HOW TO LIVE ON A TIGHT BUDGET

May, 04   -   No Comments   -   Candice

No one wishes financial hardship upon themselves but it still happens to most people. Maybe you lost your job and you have to stretch your savings until another job comes along. Perhaps you made the wrong financial decisions and now you have no money left until the next pay day which is 15 days away.

You may have totally different reasons for your financial situation but trying to make ends meet with a limited budget can be super stressful and emotionally draining, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are creative ways to live on a budget that don’t wrinkles on your face and doing complex arithmetic to make a dollar last longer.

Prepare

Like you every financial education class teaches, you need to prepare for a rainy day. Save money while you have a regular income and you won’t have to strain too much when you lose your job.

If you can foresee your company retrenching and laying you off, prepare by moving to a cheaper house and lowering your standards of living so that by the time the hammer comes you are used to living modestly. Learning how to budget on an irregular income will com in handy during the hard times.

Downgrade your insurance cover to the bare minimum and get a warranty cover from Warrantyguides.Com to take care of you home repairs and replacements when you no longer have a steady cash flow.

Stay positive

Hardships don’t last forever and with hard work and a positive attitude you can get yourself out and prosper. With conscious effort and determination, you can turn around your fortunes.

This is the time to reconnect with your networks. Be open that you are out of a job and actively looking for another. Leverage your networks to get access to job and business opportunities.

Have a budget

You still need to budget even if you have minimal resources. Know how much money you need to live on within the month and budget accordingly.

Living for the moment will further worsen your financial situation. The last thing you want is making a purchase and defaulting on your loan repayment and auctioneers knocking on your door, and you haven’t also paid rent.

Plan your money and make a roaster of all your income and expenses and account for every dollar earned and spent.

Use discount coupons and codes, flyers and pamphlets

You might have to live frugally at times, whether it’s because of circumstance, choice, or both. But being frugal does not mean that you must compromise on everything. You could make quality purchases and still get your money’s worth with the help of sales put up by stores. Especially when you’re on a tight budget, you should make the most out of the discount codes that you can get a hold of. And these codes you could find on coupons, flyers, pamphlets and more. You could take the case of No Frills Flyers that you could use to avail discounts on groceries in the No Frills supermarket. So, you should collect these discount codes so as to reinforce economic spending. And over time, you will not only be able to cut down on expenses but you will also be able to channelize those savings on bigger and more important investments for the future.

Cut expenses gradually

You can adopt the eating habits of people living on a tight budget. Find ways to cut down your regular bills.

Trim your regular expenses by negotiating for discounts and better rates with your providers. Cut off unnecessary subscriptions that further strain you financially.

There are austerity measures you can put in place like starting a kitchen garden to save on grocery bills, replacing your cable TV with cheaper streaming options and making home cooked meals instead of eating out and ordering takeaways.

Find ways to add to your income

Find side hustles to make you an extra buck. Use your skills to earn money and boost your income in order to relieve some of that financial pressure.

There are jobs you can do online and from home depending on your skills.