I graduated and started working with a fairly modest salary, so I got creative early about finding ways to stretch it. Some of these I still use regularly.
For housing, the app eHomie (小红书 adjacent) has listings from Chinese-Americans sharing units for sublet, short-term rental, or co-living — often well below market rate. If you travel and your building allows it, you can even sublet your own room while you're away.
For deals, I check SlickDeals and Rakuten regularly. My husband found a discount last week that saved us a solid amount on protein powder. We also review our credit cards every year on NerdWallet — there's almost always a new signup bonus that makes switching worthwhile.
For investing, I put money into index funds and ETFs through Vanguard or Fidelity rather than letting it sit in a savings account earning interest that doesn't keep up with inflation. The math just works better over time.
For groceries and delivery, subscribe to Uber Eats, DoorDash, Instacart, and Costco's newsletter or membership alerts. Promotions come through regularly and they stack up.
© 2026 Rachel Hong · Accelerator Consulting