One of the worst things that can happen in today’s day in age is suffering a financial hardship with no plan in sight.
This isn’t to shame people who don’t plan – sometimes, things happen that are out of your control. In fact, only about 4 out of 10 Americans have an emergency fund.
Whether it’s being fired from your job, getting into an accident, going through a divorce, or a plethora of other stressful and traumatic situations, financial hardship is a burden that many may have to go through.
As unfortunate as that sounds, there are steps you can take that will help you through this trying time.
Evaluate Your Situation
It can seem easy to just hit the panic button and immediately go to code red. Unfortunately, that can do more than good in your situation.
The one thing you’re going to want to do is to sit down, open all those letters, look at your bills, and face your situation head-on.
Figure out what exactly is the cause of your situation; what was the catalyst that started this whole financial crisis in your life.
Was it getting laid off from your job? Are you going through a divorce? Figure out what’s causing your situation and write it down. From here, you can then focus on tackling the situation head-on.
Prioritize Expenses
What do you think is more important: keeping your fridge full or maintaining your various tv streaming subscriptions?
Not all bills are created equally and figuring out which payments are more important is going to be a situation you’re going to have to become familiar with.
The best thing to do is take a step back, remove yourself from the situation (meaning don’t make everything personally important), and figure out what’s a necessity and what isn’t.
It may be hard to get rid of something that you’re used to having, but these aren’t normal times and you don’t have money to spare.
There’s no point in struggling to pay for a necessity just to keep your monthly blind box subscription going.
One thing to remember is to look for things that you can cut out completely. Maybe you don’t need the most expensive satellite package or the best cell phone plan.
Making a sandwich for lunch instead of going out for Happy Hour can save you quite a few bucks a month…
Continue reading the article and learn more about personal finance on Daisy Linden’s blog.