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How to budget on a low income

Money
 Make a note of all your financial obligations (Photo: Shutterstock)

Budgeting while your entire life is already on a budget is twice as hard. You might have come across those saving tips that give you unrealistic goals and that is quite stressful to say the least.

Luckily, you can still achieve your money goals even when you don’t make that much. Before you dismiss this as those too good to be true types of articles, hear me out first.

Besides, most people don’t have millions in the bank so these tips apply to more people than you think. Here’s how to make your ‘little’ money go a long way. 

Start with a clean slate

If you have a record of loans, you need to clear them first. It’s hard to move on when you owe people money because you can’t really know how much you’ll be left with in the end.

Another thing you should sort out if you haven’t are your taxes. It’s risky to abscond this because one day everything could fall apart when you’re late on your payments.

Loans and taxes are two of the most crucial areas to deal with in order to have healthy finances in the long run.

Make budgeting a lifestyle

You have to be committed to the lifestyle of budgeting in order to attain your financial goals. Don’t just be satisfied with making rough estimates when it comes to your spending because that will easily cause you to spend way more than you can afford.

Start adopting the weekly or monthly budgets and be consistent from now on.

Monitor your spending

Budgets are meant to help you stay within your limit which is a good thing, but there are times when random expenses will come up.

What you can do, on top of budgeting is track your spending habits.

You’ll get a clear view of what you need to change or plan for.

Always look for saving opportunities

Deals and sales are your best friend when you’re running on low income. You’d be surprised at how many saving opportunities you’ll find if you just take time to look around. Many people usually ignore these chances and they end up paying full price when they could have easily gotten amazing deals.

Be on the lookout for coupons and the 2 for 1 deals to ensure you never run completely broke.

Cut on the draining expenses

It’s time to really assess your lifestyle and make changes where necessary. You might be paying huge bills, spending too much on groceries or even dealing with car maintenance expenses you struggle to keep up with.

This is the opportunity to revise these areas so that you can make adjustments. Embrace things like fuel saving hacks, watch how you consume water and electricity at home and spend wisely when it comes to grocery shopping.

I can assure you that there are many interesting ways you can save a few coins.

It’s also important to take preventative measures like taking care of your teeth and health so you can escape costly hospital bills in future. You can imagine how tough it will be landing in hospital over something you could have avoided.

Basically, when you’re living on low income you can’t afford to be careless. Make sure that you immediately start living your life wisely by securing what you have control over for now.

Include a side hustle

It won’t hurt to consider increasing your income. This will keep you out of that place where you have nothing left to survive on after paying the bills and taking care of what you need to.

If you’re earning too little to save, it’s a signs that you need to expand your career options a little more.

This will give you an opportunity to secure your finances now and in future.

International Literacy Day is coming up. When was the last time you read a book?

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