Surviving On One Income

Whether you live on your own or are raising a family without a second income, it can at times present financial challenges. The good news is that you don’t have to endure huge sacrifices to live a comfortable lifestyle.

Getting on Track

Without extra money to fall back on, any problem that requires money to fix it quickly escalates into an emergency. If you currently have a deficit each month, getting onto a level playing field is essential to your financial future. You can apply for a loan through a bank or if your credit score is a bit lower than your bank requires, you can apply to an online lending company such as MaxLend to acquire a small installment loan to bring your debt current.

Creating a Budget

When you have a sole income source you have to account for every penny and spend your money wisely. The best way to do this is to create a household budget. Budgeting is not something new. In fact, it’s something that many people use to set and achieve goals and afford things they otherwise would have to do without. Setting one up is simple. Get a sheet of paper and make a list of all your monthly expenses and then deduct them from your net income. With the money left over, you can divide it up and allocate it proportionally to things like a savings account, a vacation fund, college tuition and retirement.

Household Expenses

Household expenses can consume a large portion of your budget. If you have had your mortgage for more than a couple of years, now may be a good time to refinance it to see if you can reduce your monthly payment. There are also dozens of ways to reduce your home energy costs including gas, electric and water too.

Shop Smart

If you go shopping without doing research or a list in hand, you will spend more than you should. Take advantage of the weekly flyers and the internet and do comparison shopping to see who’s offering the best prices on the things you need. For instance, if you are looking to purchase a new mattress, check the local stores and compare the prices first before just entering a store blindly and accepting the price. The same goes for food shopping. There are many websites that you can visit and print coupons that pertain to the food items you need for the week. In addition, to the coupons, check the flyers of the local supermarkets.

Pay Down Your Debt

When you live on only one income you need to make the most of every penny. If you tie up a good portion of your money on credit cards and high-interest loans it can make it difficult to enjoy living. Thankfully, there are ways to reduce your debt faster than you may imagine. For the credit cards, you have several options. You can take the one with the highest interest rate and focus your efforts on paying more than the minimum payment each month. And, then once you pay that one off move onto the next one. Or, you can apply for a new credit card that lets you transfer the balance from other cards interest-free for a period of approximately 12 months. Similar to a balance transfer, you can apply for a credit card consolidation loan. This will reduce the amount you have to pay each month and no interest will accumulate while you pay off the balance.

Living on one income is possible. With a few changes and a budget, you can get the most out of your hard-earned money and live a comfortable life.