{"id":2174,"date":"2016-12-21T00:15:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T08:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/?p=2174"},"modified":"2016-12-20T07:51:16","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T15:51:16","slug":"save-500-living-paycheck-paycheck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/save-500-living-paycheck-paycheck\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Save $500 While Living Paycheck to Paycheck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ReadyLiving paycheck to paycheck is one of the most stressful situations I\u2019ve ever been in. There was a period where I was living paycheck to paycheck for a long time<\/em> and felt pretty hopeless. I just couldn\u2019t see the way out.<\/p>\n

As I started learning about money I gradually snapped out the hopeless feeling. I took a big interest in making my financial life better so that I could make the rest of my life better. One of my first steps was to put some money in savings so that I had something to fall back on.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re living paycheck to paycheck putting money in your savings account is one of the smartest things you can do. Here\u2019s how to save $500.<\/p>\n

Make Sure Your Budget is On Point<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m writing this post with the assumption that you\u2019ve already got your budget in check. When I was living paycheck to paycheck I didn\u2019t have a spending problem \u2013 I had an income problem. If you\u2019ve already cut costs everywhere possible and are living on a very modest budget, skip to the next section.<\/p>\n

If you think you might have a spending problem (you earn more than $40k per year for your household and don\u2019t live in a big city like New York or LA) then you need to fix that first.<\/p>\n

Check out these articles on how I raised two kids on $20k per year <\/strong><\/a>and how to live on $30k per year<\/strong><\/a>. If you have a spending problem cut your costs to save $500. You should be able to amass that in a month.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t take the time to correct your spending habits, earning more money will never do anything for you. All you\u2019ll do is spend the extra money you earn and possibly create a situation that\u2019s even worse than the one you\u2019re in now.<\/p>\n

Earn $100 per Week for 5 Weeks<\/h2>\n

Would you be willing to sacrifice 5-10 hours of your time per week for five weeks to get ahead? Good! That\u2019s what you need to do.<\/p>\n

So often people living paycheck to paycheck discredit the fact that they can simply work a little more for a short period of time to get ahead. (I know that I did.) The truth is there are SOOOO many ways to earn more money and those who accept that fact and act on it are the ones who do get ahead.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have any ideas of what to do here are some things to consider:<\/p>\n