5 Frugal Tips To Get You Through Hardship 
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Sometimes when things seem to be going smoothly, things can take a turn for the worse.
A single event can turn your life upside down.
One day you’re living comfortably with little worry about money and the next you are panicking about where you’re going to find money for next month’s bills.
These times will really test your true character, but they will also test your frugality. With any luck you will have savings to delve into, but unfortunately that isn’t always the case. So what do you do if you don’t have that safety net?
Reducing Regular Monthly Expenses
Right away you need to take a close look at where you are spending money each month. It may be easiest to start with the regular monthly expenses, such as utilities, cable tv, fees from bank accounts you may own, cell phone bills, etc. Chances are you can find ways to cut spending on many of those things by downgrading your monthly plans. If unsure, give the company a call and ask how they can help out. Some may even have a leniency period for when people are going through such periods.
It is much better to make arrangement beforehand rather than just not paying those bills when they do show up. If at all possible, you want to avoid the situation from affecting your credit.
Cutting Back On Food Spending
Money spent on food gets its own category because it is usually the area where people can cut back on spending the most. First of all, you need to accept that dining out is just not an option for now. You may try to justify that your fast food meal is cheaper than what you can make at home, but that is very rarely the case.
It doesn’t necessarily mean you should be only eating macaroni & cheese or instant noodles. You might want to mix those options into your diet more for now though. Really, there are lots of different meals that can be cooked at home for less than $5 per serving. There are many blogs dedicated specifically to low priced home cooking and it is mostly fairly healthy meals.
Cutting back on food spending also means paying more attention to prices at grocery stores. Try to get items on sale and use the generic brands. Avoid the more expensive foods until you can ride out the hardship.
Selling Possessions
Most people seem to have a tough time giving up all the possessions they accumulate over time. Even if it is just sitting in their closet untouched for months, they feel a sense of attachment to that possession.
The common excuse to not selling those items is that they won’t get back anywhere close to what they paid. That shouldn’t matter when you don’t even really need that item though. The cash you can get for it will go a long ways towards paying your bills during a hardship.
So get on craigslist or ebay and sell your unnecessary cds, video games, clothing, jewelry and household items. Even though you no longer use those possessions, there may be someone out there willing to pay top dollar.
Developing Side Income
To dig yourself out of that hole, cutting spending may not be enough. To get that foothold you need, it might be necessary to find a way to bring in extra income.
Many people take to the internet to develop side income streams, but most of those strategies will not develop fast enough to truly get you out of your hardship. If you’ve got writing or design skills, you could try to land some freelance gigs. Or you could use online classified sites like craigslist to land random side income opportunities.
Depending on your skill set, you might be better suited to just take on a part time job in the evenings. Some people take a 2nd job as a server in a restaurant or deliver pizzas. Even something like delivering newspapers can add a chunk of money to help you get by until you get back on your feet.
Budgeting To Save Further
If the above strategies are not enough for your circumstances, you might need to dig a little deeper into your spending to trim the fat. Try online budgeting software such as Mint to record all of your spending. Once it’s all split up into categories you can get a much better idea of where you might be spending too much money.
For some people they might be spending too much on entertainment. If your hardship is particularly tough, that may be something you have to drastically scale back on. Instead find inexpensive entertainment that can keep your happy.
If clothes shopping is your vice, try to limit that as much as possible. When you do need clothes, try the thrift stores or check ebay for good deals.
The smaller purchases like coffee can add up a lot too. So consider switching to home brewed or at least from a less expensive coffee shop.
What kind of strategies would you use if you were struck with a financial hardship? Is your main focus saving on expenses or earning more income?
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My main focus is earning more income. There’s only so much that you can cut, so I’d rather make more money.
That does usually result in a much more substantial increase. Also it may allow you to maintain the comfortable lifestyle that you are accustomed to.
That’s exactly what I was going to say, Michelle! All of these methods are great, but there’s only so much you can cut your spending. Earning a side income can allow you to get out or stay out of debt, or build your wealth.
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Earning more income is the smart strategy, but if you can also save money at the same time, you’d be even better off.
Unfortunately for me, I had to, and still do, use every single one of these strategies to survive financial hardship! After surviving a $1.6 million dollar bankruptcy, foreclosure, short-sale, tax liens, and much more, you learn real quickly what you need to do to keep you and your family afloat! And that’s after using up over $100,000 dollars in liquid savings!
My focus became arithmetic! Yes, I said arithmetic; meaning I needed the numbers to add up. Simply put, I needed more coming in, than was going out! I hustled every which way I could to generate income. We sold everything that we didn’t need. At first, partly because of pride and ego, we pawned jewelry, watches – you name it, we pawned it! But after losing those items because we couldn’t make the pawn payments, we started selling them instead.
When I finally woke up, got my head out of my ass, and realized this was worse than I wanted to believe, we had yard sales, we banded together with other families whom we knew that were going through similar tough times (and there were many) and started exchanging clothing and other items. We stopped going out and cooking so there would be leftover for days!
We started buying and selling used on Craigslist. We started making clothing purchases at Goodwill. We made family outings to the library for books and movies a regular thing. We have undergone a “paradigm” shift with our mindset as a family! We have changed the definition of what’s important to us and have adopted the motto of “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”. And you know what? We’re the better for it.
In this next go-round of being “back on top” financially (and we’ll get there) we will live the same way we are now to make sure we can survive ANY financial storm that may arise and to me, that’s the most important part of surviving; learning from it and making sure it doesn’t happen again once you recover!
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Thanks for sharing your story Lou. It sounds like you went through some pretty tough times. You’re right that you’ll be better after having gone through it. I’m sure it makes you really appreciate what you do have and find ways to be content without spending a lot. Knowing a lot of other families going through similar times probably made it a little easier. Then you had someone to relate to and share strategies. I’d think it would be much tougher when all of your acquaintances are still doing very well and it becomes an embarrassing problem.
Sorry for the late reply but I’ve switched my email to outlook and for some reason, all the Modest Money Reply’s went to junk mail. Just found an interview request from credit.com and almost fell off my chair
Any-who, at the end of the day Jeremy, It is what it is…but will become what I make it! Thanks for the response and I’ll keep on reading!
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I consider my blog to be my part time job to earn some extra income and pay off those bills. It’s a pretty good feeling working at your own pace you know?
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I feel the same way about my blog, but it does take a while to build up a profitable blog. So if people feel that their finances are volatile, they should probably work on building multiple income streams asap. They can also adjust to tighter spending now so that it isn’t a sudden shock later.
I’m with Michelle on this one. I have made all the cut backs that I am willing to make just now (to still live comfortably) so I am all about making more money. As I climb the corporate ladder I will continue to develop my side hustle (savvyscot) and potentially look into others!
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It sounds like both of you are doing well financially which I’m sure plays into that mindset. It’s a lot tougher to cut back on spending when it doesn’t feel completely necessary.
Just last night I realized we still have books from undergrad so I put them on Amazon. One of them sold this morning for $168! Tips my husband & I used as broke newlyweds fresh out of college: Pack our lunch, rent movies from the libary & watch TV shows on hulu.com (no TV/cable in our home), simplest data plan for phones, got an apartment by hubby’s work so we can share one car, never used air conditioning (lots of nights with the mattress on the living room floor!)
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Those college period saving tactics can come in pretty handy during any kind of financial hardship. It sounds like you used some solid strategies. Living close to work is an especially good tip. That way you can save a ton of money on gas. In some cases it might even eliminate the need for owning a car.
These are all great tips for someone who’s employed. But I think most people that are struggling through tough times have lost their jobs, in which situation some of these tips wouldn’t apply. I’ve been in this position personally and my main focus was to find employment because spending was already non-existent (ie no food, no cable bills, no phone, no cell etc…)
That is true Veronica. A major hardship probably would be a situation with no job. In that case finding some kind of full time employment would be the number one priority. Finding ways to save money in the meantime could help though.
I’d absolutely do a combination of both. Selling things around the house is a great way to cover a few bills or build up your emergency fund, but typically there are only a limited number of things you can get rid of. Working an extra job (or 3) would be where I’d look to go help most with the situation. I currently have a friend working two full-time jobs. I’m not really sure when he sleeps but he’s doing what he has to do right now.
Wow working 2 full time jobs would be pretty intense. He must’ve been in a pretty tough situation to resort to that. I do have to give him credit for making that kind of sacrifice though. Increasing income is the best way to deal with situations like this asap.
Great tips! I like that you gave food its own category because there are so many ways to reduce your spending on food, that just aren’t available in other areas (your mortgage or rent are pretty much fixed, for instance).
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I know with my personal situation food was where I was wasting the most money. When finances are doing well, we tend to slack off in that area and just buy what we like. It is so easy to cut back on that spending when necessary though.
Well I can very much relate to this post and have had to utilize every option listed here. I do struggle with anxiety and depression, and it has prevented me from working for over a year, therefore, cutting my budget drastically was necessary. My dad was able to convince Rogers to reduce my cell phone bill during this time, but this was NOT an easy feat. It took him several stern phone calls before we had any success. It certainly isn’t easy, but going through hard times financially, really changes you entire perspective on money and can better prepare you for the future.
It sounds like your dad was quite persistent with them. Good to hear they finally caved in the end. I have dealt with anxiety and depression issues myself, but luckily I always had my online business to fall back upon. This latest time I had to start finding ways to cut my budget too. Now I feel like if I were in this situation again I’d be so much better prepared.
I have done some of these things, but the brutal reality of my work income can’t be relied on under any circumstance.
I haven’t resorted to having to sell anything, but my own personal financial austerity has always been a big part of who I am.
Only now that my investing strategies are maturing that I for once in my life am starting to see a consistent monthly income.
Yeah I guess a starving artist would know all about this kind of stuff. In an industry like that you would totally have to learn to adapt to fluctuating finances and prepare for periods of limited income. Good to hear that your investment strategies are easing that problem.
I’ve cut out spending to get by and have also sold some things to help pay the bills. It was hard to sell some stuff, but once I boxed it up, I really didn’t miss it that much. Plus, I tried to take the emotion out of the equation. I thought that I never use the item anymore so it’s earning me 0%. I could sell it and pay down some debt and immediately see a positive return on it.
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The emotion is the tough part for many people when it comes to selling things. An unused item could still have sentimental value that they don’t want to give up. Are those sentiments worth taking longer to get out of the hole though?
Side income is definitely a nice addition in rough times. Just make sure it doesn’t come at the cost of increasing your main income more!
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That’s a good point Lance. If you put too much energy into building up side income you might avoid overtime at work or not put 100% into your day job. You have to find the right balance where you are still able to keep increasing your main income at the same time.
If I was in a tough situation developing sources of side income would definitely be where I would focus a lot of effort. Learn some basic SEO and web development (just Google free courses) and you could do all sorts of tasks that are quick and easy. Sites like Fiverr or eLance would probably be able to brings you loads of work quickly and easily. Sure, the pay wouldn’t be great but you can do the extra work any time in the day and quickly start adding a little extra to the bottom line. If you have another job bringing in some income it should at least give the extra push you need to get over the wall and escape tough times.
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I wouldn’t recommend people just trying to jump into SEO or web development suddenly when times are tough. It would take a while to develop those skills enough to profit for them or to be able to offer those services on a freelance basis. It is possible to learn that stuff online though. The key would be to start learning those things before you actually need them. That way you’d have enough time to practice putting those skills to use and possibly build up your own blog or website.
You’re right that you wouldn’t likely be able to do any major work or have a serious side income in the short-term from SEO and web development if you were just starting. My thinking was more about just getting a bit of extra cash from doing the really easy stuff.
Things like making forum comments are popular on Fiverr, or manually making social bookmarks for someone. You could pretty easily do gigs within a day or two of learning how to do that stuff and although it wouldn’t be serious income those $5 tasks could add up and help out in a pinch.
Then from there you could continue to learn and increase you skills and potentially turn it into something far bigger down the road.
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I agree that those kinds of tasks would be easy enough to learn and get paid for. It will likely be less money than a part time job would produce, but the extra bit could help a lot. Really most SEO tasks are quite easy enough to learn. The tricky part is combining all of those strategies in an effective manner.
The nice thing is that you wouldn’t be limited in terms of what time of day you did this type of work. So you could still have a part-time or full-time job but could use some spare time after work to make a bit of extra cash if you desperately needed it.
There aren’t many ways to bring in some extra income that are as time-flexible as this sort of freelance work which is what would make it so useful if you’re in a difficult situation.
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The flexibility is a huge bonus. For most side jobs you do have to still work a specific schedule that can be tough to combine with your current job. Plus if things get harry you can cut back your hours a lot easier.
When times get tight, Jeremy.. You need to find ways to generate additional income.. This is a skill that everyone needs to have, but I only recently developed in the last few years.
With proper budgeting, you can identify the need ahead of time, and do the needful.
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You and Michelle seem to be off to a good start with your blog so far. I’m sure that will help a lot with getting out of debt and then paying off your mortgage. Too many people just assume that their finances are secure and don’t feel the need to pursue additional income sources.
I think Mrs.CBB and I have always been worried about something going wrong that we always needed a buffer “just in case”. If we had to we would also sell items we don’t need or haven’t used in a while. We would also cut our grocery budget further maybe by eating less meat. We would have to cut our investments and trim the budget anywhere we can.
We have a mate who keeps running into hard times and currently has less than 50% of what she had 3 years ago in terms of what “stuff” she had in her life. She has to keep selling stuff to make money. Anything can happen at any moment, even disability, illness or job loss and we all need to be prepared. Mr.CBB
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Ouch that would be frustrating to keep falling upon hard times. Hopefully she is able to get back on proper footing before needing to keep selling more stuff. Eating less meat is an interesting point to mention. People are so used to eating meat with their dinners that they don’t consider how cheaper their meals could be without it.
If I knew today that my job income was gone. I would do anything I could legally do to make money. Luckily, with my training and background, I could probably do fill in work. I might have to travel around, but that would be OK. I could also teach anatomy or biology. It seems the community colleges here are always looking for science instructors. We are working hard right now to build some different streams of income to prevent all the eggs being in one basket. Worst case scenerio, we could sell our house and move into a cheaper place. Real estate never hit the high peak here like in some places, but we also never hit the slump either. Being proactive and not sticking your head in the sand is the most important thing, though. You really don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself if you get in that situation.
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Sounds like a pretty solid backup plan to me. It is convenient to have in demand skills that can be used in more temporary positions if necessary. In a tough situation I could probably resort to something like that and pursue SEO contracts more aggressively. Having a house that you could sell if absolutely needed is a nice extra safety net too. I doubt you’ll ever have to resort to that, especially with how you are taking steps to pursue alternate income.
When I first started working on my finances I did a combination of budgeting and making more money through 2nd and 3rd jobs. Later, that was refined through cost-cutting and more efficient grocery shopping and cooking. But by far, the biggest help was simply making more money and spending less than what I made :p
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Working a 3rd job is pretty hardcore, but I’m sure it helped a lot with improving your finances. It sounds like those financial habits have carried forward even though you are in a more comfortable financial position now. I’m always impressed by what I hear about you cooking for such reasonable prices.
There was a point early in my marriage when ramen and peanut butter were about all we could afford. Times were pretty lean back then.
One website I’ve found that is a great resource for cheap recipes is 5dollardinners.com
Does ramen and peanut butter go together? I can’t say I’ve ever gotten to the point where my diet was that restricted, but I did mix in lots of macaroni and cheese when money was tighter. That website you mentioned was exactly what I was thinking when I wrote the section about saving money on food. I haven’t actually checked it out much though.
Not particularly. I meant that I mostly alternated between the two as my meals. Now corn chips, THEY got with ramen. When I finish my cookbook for college students, I’ll be including that recipe.
Corn chips and ramen noodles? Interesting combo. I could see the crunch going well with the noodles.
I find limiting food expenses to be the most helpful. I save a ton of money by packing lunches and cooking breakfast and dinner – to the point where I rarely spend more than $100 on groceries a month. I know this isn’t possible for everyone, but has been my number one key to keeping costs low.
Damn under $100 in groceries each month while preparing all your meals?! That’s quite impressive. Earlier this year I was keeping my food expenses very low, but I’m sure it was still a lot more than that.
I think it is important to consider means to develop side income, just as you mention. Having greater control over your income is great, even when times are not lean, but is critical during a rough patch. BTW, we’re good at budgeting; however, we typically haven’t sold a ton of stuff.
Most people can find some kind of way to develop a side income, but it does need to be based on a person’s specific skillset and time available. Not everyone can jump into a certain side business and expect it to automatically be a good fit for them. As for selling stuff, I think that is more a of a last resort when other strategies are not enough. Still it might be a good idea to periodically look around for stuff to sell even if just to reduce clutter.
Ask for help, too. Not handouts. But if you’re up to your eyeballs in debt and are having trouble increasing your income, see if you can get a reputable debt consolidation company to help you restructure your debts and lower your interest rates. As long as you use a reputable company, this can work to your benefit and your credit card company’s.
Great point about seeking outside help. For some people that may be a real necessity otherwise their debt payments are just covering interest charges. If they can help lower your interest rate, I don’t see why more people don’t pursue that option.
Having family around can be a big help also. Instead of cooking a big meal, ask everyone to bring one dish for an inexpensive potluck!
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Family would be sure to want to help out when you’re in a pinch. So that would probably work out quite well. You’d likely even end up with plenty of leftovers.
We’re using these tips now in preparation of financial hardship. I think the reducing monthly expenses was probably our biggest success so far. When combining that with the other tips the safety net gets bigger quickly.
If financial hardship did strike we have a couple monthly expenses that survived the preventative cuts that would be on the chopping block. After that I would be looking for any work I could find to fill the gap before another full-time opportunity could be found.
Good idea to prepare for possible future financial hardship. That will make your money stretch further now and make a transition easier. You do need a much smaller safety net when you already know how to reduce your monthly expenses. Finding work during tough times is the most important part, but in the current economy that is pretty tough.
If it’s an immediate hardship that looks like it may only be temporary, I would focus mostly on cutting expenses. That can be done very quickly. But if it looks like it’s going to be a longer lasting hardship, you also have to look to other ways of generating income.
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Yes cutting expenses can have a much more immediate effect on your finances while increasing income usually takes a lot longer to build up. It depends on what kind of ways you can build up side income though. For some people it’s just a matter of finding some contract work or casual work hours.
I’ve always have felt that it is important to know a trade, so that employer or no, there are work options. My wife is currently out of work, so she is starting up a music studio. It would be a long time before she replaces income, but every little bit helps.
Yes a trade definitely helps or at least have some kind of specialty that you can focus on. Good luck to your wife with her music studio.
We are currently working on building our income streams and selling stuff. We have some decluttering to do and we would like to sell the items we don’t need. Hopefully we can make a few bucks.
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That’s true that some money making strategies actually have other benefits such as decluttering. It seems you’re doing well with the other income streams such as your blog.
I believe earning more income automatically spurs spending. It’s a psychological trick: having the confidence that you can afford it, you start to spend more in certain categories like food, entertainment, clothing. For me the best approach would be to try to cut back on expenses and increase earnings simultaneously. Either way, a well-planned budget is absolutely essential if you want to achieve your goals and overcome your financial hardships.
Yep there’s a lot of truth behind the lifestyle inflation theory. People often want to reward themselves when they have more money coming in. It’s only natural for spending to increase. So if you want increased income to substantially help, you’re right, you also need to manage your spending.
Everyone goes through hardships and often it is because you failed to get your spending under control in the past. It is often said that it doesn’t matter what you make, it matters how much you save. So, no matter how much money you make, you need to effectively manage your money to get the most out of it.
Very true…if you were properly managing your money in the first place, a lot of those hardships can be avoided completely.