If you’ve ever been short on funds and unable to afford the expenses that lie between paychecks, you know just how critical it is to have a financial backup plan. Unfortunately, sometimes no matter how hard you try to save money or how mindful you are with your monthly spending, you can still find yourself in with a drained bank account, incoming bills to pay, and days out from your next paycheck.
Should you find yourself in this financially stressful situation, refer to these five tips to help you stretch your last paycheck.
1. Make Budgeting a Habit
Hopefully, you’re already in the habit of creating a monthly budget. Go the extra mile to ensure you’re spending money as wisely as possible by creating a micro budget for each day. Not only does coming up with a daily budget help you keep a close eye on your finances, but it also reduces your chances of making a costly mistakes like eating out two too many times, splurging on unnecessary groceries, or taking spendy shopping trips.
If you live in a two-income household, make an effort to sit down with your partner at the end of the day to discuss your current account balance. Record the day’s spending like how you financed meals (did you go out to lunch or take from home?) and any other expenditures made. During this financial “check-in” you might also want to talk about things like the next day’s spendings, what your financial goals are for the next few days, and what changes can be made within your daily budgets to boost savings.
2. Make some extra money
There are a lot of ways to make some extra cash between paychecks. For starters, consider getting a side gig or part-time job outside of your day-to-day work to supplement your monthly or weekly paycheck. A few ideas to consider include:
- Start your own blog
- Sell furniture or belongings you no longer need
- Get a banquet serving job
- Find a marketable skill you can sell to others
As helpless as being tight on money can feel, make an honest, creative effort to find additional ways to bring in money.
Remember, too, that getting a different job is also an option for boosting your monthly salary and increasing your ability to build savings. Along with searching for a job that pays well, you should make it a goal to find an occupation in which you feel fulfilled. By doing something you love, you’ll likely find it easier to make a living that’s conducive to your lifestyle.
3. Frequently compare your intentions and reality
Practically everyone is guilty of setting realistic financial goals only to completely shatter them in the end. Whether you go to the store with the intent to purchase $100 worth of groceries and leave with over $200 worth of food or set aside $50 worth of gas money each week only to spend twice that by the end of the month, this type of common pitfall can quickly throw a wrench into your budget. Just as you should make and revisit a daily budget, you should also make a point to regularly compare your projected, expected expenses against how much you ultimately spend.
4. Live lean
Perhaps one of the quickest, most effective ways to stretch your paycheck is to find different facets of your expenses that can be eliminated from the budget. Things like rarely-used gym memberships and online or magazine subscriptions may not seem like a serious financial demand, but you’d probably be surprised to see just how much extra money you can save each month simply by “trimming the fat” off your regular expenditures.
5. Change your mindset
For some people, biting their fingernails is a really bad habit. As someone who frequently faces financial stress between paychecks, perhaps irresponsible spending is your bad habit; or maybe you have a tendency to get behind on bills. Whatever your monetary vice might be, by improving the way you think about money, the greater your chances are of breaking these damaging habits. Work with a financial expert to learn more about smart financing or commit to changing one or two bad money habits per month. From setting aside excess funds when they’re available to making significant improvements on budgeting practices, adjusting the way you think about and view money can be the difference between barely getting by each month and living in good financial health.
While these five tips can undoubtedly help you stretch your pennies, sometimes they don’t offer the ideal solution if you need immediate financial assistance. With a short-term loan approval from Power Finance Texas, you can have access to the money you need, when you need it. Get pre-approved today and start working your way toward financial happiness.