Search Results for: budget

How to Stay Afloat after Losing Your Job

January 6, 2020 By Susan Paige Leave a Comment

Losing your job is a really hard thing to face at any time, whether you saw it coming or not. You likely feel very overwhelmed with thoughts of how you are going to make rent next month or afford groceries next week. But it is important to keep a clear head and act fast to set yourself up for success as soon as possible so you can find new work.

Here are a few important steps that you should take within the first few days to week of your unemployment. They should help stabilize you and get you feeling sane enough to do what you need to do to find a new job.

First Step: Apply for Unemployment

If you qualify for it, make sure to start filing your unemployment claim on the day you lose your job. You may feel overwhelmed by the whole situation, but it’s worth it to start filing as soon as you can. The process to receive unemployment can sometimes take a few weeks.

Second Step: Look at What Savings You Have

Take a moment to look at what you have saved. Take inventory of your different accounts and what severance you may have gotten so you know how much you have and how long that might last you. For this type of situation, you can also dip into your emergency fund as losing your job unexpectedly definitely counts as an emergency.

Third Step: Tighten Your Budget

Now that you have a better idea of what actual cold hard cash you have at your disposal before you are able to obtain a new source of income, you can plan out a tightened budget. Yes, it’s not pleasant, but cutting a few costs out of your budget for the next few months won’t kill you. Temporarily cut out all the expenses that aren’t essential, like subscriptions, gym memberships, cable, coffee, eating out, etc. By tightening the wallet, you ensure that your savings last until you are able to find a new job.

Forth Step: Look After Your Debt

Next you should try to contact any creditors that you may have. If you reach out to them, they will be much more likely to help you out during a financial crisis. Lenders may offer options that could reduce or temporarily suspend your payments until you are employed again. The same goes for your student loans. If you call your student loan servicer, you could likely choose from several different options like deferment, forbearance, or an income-based repayment plan.

If you really don’t have enough savings to get you through this time, then maybe you need a loan to cover you until your unemployment kicks in. Whether you get a personal loan, credit union loan, title loan, or anything else, make sure you do your research so you’re aware of what you are getting yourself into before making any final financial decisions in the heat of the moment.

Get these things in order and then make job hunting your new full-time job. Following these steps is a sure-fire way to make things happen quickly. With determination and hard work, you won’t be unemployed for long and then you can get your finances back in order.

Image source: Eric Ferdinand

5 Easy Ways to Cut Electric and Gas Expenses

January 2, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

If you’d like to find a little extra money in your budget to put toward savings or toward debt repayment, take a close look at your budget and your daily living habits. Chances are, you can make small changes such as these 5 easy ways to cut electric and gas expenses that can free up a little money without making significant changes to your lifestyle.

Run Major Appliances at Night

Call your electric company to find out when “peak” energy usage days and times are. If you run major appliances such as washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers during off-peak times, you may be charged a lower rate, lowering your overall electric bill. Some companies automatically have these peak and off peak times while others require that you sign up for a special program to take advantage of the lower rates during off peak times.

Lower Your Furnace Temperature in the Winter

How low can you go? If you normally set your thermostat at 70 degrees in the winter, try to go down to 68 or 69. You might not notice much of a difference, but you will see a decrease in your heating bill. Each winter try to lower the temperature another degree until you reach the point where you’re uncomfortable, and then move up a bit.

Raise Your A/C Temperature in the Summer

Just like your furnace temperature in the winter, raise your air conditioner temperature in the summer. We started out with our air conditioner set at 78 degrees, raised it to 79 the next year, and then 80 the year after that. We found 80 a bit uncomfortable, so we settled at 79. Just moving the temperature up a degree in our hot Arizona summers made a $50 to $75 difference in our air conditioning bill, depending on the month.

Use a Programmable Thermostat

5 Easy Ways to Cut Electric and Gas Expenses — Photo by Dan LeFebvre on Unsplash

A less uncomfortable way to save on your electric or gas is to invest in a programmable thermostat. When you’re going to be out of the house, lower the temperature for heat or raise it for air conditioning, and then program it to go back to the normal temperature that you usually have it on 30 minutes before you’re to arrive home. At night, you might lower the heat, too. You won’t have to do anything once you program the thermostat, but you’ll be saving money.

Unplug Small Appliances When Not in Use

The easiest way to do this is to have them all on the same power strip and simply unplug it when you’re not using the appliances. If you don’t want to put them on a power strip, simply unplug each appliance when not in use. For instance, we have a printer that we use only once or twice a week. This would be an easy appliance to unplug when not in use. You’ll see a small reduction in your electricity bill because even when appliances are not in use but are plugged in, they take energy.

If you’re utility bills are higher than you would like, these 5 easy ways to cut electric and gas expenses can help you save money, giving you more money to use elsewhere in the budget.

What other ways would you suggest to save money on electric and gas bills? Have you noticed a difference using any of the above strategies?

How To Prepare Your Teens to Live On Their Own

December 30, 2019 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Sure, you love your children, but there’s no doubt that raising them is expensive. Many parents miss their kids when they move out, but they’re glad to be rid of a heavy financial obligation. . .unless the adult child moves back in. Suddenly, aging parents may find themselves paying for Junior again, negatively affecting their finances. One of the best ways to guard against that is to make sure Junior is ready to responsibly handle his finances when he flies the coop.

Since our son was about 12 years old, he has been eagerly anticipating moving out and living on his own when he turns 18. We want to make sure that when he does move out (whether that’s at 18 or a year or two later), that he can live independently and sustainably. These are some of the skills we’re working on.

How to Prepare Your Teens To Live On Their Own

There are some essential skills your child should master before moving out of the home:

Have a Strong Work Ethic

Some teens leave the nest never having worked a job or done chores around the house. Kids who leave home without a strong work ethic are less likely to successfully transition from childhood to adulthood, meaning they have a higher chance of ending up back at home.

Teach children from the time they’re young to work for the things they want. This becomes even more important as they reach the teen years. Rather than just give your child $20 when she wants to head to the movies with friends, make her work for her money by doing a job around the house or helping a neighbor with a task.

Budget and Handle Money Responsibly

Many an adult child has moved back home saddled with debt from the college years. To avoid this, in the high school years, teach your child how to budget. Show her how you budget for the family and have her create her own budget with the money she earns from an allowance or part-time job. Teach her to save for an emergency fund and to save for upcoming expenses.

Just as important as teaching her how to budget is to teach her how to use money responsibly. One way to do start doing this is to give your 13 or 14 year-old child the money you would normally spend for her clothes for the season. Let your child buy her own clothes with the money, and she will start learning how far a dollar stretches. Another way to do this is to let her buy her own food.

Buy and Cook Food

How to Prepare Your Teens to Live on Their Own — Photo by Andy Chilton on Unsplash

When our son was 15.5 years old, we decided to give him a weekly grocery budget and let him do all of his own grocery shopping and cooking. This has been interesting to watch. The first few weeks, he ate too many carbs because they were cheap and he thought they would fill him up, which he quickly found to not be true.

The next few weeks, he had a meat heavy diet, which left him feeling sluggish.

The weeks after that, he started finding healthy recipes with balanced nutrition. He did all of this with minimal input from us. He learned by doing and experiencing.

Plus, he’s learning not only how to grocery shop wisely, but also how to meal plan and cook, essential skills for when he leaves the home.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, there are many steps to get a teen ready to leave the nest, but right now in our family, we’re focusing on these three as they seem most important for a teen to be able to successfully live on their own.

What suggestions would you add for how to prepare your teens to live on their own?