always look for a coupon before making any purchase, as this can help you to bring prices down.

There are browser extensions you can download on your computer that will help you identify coupons on websites you are shopping at. And if you don't feel like cutting coupons from the Sunday paper, you can usually buy them online for a small fee. This lets you get coupons for exactly the items you're interested in buying.

ALSO READ: 5 Grocery Hacks to Save You Big Bucks

If you're really struggling, consider looking for help and support offered by the government or community groups.

This could include making use of programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or visiting food or diaper banks available locally.

Instead of buying items or paying for services, see if you can trade with friends or loved ones. For example, you could babysit your friends' pets or kids one week and they could watch yours the next.

Or you could host a party where everyone brings a piece of clothing or children's toy to swap, rather than shopping for new items.

ALSO READ: 7 Simple Tricks for Saving More Money

If you can handle basic home repair tasks yourself instead of paying a professional to take care of them, this can help you to save.

Of course you never want to compromise safety or do work you don't know how to do as this could create a more expensive problem. But there are plenty of online videos that can teach you how to do simple tasks yourself, and it can be worth trying for more basic do-it-yourself tasks.

Periods of high inflation don't last forever. If you can wait a while before making unnecessary purchases, you can perhaps avoid paying today's elevated prices.

This is especially true for big-ticket items, such as vehicles. Car prices are especially high right now due to supply chain issues, so try to keep your old car as long as its safe and practical to do so.

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Gas prices are also one of the leading drivers of inflation, with the average price of gas now above $4 per gallon.

If you can carpool with others or limit the trips you're taking, you can limit the damage to your budget caused by these high prices at the pump. Driving the speed limit and removing unneeded items from your car to reduce its weight can also help you to keep fuel usage down.

ALSO READ: What's Happening With Russian Oil and U.S. Gas Prices?

Home energy costs have climbed very high as well, so reducing energy consumption is crucial to making your money stretch.

Fortunately, there are many ways to do that. You can turn your thermostat up or down a few degrees, for example. You can also unplug appliances using phantom electricity, such as coffee makers with clocks that are always displaying the time. And you can seal cracks around doors and windows to make heating and cooling easier.

It never hurts to ask the companies you do business with if there are ways for you to save.

This technique can be implemented with many business providing a product or service you use regularly. But you're especially likely to be successful in asking for a reduced price for cable TV, internet, and insurance.

ALSO READ: Discounts on Car Insurance: How You Can Save Money

Keeping track of your spending is helpful in making your money stretch for two key reasons.

First, by writing down what you spend, you become more conscious of the purchases you're making and are less likely to make unnecessary impulse buys.

Monitoring where your money is going can also make it possible to identify problem areas where you need to look for ways to cut costs.

Finally, you should invest as much as you can and make sure you're buying assets that you believe in and that are likely to produce reasonable returns.

If you can put your money into the market and earn returns that beat inflation, you can help ensure your hard-earned funds don't lose value even as prices rise.

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By being smart about how you manage your money, you can ensure that inflation doesn't leave you with too little income to live on -- or too little left after covering necessities to accomplish crucial financial goals.

The more of these 15 tips you implement, the further your money will go even during these turbulent economic times -- so start trying them out today if you can.

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