Up until a short while ago, I knew this feeling far too well. I lived beyond my means. I spent more money than I earned. I really needed, wanted to know how to save money when you live paycheck to paycheck because I was tired of it. I had big goals and was getting further away from them not closer. Here are the few steps I learned – I’ll share them with you, hoping that they’ll make as big a difference for you as they have for me!
#1 – Attitude shift – I had to decide that my future was more important than the new truck, or the new cell phone that was replacing one that worked perfectly well. I decided I was willing to shift my attitude to looking out for my future.
#2 – Stop wasting money – Once I put my attention on where I was spending my money I was shocked at how much I was wasting. Paying for cable TV I never watched anyway, to newspaper and magazine subscriptions I could get for free online, to 1 even 2 Starbucks coffees per day. I didn’t give anything up…I shifted. I watch Netflix (what I want, when I want – Bonus no commercials). More free online news than I want. And Starbucks coffee that I make for myself at home.
#3 – Write down your budget – Start by tracking every single thing you spend money on. Keep receipts and add them up weekly. There’s no way to know how to save money when you live paycheck to paycheck unless you know how you spend your money. Then you can decide where you can cut back….adjust your budget and stick to it. Steps 2 and 3 allowed me to start saving 10% of my earnings in order to create an investment fund. And I was able to pay down all of my debt.
#4 - Trim the fat – My friends and I really like getting together for dinner and a beer. Having an evening on the town. I didn’t want to cut this out. What I did is searched online for “free events in our city”. My friends loved it. We were all overspending on these evenings and weekends, so it helped all of us out.
#5 – Multiple Sources of Income – I didn’t realize the true power behind this until I followed my mentor’s advice and started doing just that. I now have income coming in from a few different sources including some investments and it has changed my life.
Last year I started adding another source of income. I’ve want to share with you how great this has been for me. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had earning money. It’s online and I get to work with the most amazing team of people. These guys have become fantastic teachers and mentors for me. Together as a team we’re doing amazing things for this project. I applaud you for looking up how to save money when you live paycheck to paycheck and I encourage you to get started. I also want to invite you to have a look at what I’m doing. It may just be exactly what you’re looking for. It was for me. But mostly I hope you get started on applying the steps I shared and if you do decide to join us, I look forward to working with you.
Excellent points here. Many people fall into the borrow money / use a credit card / any type of credit trap and never can get out of debt (or at least it takes a lot of time and effort). being serious about your budget, saving as little as possible, but still saving and not wasting money are the only way to succeed, even if you cannot make more money.
ReplyDeleteI think that earning more is one of the most overlooked solutions. Of course, this does no good if the main problem is a lack of discipline.
ReplyDeleteso many practical tips in this post , as i am nearing the end of maternity leave and we will be going down to one wage soon as i am not returning to work. So i think i need to start saving and cutting down on spending . Thanks for the advice
ReplyDelete