You’re living on your own. You’re almost done school or you’ve landed your first big job! But nobody told you that “adulting” was so expensive.
Besides the obvious costs like food and rent, you may find that your bank account is being drained by a few dozen little costs that add up to way more than you anticipated.
Every now and then, you may find yourself coming up short. Even if you’re pretty good at budgeting, unexpected expenses have a tendency to derail the best-laid financial plans.
But you’ve got this, right? You’re not going to ask your parents for help because, dang it, you’re an adult and you can get yourself through this.
Here’s how.
Add a Side Income
The best way to inject more cash is to pick up a “side hustle” and there are tons of options out there for you.
You could pick up an odd job to quickly earn some cash with apps and websites like:
- Swagbucks: Earn money for browsing the web and taking online surveys
- Fiverr: Perfect for freelance skills like graphic design, data entry, or research
- Task Rabbit: Bid on jobs doing everything from painting, to moving, to dog walking
- Amazon Mechanical Turk: Get about $10.00 an hour to perform tasks for developers that machine automation can’t do
The best part of services like this is you can work on your own schedule, with big potential for evenings and weekends.
Get a Financial Safety Net
Most young people are living paycheck to paycheck. This means that a sudden expense (like fixing your broken laptop or car repairs) can throw your finances out of whack in a hurry.
Consider getting a line of credit to give yourself revolving credit to use in case of emergencies. You’re only charged fees based on what you actually use and you’re free to borrow and pay back as you’re able to, as long as you can make your minimum payments.
If you’re in a hurry, you can apply for something like a CreditFresh Line of Credit By CBW Bank. This process takes only a few quick minutes and you could potentially have the funds in your account the next business day.
Revisit Your Budget (or Start Following One)
We’ve mentioned budgeting a few times in this blog. If you’re not budgeting your money, there is a good chance you’re wasting it. Also, if you need to “find” money, you may be able to do so by revisiting your spending patterns.
You may find areas where you’re potentially wasting money. For example, are you eating out too often?
Consider these numbers:
- The average meal “out” costs about $13
- The average homemade meal costs around $4 for groceries
- That’s a $9 savings per person per meal.
- This means the $13 restaurant meal is about 325% more expensive than a $4 home meal
We know that eating out is incredibly tempting when you’re busy. But, if you take the time to plan ahead and do some grocery shopping, not only can you start to save on your monthly food bill, but you might find yourself really getting into the cooking experience.
There you have it. There are 3 rock-solid ways to find money without having to feel guilty about going to your parents. These are actually good ways to build strong financial habits and make yourself more financially independent for the future.
Good habits are easier to build now, compared to trying to undo bad habits later!