A Shock to the System
You're always stressed about money. Each time you get your paycheck, you can only make the minimum payments on everything. You never have enough to save. You never have extra to pay towards credit cards or student loans. You don't really have a clear picture of where your money is going each month. You know you should track your money, but don't make the time to do so.
I've been there before. We used to live like this. Month to month, we had enough to pay bills, but we never thought about paying extra or saving money because, well, we didn't have it. For our first two years of marriage, we pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck. It wasn't a pretty financial picture.
So many of us live this way. There are people making six figure incomes that still live paycheck to paycheck! You don't have to be making a poverty-level wage to fall into this category. You can be on any pay grade and live this way.
Here's how to break the cycle of paycheck to paycheck living:
1. Track your spending and create a budget
Sit down at a computer and log in to your bank account. Ask yourself the following questions:
-How much money do we bring in each month?
-What are the places where we spend the most money? (For most of us it's housing, food, utilities, phones, cable, and transportation)
-How much money is spent in those categories?
Once you've answered these questions, you can push it further. "What if we spent a little less on groceries this month? How could we do that?"
It takes some time to create a budget in a timely manner, but this is the digital age, people! There are apps that will track your spending...for FREE! There are budget apps that are FREE! You can find paper budget templates...for FREE! It's time to be a grown up and take the financial bull by the horns.
2. Cut ALL excess spending
Yep...this is when the unpleasantness sets in. No more eating out. No more "extras". With this, you may not need to go cold turkey in some areas. You may need to ease into this. We definitely scaled back in many areas. We cut cable. We reduced our restaurant allowance. We didn't go to the movies. We didn't go on vacations. Remember: you are trying to forever break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. It's time to get serious.
3. Shock the system
Six years ago, we had an income problem. We still weren't in career-type jobs and our pay reflected this. As we began our debt free journey, we both switched careers and landed higher-paying jobs. Maybe you are already in your career field and love your job. That's great! You still need to do something to increase your income for at least the very short term.
This isn't going to be fun. It will require longer hours, time away from your loved ones, and saying no to fun events. But you know what? It's only for a short season. I'm not suggesting that you work an extra job for the next ten years and never see your loved ones. I'm suggesting you find a good paying, short term additional job to get some of your debts paid down. If you can pay off some of the smallest debts while utilizing the snowball method, this will free up more money that is used for monthly payments. Once you get rid of some of the pesky little debts, you've already freed up more of your original paycheck!
4. Don't give into the "I deserve this" mentality
We hear it all the time. "I work hard. I deserve this. I will buy this." Sometimes this statement is made about something small. This is how I typically operate. If I'm not careful, I will nickel and dime myself to pieces. It's like death by a thousand tiny cuts. However, I've heard it many times about huge purchases: vacations, new cars, way too much house, etc.
You ARE working hard. As you work hard to pay down debt, people will take notice. You will make progress and become more confident. This will go into all areas of your life. I definitely noticed this once we were making significant progress on our debt. Things were calmer. We could actually go to sleep at night knowing that in a couple of hard years, debt would be a thing of the past.
When you're living paycheck to paycheck and have chronic financial strain, it absolutely shows. It wears you down. It stresses you out. It makes you seem like a desperate person and you may not even realize it!
You work too hard to live such a high-stress life! Shock the system. Follow through. Free yourself from debt! Now THAT'S what you deserve!
Thanks for reading!
I've been there before. We used to live like this. Month to month, we had enough to pay bills, but we never thought about paying extra or saving money because, well, we didn't have it. For our first two years of marriage, we pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck. It wasn't a pretty financial picture.
So many of us live this way. There are people making six figure incomes that still live paycheck to paycheck! You don't have to be making a poverty-level wage to fall into this category. You can be on any pay grade and live this way.
Here's how to break the cycle of paycheck to paycheck living:
1. Track your spending and create a budget
Sit down at a computer and log in to your bank account. Ask yourself the following questions:
-How much money do we bring in each month?
-What are the places where we spend the most money? (For most of us it's housing, food, utilities, phones, cable, and transportation)
-How much money is spent in those categories?
Once you've answered these questions, you can push it further. "What if we spent a little less on groceries this month? How could we do that?"
It takes some time to create a budget in a timely manner, but this is the digital age, people! There are apps that will track your spending...for FREE! There are budget apps that are FREE! You can find paper budget templates...for FREE! It's time to be a grown up and take the financial bull by the horns.
2. Cut ALL excess spending
Yep...this is when the unpleasantness sets in. No more eating out. No more "extras". With this, you may not need to go cold turkey in some areas. You may need to ease into this. We definitely scaled back in many areas. We cut cable. We reduced our restaurant allowance. We didn't go to the movies. We didn't go on vacations. Remember: you are trying to forever break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. It's time to get serious.
3. Shock the system
Six years ago, we had an income problem. We still weren't in career-type jobs and our pay reflected this. As we began our debt free journey, we both switched careers and landed higher-paying jobs. Maybe you are already in your career field and love your job. That's great! You still need to do something to increase your income for at least the very short term.
This isn't going to be fun. It will require longer hours, time away from your loved ones, and saying no to fun events. But you know what? It's only for a short season. I'm not suggesting that you work an extra job for the next ten years and never see your loved ones. I'm suggesting you find a good paying, short term additional job to get some of your debts paid down. If you can pay off some of the smallest debts while utilizing the snowball method, this will free up more money that is used for monthly payments. Once you get rid of some of the pesky little debts, you've already freed up more of your original paycheck!
4. Don't give into the "I deserve this" mentality
We hear it all the time. "I work hard. I deserve this. I will buy this." Sometimes this statement is made about something small. This is how I typically operate. If I'm not careful, I will nickel and dime myself to pieces. It's like death by a thousand tiny cuts. However, I've heard it many times about huge purchases: vacations, new cars, way too much house, etc.
You ARE working hard. As you work hard to pay down debt, people will take notice. You will make progress and become more confident. This will go into all areas of your life. I definitely noticed this once we were making significant progress on our debt. Things were calmer. We could actually go to sleep at night knowing that in a couple of hard years, debt would be a thing of the past.
When you're living paycheck to paycheck and have chronic financial strain, it absolutely shows. It wears you down. It stresses you out. It makes you seem like a desperate person and you may not even realize it!
You work too hard to live such a high-stress life! Shock the system. Follow through. Free yourself from debt! Now THAT'S what you deserve!
Thanks for reading!
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