Lifehack logo

10 Money-Saving Hacks to Help You Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

If you want to quit living paycheck to paycheck, you must think outside the box and figure out how to be the master of your finances.

By Alin BoicuPublished 2 years ago 8 min read
Like

You are more intelligent than you give yourself credit for.

10. Pay off your debts.

Did you know that if you don’t have debts to pay, you can save money and become financially independent? Living in debt month after month can derail your finances and cause you to live from paycheck to paycheck because you’re always paying them off.

For example, if you owe someone $1,000, you have to pay them off immediately after your paycheck arrives, which puts a big debt in your finances and prevents you from making a proper budget, which causes you to spend Paying off your debt means that all of the money you earn goes to you, allowing you to arrange your budget correctly and have enough money to last until the end of the month.

9. Establish a savings account

While there is nothing wrong with wanting to have fun, we spend exorbitant amounts of money trying to have the best time of our lives without saving money that can shelter us from a rainy day.

However, while you are stuck between living only once and saving money, your frugal friend is on his way to financial freedom because he decided to forego the YOLO craze and save his money. After paying off your bills, having a savings account is the next best thing. This is due to the fact that the money you save in your bank account remains yours until you decide to become as altruistic as some of the world’s most frugal billionaires, such as Chuck Feeney, who is today worth $2 million, down from 7.5 billion in 2012.

Having money in your account helps you avoid the financial difficulties that come with living paycheck to paycheck and allows you to achieve financial freedom.

We have a question for you: would you rather live paycheck to paycheck or accumulate money so you don’t have to work when you’re 80? We know which one we’d pick.

8. Earn more than one source of money.

According to Maya Angela, you can’t use up creativity; the more you use it, the more you have. Being creative and maximizing your talents can take you from living paycheck to paycheck to earning a decent side income every month when your paycheck is insufficient and you find yourself spending all of your income without saving a dime.

Having a side hustle allows you to earn extra money that can help you forget that you have a paycheck, which is a good thing. Imagine being able to save all of your income and you’d be well on your way to becoming a millionaire. For example, if you earn $5,000 per month and save it all, you’d have $600,000 saved up in ten years, and the best part is you’re not drastically changing your lifestyle to make it happen because you have another job.

You can also start a blog or create a best-selling novel, and who knows, your novels might become the next Bourne trilogy. Whatever you’re excellent at, do it for money as well as for fun, and living paycheck to paycheck would be a thing of the past.

7. Automatically save

Many financial experts urge you to save money before you spend it, but they don’t tell you that it’s not as simple as it sounds. Humans rely on quick satisfaction, which encourages them to spend the money they have on hand, which can be difficult when it comes to manually depositing funds.

Saving automatically is the best way to deposit your savings because it ensures that as soon as your paycheck arrives, the amount you have decided to save is automatically deducted and transferred to your savings account. For example, if you earn $5,000 and want to save 15% of that amount, it is automatically deducted from your check and transferred to your savings account without you as the middleman.

How wonderful is that? Let’s be honest, do you manually deposit money every month or do you take a detour occasionally? He replied no, we have free advice for you to automate your savings. You may feel that it is difficult at first, but as you get used to it, you will not feel anything and will be glad you made the decision.

6. Reduce your spending

If you follow the 50 30 20 rule, you can see that 50 of your income goes to your expenses while the other 50 is allocated to different financial obligations but there is a way that you can trim your expenses and have money to spare for example you can move to a smaller house and save an extra seven hundred dollars to a thousand dollars you can also take advantage of.

Making sure that all of your faucets are tightly closed to reduce water waste will also help you save money on your water bill. Looking for methods to cut your expenses helps you to have money left over that you can save to help you take progressive steps toward financial freedom.

5. Keep a record of your spending.

Due to our busy schedules, we sometimes don’t find the time to sit down and calculate all of our expenses or check our bank balances. This is a bad financial move because you may discover that you’re losing money and have no idea how. This is why it’s important to keep track of all of your expenses, no matter how small they are. For example, if you use your debit card, you must pay a transaction fee, and while it’s less than a credit card, small amounts can add up.

Tracking your spending on a regular basis allows you to see how much you’ve been charged and what you can do to reduce your usage of debit or credit cards.

You may also be paying for a subscription you don’t use or forgot about, which may cost you a lot of money over time. Keep track of your purchasing habits in order to conserve money and avoid living paycheck to paycheck if possible. Make all of your purchases in cash to avoid banks keeping your transactions and processing fees. Remember, the more money in your account, the less broke you are.

4. Implement the 50–30–20 budget.

In her 2005 book all, you’re worth the ultimate lifetime money plan, she describes this budgeting strategy as one of the simplest and most popular ways to budget since it simplifies how you spend your money and helps you to create a realistic budget. Elizabeth Warren recommends that you spend 50 percent of your money on spending. 30 on one occasion, and 20 to pay off your bills If all of your debts have been paid off, save $20.

For example, if you earn $5,000 each month, fifty percent of that amount, or $2500, should go to all of your costs, such as house rent, electricity, and groceries, among other things. Thirty percent (15 hundred dollars) goes to your ones such as internet and a little splurge while the remaining twenty percent (5 hundred dollars) goes to paying off your debts or putting into your savings.

This way, you ensure that all of the financial areas of your life have been taken care of. What are you still waiting for? Begin budgeting today to put an end to living in debt. paycheque to paycheque

3. Keep your bonuses and refunds safe.

Do you see your employer’s mid-and end-of-year bonuses? How do you spend yours? Many people spend their money on trips, vacations, or shopping sprees and end up with nothing and having to start over the following month.

An employer can give you up to fifteen percent of your annual salary as a bonus depending on how well the company has performed. This means that if you earn $60,000 in a year, you can get a bonus of up to $9,000 as an end-of-year bonus.

This money is enough to have an emergency fund, and spending it on vacations is the same as flushing it down the toilet because you’re broke at the start of the year and have to start the vicious cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. Also, your tax refunds are a good amount to put into savings to get you from broke to financially independent, and while you can splurge a little on yourself and your family, a large portion of these benefits should go towards your savings, or I

2. Maintain a strict budget.

Maintain a strict budget. This is because deviating from it causes you to overspend by purchasing things that have no value to you.

For example, if your budget list is $700, make sure you carry just enough to make the purchases you have written down and maybe an extra twenty dollars when you run out of gas in the middle of the freeway it is easy to find yourself tossing unimportant things into your shopping car.

1. You should spend less than you make.

If you want a sure-fire strategy to stop living paycheck to paycheck, spend less money than you make, or live below your means.

You don’t have to buy something just because you can afford it, especially if you don’t need it.

For example, you don’t have to buy expensive cell phone plans unless you need them; you can lower your plans and save money; you also don’t have to pay for premium tv subscriptions that you rarely watch; you can offer basic plans. If you must have a membership, the difference in price between a premium Netflix subscription and a basic one is $9.

If you save that money for a year, you will have saved 108 dollars. Spending less than you make helps you to have money left over to save to help you stop living paycheck to paycheck. It is also a step in the right direction, the financially independent route.

how to
Like

About the Creator

Alin Boicu

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.