Do you struggle to live on just $1,000 per month?
Do you feel as if the cost of living increases and it becomes more difficult to survive?
Many are in the same situation as you. This article outlines the steps you must take to survive on $1,000 and get ahead in your financial goals.
Take Stock Of Your Spending
You’ll need to make a list of everything you spend your money on.
This will allow you to find any spending that isn’t necessary and help you come up with ideas on how to cut back the amount you spend.
Methods to do It:
The easiest method of doing that is by taking a close look at your credit and bank statements for the past two to 3 months.
Make sure to review your digital accounts, such as PayPal and Stripe.
Make a spreadsheet from scratch (you can use this free of charge with Google Docs) and create two columns. One column will contain the name of the item that you spent money on (rent coffee, rent, or other.), and the other will be for the price.
If you don’t prefer using spreadsheets, budgeting software such as Goodbudget and EveryDollar work equally well.
This might reveal exciting ways to spend your money.
For instance, spending only a few dollars on your morning coffee might not seem like a lot in a single day, but the amount adds up over a whole month.
It might be able to bring up things that you didn’t know that you had to pay for, like the streaming service you’ve not watched for months or a membership to the gym you’ve not been to since the beginning of the year.
Cancel Everything
It’s a good idea; however, the issue of it is it allows us to easily convince ourselves that we’ll get back to our gym, or even though we haven’t sat down to Netflix for a long time and we’ll get back to the third series that is Cobra Kai any day now.
If you do, we are uneasy about canceling everything, and we make no progress in cutting our expenses.
This is why instead of canceling your subscription on a per-service basis, it’s best to unsubscribe from everything at once and then sign up again only for the services that you’re likely to utilize when you’re planning to use them.
In this way, you’re not losing out on something. If you genuinely believe that something will add value to your life, you’re free to purchase it. Still, it may be a good idea to save money if you are spending money on a service you don’t use so that you can utilize it at some point shortly.
Bonus Tip:
In a similar vein, just because you sign up for service after having previously unsubscribed and there’s no reason to believe that you shouldn’t be able to unsubscribe when you’re done.
For instance, If you’re signed for Amazon Prime to stream certain shows and want to cancel, you can do so at any time after watching that show.
Check You’re Getting The Best Deal
It’s not a good idea to cancel specific services such as your energy supply, Internet, and phone plan. For instance, however, this doesn’t mean you should pay more than their odds.
The most effective way to live with just $1,000 is to make sure you’re receiving a better rate on your bill and then switch to plans with lower prices whenever you can.
Tools such as Trim can assist you in negotiating with your provider of cable Internet telephone, even medical expenses to ensure that you get the most value to fit your money.
Similar services are offered for utility bills and your home and automobile insurance.
Cut Your Travel Costs Where Realistic
Suppose you’re in the wilderness with a 50-mile drive to the nearest grocery store and a limited number of public transportation alternatives. In that case, your car is an investment you should indeed depend on.
If, however, you reside in or near the city that has stores and schools and your work within a manageable distance, you could have other options to aid in saving lots of dollars.
Utilizing the train or bus everywhere will surely save you money, mainly if you consider items like vehicle taxes, maintenance, insurance, and fuel.
You can also tackle your health and financial goals simultaneously by buying a quality bicycle and using it to commute instead of driving.
Test this for a few days, and you might find that you can go from grocery shopping to getting to work without needing an automobile. If you do, you may even decide to sell your vehicle for an extra few dollars and make it much easier to meet your financial goals even with less income.
Stay Home And Cook
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Study, Americans spend an average of 660 dollars per household each month on food items, including $228 for eating out, delivery, and snacks bought from snacks vending machines.
If you’re living comfortably on a budget of just $1000 per month, that amount will need to be reduced. One way to do this is to avoid eating out entirely and cook every meal yourself.
You can cook an entire batch of nutritious, healthy meals at once and store them in a freezer to ensure that you don’t need to devote so much time making food every time you return from work and are ready for dinner in a snap.
Furthermore, cooking your meals with fresh vegetables and other healthy ingredients will only enhance your overall health, particularly if you combine it with the suggestion of swapping your vehicle for a bicycle.
It’s not just healthy for your body, but it may be beneficial to your pocketbook.
Consider it:
The healthier you are, the less you’ll spend on medical expenses. You might even discover that health coverage is less expensive, too.
Make Paying Off Debt A Priority
Although you make all five suggestions exactly, you’ll find it difficult to survive on one thousand dollars when you’re paying off credit cards and loans, as well as other loans every month.
Paying off the outstanding debts should be the top priority. This could be a more complex task at first. If each penny you earn goes to you instead of your credit company, you’ll be able to make better decisions regarding how much you earn and help make that $1,000 go more.
It means that you’ll not just find it easier to live off that money, and you’ll be able to live more comfortably and live a decent level of quality living. It’s possible that having no debt could mean that you don’t need to shut down the Netflix account in the end.
TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR BIG EXPENSES
This is your student and mortgage loans as well as your mortgage.
Do you have the option of refinancing those student loans to save you money?
Perhaps you could refinance your mortgage too?
What do you think about cutting your insurance cost?
Reducing these high costs can drastically impact your cash flow each month.
They’ll allow you some breathing space because you’ll be able to free up hundreds of dollars every month from the moment you sign up.
For instance, let’s take a look at insurance for autos.
While you could contact your insurance provider to lower your premium, there’s another alternative.
It’s called Gabi.
If you choose to use Gabi, the company will evaluate your policy with 40 other insurance providers and present you with the guidelines that cost you the least.
Then, you can choose the service you’d like to use and save cash.
An average Gabi user will save $960 each year!
Use the URL below to find out how much you can save
Another possibility is to contest the tax assessment on your property.
If you pay much more in property tax for an identical size home compared to the other neighbors in your area, you could make a significant saving in cash.
And don’t forget about health insurance.
This is an essential cost as well.
If you’re not insured by health insurance coverage at work, make sure you look around for insurance coverage to save money.
Because of the high price of health insurance, you could be tempted to skip the coverage.
This isn’t the best option as you don’t know when you require it.
You may be able to investigate and obtain Medicare.
Final Thoughts
At first, glance, living on just $1,000 per month might appear like a daunting target, but it’s likely to require sacrifice as well as scarcity and the idea of living with.
Have a look, but you’ll realize that it’s not just feasible, but it may be a catalyst for substantial improvements in other aspects of your life , making your day-to-day life more pleasant as well as enjoyable.
Spend more time on the bike to work and enjoying at home-cooked meals rather than driving your car for a trip to Arby’s every single day, for instance. Not only will you save cash, but increase your standard of living by doing this, helping you achieve your financial goals more worth it.
