Need Some Extra Money? Here Are 4 Ways Dave Ramsey Says You Can Pile Up Cash

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Could this Dave Ramsey advice help you get extra money? 

For many people, coming up with extra money is hard — especially if you have an urgent financial need and must do so quickly. Luckily, there are ways to find more cash to stash in your savings account or brokerage account, or to use for important goals.

In fact, finance expert Dave Ramsey has offered four tips for finding extra funds. Here are a few ideas, along with some advice on whether you should follow his suggestions.

1. Reducing your grocery bill

Ramsey advised switching to less expensive meals — at least on a temporary basis — if you need to pile up cash quickly. “Your new favorite meal is beans and rice,” he said.

While reducing grocery costs can be effective, you’ll want to try to do it in a smart way, though — and that doesn’t mean compromising your health.

Opting to eat less meat doesn’t have to make your meals less nutritious and it can definitely reduce your expenditures, since meat tends to be expensive. You can also clip coupons, consider shopping at warehouse clubs if they offer lower prices, or make a meal plan based around what’s on sale.

2. Taking a pause on retirement investing

Ramsey advises putting your retirement investing on pause if you’re trying to repay creditors.

“Investing for retirement is really important,” Ramsey acknowledged. “But when you’re paying off debt, that needs to be your priority. It’s okay to temporarily pause your retirement savings while you work on getting out from underneath your car loan (or any other non-mortgage debt).”

This advice isn’t necessarily the best, though. Pausing your retirement savings can have major long-term consequences, since you could miss out on an employer match that helps your money grow. You’ll also miss out on tax breaks for retirement savings.

The longer you wait to start investing, the harder it will be to build a generous nest egg since you won’t have as much time for compounding to work for you (that happens when returns are reinvested and earn returns of their own).

You can follow this Ramsey advice if you have very high interest debt to pay off in a very short time. But in general, it’s best to both work on retirement investing and debt payoff at the same time so you don’t miss out on the unique benefits that come with saving for your later years.

3. Selling unneeded items

Ramsey also suggested selling things that you own that don’t provide much value. “We’ve all got so much crap we don’t even use. Start looking around the house and finding stuff you can sell online.”

This is solid advice because if you can turn your clutter into cash, why not do so? Facebook Marketplace makes it pretty easy to sell things — just be sure you don’t fall victim to scammers. Don’t send any items to anyone until you’ve been paid, and if you’re meeting people in person to do an exchange, consider doing it in a public place or a police station parking lot.

4. Picking up a side job

Finally, Ramsey suggests taking on a side hustle to bring in extra money to save. This can be good advice if you have the time or ability to do so. After all, while there’s a limit to how much you can realistically cut spending to save more, there’s no limit to how much extra you can earn if you get creative with your work or put in a few extra hours each week.

By following these four tips, you might just find yourself with the extra money to pad your investment account or work toward your current financial priorities.

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