I was married for 14 years before my income was reduced to a little less than half because the marriage ended and we separated. I am relieved that I still get supported through the alimony payments. Of course, this is a bit less than half of the income I was used to. I began wondering how I was going to survive and pay the bills. It literally left me in a mess, but I knew that racking up credit card debts and payday loans was not the answer I needed. There must have been another way that I could survive without racking up more debts. These loans could have helped me in a bind, but I needed a better way.
During the time I split from my spouse, I was also involved with someone else for a short time that lived in a small town in Middle America. So, I made the decision to move my family to Small Town USA. Getting a little house on a three acre property costs me about a fourth of the cost of the house in the big city. My budget then became under control as my living expenses were brought down to a much more manageable level. Your housing costs should be reduced if you lose half your income.
About the time that we split up, we were also struggling to keep up with a huge car payment on a brand new vehicle that we bought in 2004. No payments then equaled no car. I managed to get an old vehicle that is now ready to bite the dust. The good news is that I only paid $ 500 for it. With no other transportation costs, I now just buy gas once a month. How did I manage this? I work from home and only use my car to get groceries and do laundry about once per week. As I live in a small town, I do not travel that far to do these activities. There really is no reason to take out payday loans for gas when I do not drive very far.
Since I moved to a smaller house, utility costs were automatically reduced, leaving me able to increase how much cable and internet I could have. Because of the things I did to the house, I was able to decrease my heating bill. On all of the drafty windows, I put plastic. Because air comes through an unused door, I covered that with a thick, heavy blanket. The cold drafts under the kitchen counter were sealed with a special foam made for this purpose. The colder areas of the house are now warmed with space heaters. By doing this, I have effectively lowered my heating costs by over $ 100 per month.
One of the largest items in anyone’s budget, besides housing, is their food budget. We did not cook a lot a home, but went out to eat instead. This happened while I was married, anyway. I cook at home most of the time now that things have changed for me. Going out to eat really is a treat and used for special occasions. One way that I decreased my food budget is to stop buying the junk food. Our overall health improved, and we saved money. I also decreased the food budget by cooking from scratch, rather than buying the pre made food.
To effectively get my budget under control, I had to bring down my expenses to meet my income. By getting under budget, I have been able to start putting away extra money every month to buy a decent car. As you may be curious as to how much I am really getting per month, I will tell you. I get a total of $ 2,800 per month from my ex and working online. But expenses per month only total around $ 1,700. There is no way that anyone earning more money than me must go into debt if they take my example to heart. Something does not add up if you have to survive on credit cards and payday loans when your income is cut in half. It is time they look at where they can slash their expenses.