5 Small Money Moves To Make Before Summer That Seriously Boost Cash Flow
Empty pockets are never a good feeling, no matter the weather, but summer is the worst season of all to be broke.
If you’re staring down the season of travel, beaches, pools and nightlife without the cash to back up the memories you dream of making, you still have time to pad your pockets before school lets out and the farmer's tan sets in.
The following money moves can set you up with some extra cash flow both immediately and, if done right, in the long term for savings that continue to keep you flush long after the weather turns cool again.
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Spring Cleaning — and Selling
Bank of America data shows that roughly one-quarter of U.S. households live paycheck to paycheck, a fact that anyone strapped for cash should view as an opportunity: The struggling masses don’t stop needing stuff just because they can’t afford to buy new things.
The ThredUp 2026 Resale Report found that the secondhand apparel market is growing four times faster than the retail clothing market — and that’s just threads.
According to Amerisave, the average U.S. home contains $5,300 worth of unused things, from video game consoles and furniture to sports equipment and art supplies. There are dozens of platforms that let you convert a liberating purge into summertime spending money, but they have varying fee structures, policies and niches. Where you list can mean the difference of 30% to 40% in profits, so research well before you sell.
Switch to a Pre-Paid Carrier
According to Optimum, discount prepaid data providers charge an average of $40 for unlimited monthly data plans, about $30 less than traditional major carriers — but switching doesn’t mean sacrificing the reliability of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. The big wireless companies lease their network capacity to prepaid providers such as Mint Mobile, Boost Mobile and Cricket Wireless.
Less-frequent users or those mostly connected to Wi-Fi can save the most. For example, Mint, which cites the average monthly Big Three wireless bill as an even-higher $157, offers a 5GB plan for $15 per month — more than 10 times less, for annual savings of more than $1,700.
Rotate Your Subscriptions
A key benefit of cord-cutting is that you can cancel your subscriptions, which you should if you value summertime spending over endless oceans of unengaging, overlapping and mostly unused content. According to the Los Angeles Times, streaming prices have risen by double-digit percentages across the most popular platforms every year since 2022 to pump out content that most subscribers will never see.
CNET reports that the average household spends $200 per year on unused subscriptions and suggests rotating them — intermittently canceling all but one or two crucial platforms at a time — to save $800 or more per year while clearing the digital dead wood.
Chase Coupons Instead of Cash Back
Personal finance pros have spent more than a decade pushing cash-back apps such as Rakuten and Ibotta, but between signing up, selecting offers and submitting receipts, the juice is rarely worth the squeeze, considering the typically meager returns.
However, publications like Lifewire show how ordinary shoppers can save real money on most purchases with virtually no effort by installing browser extensions from coupon platforms like Honey (now PayPal Honey), which don’t require you to register and automatically scan and apply coupon codes, which RetailMeNot required you to do manually before upgrading to its own easy and reliable automatic extension and app.
Consider a No-Spend Challenge — Its Benefits Could Last Much Longer Than 30 Days
You’ve seen the 30-day no-spend challenges on TikTok. Cut out all non-essential, discretionary spending for a month and watch your savings add up. While it typically trends in January, May might be better since you’re looking to bring extra cash into summer.
However, CNBC and SoFi found that the potential benefits are more than a short-term savings boost from all those coffees, restaurant meals and clothes never purchased for a month. By radically restricting spending over an intensive 30-day period, more modest frugality becomes easier afterward and more importantly, those who complete the challenge will have the cold, hard cash in hand as proof of just how much money they waste on wants. That's powerful motivation to keep it going.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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