Guest Author - Dr. Taffy Wilkins Wagner
Once you become unemployed, you begin to think how are you going to pay your bills? Or how are you going to make ends meet? You begin to wonder if there is anything you can do while you are seeking employment. Of course there is something you can do while you are seeking employment. Become frugal if you were not before. Being unemployed causes one to have different feelings and also can cause you to handle situations in a manner that you would not have prior to this happening.
The following steps should lend itself to aiding you in seeking ways to save money and spend less. In order to put these steps into place you must first look at your overall household spending. Review your primary expenses – house, car, car insurance, utilities, water and groceries. Next look at what are secondary expenses which would be cell phones, internet connections, household phones and car washes just to name a few.
As you review all of your expenses, begin to really ask yourself what is a necessary expense and what is an expense that can be removed or reduced? For example, recently we chose to change our internet service and provider based on the current service we had would not stay connected when we needed it. By changing to a new service that was offering a promotion package, we were able to save an extra $30 dollars a month for six months. Then after six months, we will be paying what we were paying for the less than good service.
Another example that will stand out to some of you is the phone service. While talking with the new internet provider, they shared with me their phone service and rates. Initially when I talked with the customer service rep, I thought she was saying it was double for adding a second line. She explained in detail what the costs were for two lines. By the time I had switched our phone service over to this new company and I was able to keep our phone numbers, I had saved us $200 a month. Talk about excited about the savings we are going to have.
When you begin searching out ways to reduce costs, it can be quite fun. The money that is no longer being spent on previous bills can be used to double up on larger bills, put in savings or wherever you need to apply the money.
Prior to becoming unemployed when you were working, did you eat out every day for lunch? Now that you are at home you can prepare lunch. This step will help you to want to continue preparing your lunch when you return to work. One of the main steps I would suggest when preparing your lunch is to purchase your soda products at Costco or Sam’s Warehouse. It is much cheaper to buy a six pack or case at one of these warehouses versus buying it out of the vending machine. How much more would you save if you became frugal while unemployed? Then you would be able to keep these principles once you return to work.
If you keep these principles in place once you return to work, this would allow you to get ahead on your bills and saving. Seek ways to reduce your household expenses while you are unemployed and that should relieve some stress.
