These days, 78% of workers live paycheck to paycheck. And 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. But you don’t have to live like that for the rest of your life. You have to break out of the circle, there is a discovered steps that can help you start thriving and began reaching your financial goal. Let’s figure out ways go to give ourselves a raise, save and increase our income to come out.
1. Budget:
Didn’t you know were your entire paycheck goes? Why don’t you install on it a tracker. Listen! You work too hard for your money to wonder where it all went. A budget is a plan of what coming in and what going out, when you budget every month you’re giving your money a purpose.
Wondering were your paycheck is going. It’s Maybe possible because you don’t have a plan. And you can’t make your dollar stretch because you might not even know how much money you have to work with! That’s where your budget will show you places where you can cut back and actually start to save money.
Like we said, a budget is a plan for your income and expenses, when you budget, you see what you spend. And if you find out you’re spending more than you make, you can adjust so you stop overspending and you stick to your goal.
“here’s the beautiful thing about a budget: while it’s hard and limiting at first, overtime you will realize it’s your mean to enjoy life without headaches and worry. Ultimately, it’s a pathway to freedom. And when you tell your money how to work for you, you can be intentional about how you use it”
Don’t worry. through, we’re not going to leave you hanging without telling you exactly how to do a budget (we aren’t that mean). Here’s the deal with a budget: your monthly income minus your monthly expenses needs to equal zero, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have any money left in your bank account. Instead, you’re just making sure everydollar in your paycheck is given a job to do. And by job, we mean you’ve decided exactly where that money will go for the month (including savings).
And you will experiences that the benefit far outweigh the possible struggle at the start. This four tips can help you out better.
- Write down your monthly income.
- Write down your monthly expenses.
- Subtract your income from your expenses to equal zero.
- Track your seasonal expenses.
2. Stop living with bad debt.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck, that means there is no extra money in between paychecks. If you’re lucky, you are able to make the minimum payment on all your high interest credit cards and your never-ending student loan debt. If not, your credit card payments are too much your income and you’re spending more than you make. Late payment Fees and payday loans may be your routine and it’s starting to get out of hand. You take on new debt each month because you are required to put your groceries on your credit card, you then have to wait until next month so you can pay for groceries for this month.
Living like this and playing your around with debt is a recipe for disaster. You can’t get ahead that way! Believe us, not having enough money to pay for something and then reaching for a credit card to fund it is no way to live.
But debt isn’t just credit cards, debt is sneaky. It comes packaged as student loans, personal loans, business loans, payday loans and even “buy now pay later” deals like after pay, anytime you owe somebody else money for anything- it’s debts.
Maybe debt is a common word in your house or Maybe you think you’ve done a good job avoiding it. But no matter what kind of relationship you have with debt, Proverbs 22:7 says.
The borrower is slave to the lender
When you have Debt, you’re no longer working just for you or your family, -you’re working for the people you owe money to. And the average American carries $34,055 in consumer debt. That’s not okay! You’re made for more in this life than just working to pay off debt. You can’t get out of a mud puddle if you keep adding dirt and water to it, instead, start focusing on paying off your debts smallest to largest debt snowball.
3. Take care of the four walls first
When you’re up to your eyeballs in debt. it’s easy to panic, you may even be getting calls from creditor’s, final notice from the mail, and your electric company is saying they’ll be shutting off your electricity any day, that’s scary stuff. But Don’t let those creditor’s bully you into making something like a cable bill a priority. There are four wall of live which you must get covered before any other.
First wall: food.
Set aside a sufficient amount of money in the budget for food. This should include “eating out money” I also recommend adding everything to the grocery budget that you would buy at the supermarket-maybe call it your Walmart fund or call it your target fund depending on your performance.
It’s always better to over budget in the food category. Be reasonable when determine the amount of money your househood will spend on food and groceries.
Second wall: shelter.
Pay your mortgage payments or rent and keep the lights on. The shelter budget category should include everything need to keep you and your family safe and warm, aside your home- mortgage or rent utilities, etc.
Never pay a credit card bill instead of your house payment. You can afford to have a little adding on your credit, but you can’t afford to lose your house or have the heat or power disconnected. Keeping the lights on and paying your house payment should give you one less thing to worry about.
Third wall: transportation.
You need to keep the car moving so you can get to work. Car payments, gasoline expenses, car insurance and basics repairs and maintenance needed to keep the car running fall under this category. When Budgeting for fuel expenses again be reasonable. It’s better to over budget for fuel than underbudget and rather run out of money to fill you tank with gas. After you do this budget for several months, this category will become earlier to project also. Do some math to determine how much money you will need to set aside each month to cover the reqular maintenance on your vehicles, that way when the cars needs an oil change or new tires, you will have the money to cover it you have to keep the car running.
Fourth wall: clothing.
This category works little differently. A large clothing budget is probably not a priority for everyone. If you’re just a single guy or girl and you don’t have a bunch of new clothes. But if you have a family and kids, you need a clothing Budget.
If you have Young children, then you know they grow out of their clothes weekly, or if you have kids in school then they will probably need new clothes and new shoes before school starts plan for this on your budget. Project how much money you think your family will need for the entire year, divide that number by 12 and set aside that amount of money each month for clothing, that way you will have the money needed when school unenexpectedly starts tomorrow .
And if there’s any money left over after you take care of the four walls, make a list of what else you need to say and tackle it in order of importance-that’s it. If things are really tough. yeah, your credit card bill might not get paid that month, but one thing is for sure: your family will feel and have a roof over their head no matter what.
4. Start a side hustle.
If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, you probably need to bring in more income consistently-not just when you sell some stuff. While you can (and should) go after promotions, and salary increases at your full-time job you might need to do something to increase your income sooner. hello, side hustle. So here is the best side hustle to help you make more money.
1. Begin freelance writing.
Good side hustle, like freelance writting, allows you to make money working from home. But the only fault is that you have be working. for you to earn money. When you stop working your paycheck cease. But despite that, as a freelance writer you can earn an extra $1,000 a month, the secret to succeeding as a freelance writer is to charge clients based on the value you’ll bring. Most freelance writers undercharge. Which results in fast burnout with little payoff. The best freelance writting opportunities to try are on problogger. But there are other freelance sites like, Fiverr, Upworks etc.
2. Start a dropshipping business
Dropshipping is one of the best side hustle job ideas, it allows you to sell a product directly to the customer without having to buy any inventory. Isn’t it great? You don’t need to have a big start-up costs budget, keeping your risk low. The manufacturer not only carries the inventory, but also ships it directly to the customer for you. Your main focus should be marketing and customer service- the lifeline of the business. If you have a strong marketing background and want a side hustle that plays to your strength, this is it. It’s one of the rare side jobs that allows you to scratch a true entrepreneur itch. You get to be the owner of your very own business.
With dropshipping, you can start a business within any of your favorite Passions. Do you love stocking your kitchen? You can sell kitchen equipment on the internet. Maybes you’ve found this unique solar powered, smartphone- calling accessory. You can start your own store ideas. If you love doing your make up? You can sell beauty products and build an audience who follows along to your make up tutorials, almost any niche can be pursued with dropshipping,
4. Start blogging:
Blogging is one of the best side hustle jobs, to do from home, or anywhere else in the world. It allows you to build a personal brand while owning your own asset. You can even write about your passion having a singular niche that you write about. Such as yoya, business, beauty, or carsy allows you to build an audience who shares the exact same interest due to the singular focus. You can monetize your blogs in few ways:
- Affiliate links
- Sponsored posts
- Adding a shop link were you can sell dropping products.
- Create and sell your own products.
- Offer premium content behind an exclusive membership.
4. Become an Instagram influencer.
Growing up, most people dream of being famous. But the truth is not everyone can sing or act. Fortunately, you can still build a personal brand around yourself based on what you can do. Maybe you have a really cool fashion sense or can bake an awesome cake, on Instagram, anyone can start a side hustle by becoming an infleuncer. If you don’t like the spotlight, that’s cool you can build an Instagram following around your dog or your photography. You can monetize your Instagram account in a couple of ways.
- Sponsored posts
- Instagram takeovers
- Selling a product on your website.
a average influencer charges between $200 to $400 a post, this can vary based on your audience size.
5. Sell information products.
If you’re looking for side job ideas to make money, why not trying selling information products? This side hustle requires some research, invested time, and marketing skills for you to flourish. Are there topics that are really popular right now that you know a lot about? Did you find a popular topic that isn’t enough information about? Monetize these opportunities by creating content around it. You can publish books on Amazon or sell courses on udemy.
And even if those don’t work out, you can still take up odd jobs around your neighborhood (think cutting the grass, picking up leaves, babysitting or dog walking).
And also among the five mentioned you can choose the one you are good at.
5. Look for things to cut.
“we know making sacrifices doesn’t feel good. It hurts! But keep reminding yourself: this isn’t forever.”
This isn’t the time to buy T-bone steaks for dinner, go see the latest movie, or visit your favourite restaurant. This is the time to cut back on any unnecessary expenses that you can. You are living paycheck to paycheck here, so tighten it up. Look for any area in your budget (you’ve created one now, remember?) Where you spendless.
- Cable: another obvious one just do it. Don’t think about it, it’ll save you so much money. Where I live, it’s not uncommon to pay $130/mouth for cable. That’s over $15000/years! You can watch the main shows online for free (albeit I week after the air). But who cares, and if you’re a big sport fan, find be a friend with a TV.
- Restaurants: okay, we’re going to start with the obvious, don’t go out to anymore. It’s expensive. You don’t need to pay $17.99 for a meal, another $12 for drinks, and a 20% tip. You can save tons by cooking at home. And actually there are some other benefits to cooking at home- you feel healthier, you feel like you are saving money, it can become a fun hobby.
- Car washes: this is a strange one, but near me. People get car washes all the time. They’ll even buy a $60 pass each month that gives them unlimited car washes. Totally unnecessary. You can do it yourself with some water and soap.
- Cleaning products: I use to have a budget line item for cleaning products- you know, Mr clean erasers (those things are are magical) all the Lysol wipes you can imagine, Swiffer stuff, the huge tub of formulary 409. Honestly, that stuff is expensive and addup. You don’t need to buy it anymore. First of all, you probably have enough cleaning stuff to last you 1.2 years. Also, you can make cleaning so cheap. With some $0.99 vinegar, tap water, and may be a drop or two of dawn. Eliminates this from your budget (and don’t vtry to sneak it into your grocery budget either).
We know making sacrifices like this doesn’t feel good. It hurts! But keep reminding yourself: this is not forever. You are making temporary sacrifices. It’s time to put in the work now so you can be in a better position in the future.
Lets hustle 