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I recently wrote an article about knowing when you don’t make enough money. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, you can check it out here.
Basically, if you don’t have enough money to pay your regular bills every months, you aren’t making enough money. When you are in this position, most articles about finding financial freedom don’t help. If you have already cut everything out, you don’t have anything else to cut back on. If you don’t have enough money to get by, how are you going to save money? These articles may just make you upset.
So, what can you do if you feel like you are drowning every month? Here are some tips to help.
Make the decision as a family. If you are going to be successful in getting your finances under control, you need to make sure that everyone in the family is on board. Everyone has to cut back on their spending and, if you really want to change things, everyone has to find ways to bring in more money.
You only buy the essentials. You need to make sure that you are only buying food and your other essentials. Your bills need to be paid before anything else.
Though I hate this advice, you need to cut back on everything you can. This may mean buying clothing on the clearance rack and shopping at thrift stores.
You may cut back on your automobile expenses if you find a cheaper car so you don’t have a car payment. You may decide to sell one of your cars and share one, which will cut back on your gas, insurance, and maintenance costs.
Can you rent an apartment that is cheaper? If it is closer to your work, you will save money on gas. If you get a better job with good insurance, you can save money on your health care.
Don’t be afraid to talk to a professional. If you are really struggling, it may help to talk to someone who is good with money. He or she may be able to find places where you can do better.
It might be time to admit that you need to make extra money to help your family. There are many people who are working two jobs to support their family. There are more and more ways for people to pick up some extra money by doing odd jobs. You may deliver food or even groceries for people. Evenings and weekends are busy times, and you should be able to find something that you can do to help.
If you have a good job, but you haven’t had a raise in a while, it may be time to ask for one. However, before you do this, you are going to want to do some research to see what the typical salary is for the job that you do. Could you look to see if you could get a promotion at work? You may be eligible to move up in the company, so don’t be afraid to ask for help at work.
If you don’t have a good job, can you do some additional training to get a better one? Though it costs money, training can really help you when it comes to how much you are getting paid. You may even be able to get your dream job, instead of just one that pays the bills.
Do you have a hobby that you could turn into money? Many women knit and crochet items that they can sell. Do you enjoy editing pictures in your spare time? Maybe you enjoy working with Canva and other programs and feel comfortable making logos. You might be good with websites and can offer your services to help others.
You may have a way with words and decide to venture out on your own path of freelance writing, through Vocal, Medium, and even Newsbreak. There are some content mills where you can start, though you may have better luck at Fiverr, Upwork, or some website that is similar.
Many people like to buy items at a discount and sell them for much more money. They go to yard sales and thrift shops and find items that are valuable. They may have a shop where they sell them, but many use Craigslist and Ebay to sell these items.
That being said, be careful about what you do decide to do. Many people fall for get-rich-quick schemes. Instead of making money, they end up losing money.
Once you get yourself out of the hole, it is essential that you do everything that you can to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Just because you are making money and paying your bills on time, doesn’t mean that you can start spending. You should continue to work on paying off your debt and getting an emergency fund started. You should be excited as you watch your debt go down, and your savings go up. You are on your way to doing better so don’t go down that rabbit hole again!
Though it may seem like your life will never get better, the truth is that if you are committed (and everyone in your family is committed), you can find yourself in a better place financially in the future. Cutting back is always helpful, but there are times when you just need more income.
You may be able to get a raise or a promotion at work to help, though you may need to look into a second job. Many people work from home as a way to bring in more money in their spare time, though you have to be careful. There are so many scams out there, and you need to choose wisely. Then, once you find yourself in a better space, you need to continue living the way you are, so that you can get out of debt and start saving!
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