The modern world comes with numerous rising costs. When you’re a parent trying to make ends meet, that extra price hike on the utility bill can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Coping with financial struggles is, for many of us, the norm. But what can we do when we are struggling financially and there is one aspect of our lives that is threatening to ruin us?
Move To A New Place
Renting is, for many of us, a part of life. And this comes with many stresses. If the landlord raises the rent, especially when you’re already at your upper limit, this can prove to be an incredibly stressful time. It’s always worth speaking to the landlord, as well as knowing your rights. Sometimes, the landlord can just be one of those people that is completely unreasonable. There are legal routes you can go down, especially with practices like Keoghs Solicitors that deal with landlord and tenant disputes. And while this can cause pressure, especially in the short-term, if it doesn’t resolve, downsizing can help. Yes, it may prove to be a pain, especially if you don’t have the money for a bond, but it’s worth taking this opportunity to sell a few items, so you have the bare essentials, and move in with somebody for a short period of time.
Paying Off Debt
Yes, it’s obvious. But paying off debt is not the easiest of solutions. When you are struggling financially, you may not be able to put more money into paying off your debt. But you’ve got to look at the problem in the round. For example, the APR on your credit card, is this something that can be reduced, by moving to a 0% card? Paying off debt is about finding the cheapest options, but also ensuring that you chip away at your financial woes. Paying off debt can be difficult if you don’t have a plan. While there are approaches like the Debt Snowball method out there, if you really don’t know what to do, get in contact with your local Citizens Advice Bureau. They can point you in the right direction of a financial advisor or they can give you pieces of advice that you didn’t know were out there. A lot of the reasons we get into debt is because we don’t understand what sort of help is available. If this is you, going to the Citizens Advice Bureau should be priority number one.
Looking At Your Earning Capabilities
The modern way of earning extra money isn’t just about going to get a part-time job somewhere; there are things you can do from the comfort of your own home. If you are struggling with debt, or you are fed up of living month to month, finding ways to build up extra finances at home is a lifesaver. For example, there are plenty of survey sites that you can make money from. But this is the tip of the iceberg, you may find other methods that suit your lifestyle. For example, matched betting. It’s one of those ways of earning a lot of money in a short space of time. Because there are so many resources online that can help, such as Oddsmonkey, you don’t need to feel out of your depth. Something like matched betting sounds like a gamble. But the idea behind it is that you are using the free bet that many betting exchanges give to you. Take inspiration from the numerous resources out there, especially those websites that are geared towards students to earn money in their spare time. There are so many little ways to make money, especially at home.
Lifestyle Changes
This is something that we try to avoid like the plague! But the fact of the matter is, when we are struggling financially, checking our lifestyle choices is the best way to truly have a perspective of our expenditure. Lifestyle changes, not just in terms of utility bills, but the food we eat, can help us to plan ahead. One of the biggest things that we can all do to save money is to plan ahead. We can do this by budgeting, especially in terms of the thing we consume every day: food. Planning our meals is a fantastic method to save money. Especially now, when we look at the fact that people are trying to minimise waste. You can make food go further using simple tactics. And when you start to look at what we’ve got and how we can make this go further, this means that we automatically save money, and don’t go out and buy fresh food every single time. There are so many different things to do. You can batch cook meals, you can bulk buy, but also, you can start to think about ways to buy cheaper produce. It’s all about those lifestyle changes.
And this is something we are incredibly reticent to take on board because it requires major change. The trick to achieving this is to change one thing at a time. If you want to save money on your food, purchasing a cheaper brand of your favourite foodstuff is one step in the right direction. After a while, you can start to look at your bank statements, see where everything goes, in terms of your gym memberships and so forth, and find cheaper alternatives. When we start to chip away at things like that, by altering our lifestyle, we can feel this overriding sense of achievement. Changing our lifestyle can sound grim but this is only when we are making massive changes. We have to remember that when we are struggling financially, one little change at a time will not make it seem so difficult.
Struggling financially is something we’re all going through in one way or another. Rising prices, uncertainty over the future, as well as a feeling of unease means that we live under a cloud of trepidation. And when we struggle financially, we start to feel powerless. Part of reclaiming this is taking control, by making the right changes.