Practical Steps in This Economic Mess

 

1. Do not panic,think positive, and stay united.

Try your best to stay level headed, no matter how extreme the situation may appear. If you’re in a family, work together and come up with a plan that works for you. Set up a budget to guide your spending and saving.

2. Open your mind to additional income sources.

Build up income streams to create a buffer, if you haven’t already, to grow your income over your expenses.

See what works best for you and your circumstances:

• Get a second job
• Babysit or housekeep
• Start a business
• Sell used items on Ebay
• Freelance Your Talents
  
• Put Refund in a savings account as an emergency fund

3. Live within your means—not someone else’s

While you put more money in your bank account, consider ways to cut expenses. Start small and build from there. Avoid comparing yourself with others; it will only make you spend money you do not have.

Try to use deals and savings like:

• Zecco offering free trades in October
• Ways to Lower Your Heating Bills This Winter
• Save Money When Eating Out
• Free Voicemail Options
• Keep a Gasoline Spreadsheet
• Ways to Cut your Health Insurance Costs

4. Be careful with credit cards and reduce debt.

Don’t rely on your credit cards to carry you through this mess. Ask yourself, ‘Can I afford it?’. If you can’t, wait and save. Call your credit card companies to lower your interest rate and to work on a doable payment plan. Use your credit cards wisely.

• Key Steps You Can Take Now To Get Out of Debt
• Understand Your Credit Cards
• Top 5 Credit Card Mistakes
• Cut Up the Credit Cards
• The secrets credit card companies DON’T want you to know

How are you working through this economic mess? What tips can you share?

Additional Financial Tips:

• Multiple Income Streams at The Dough Roller
• 11 Great Ways to Earn More Money at Free Money Finance
• A Guide to Making Passive Income at Freelance Switch
• Extra Income Guide at Moolanomy
• How to Make Your Income More Passive at Frugal Dad
• 5 Ways to Get Out of Debt at Green Panda Treehouse
• 10 Ways to Pay Your Debt Off Faster at Cash Money Life
• The Beginner’s Guide to Living Debt Free at The Wisdom Journal
• Extra Income Guide @ Moolanomy

Photo Credit:  othermore (other)

Related Posts

• High Yield Online Savings Accounts   Photo Credit: Refracted Moments™ People spend time figuring out how to save some money in their budget and then just put cash in a low interest savings account.  There are many banks that are willing to offer higher interest rates for your deposits. If you haven’t already, consider opening a......
• Joint Banking, Budgets, and Savings Joint budgeting has been a topic for the past few weeks on some personal finances sites. Several bloggers have been posting their financial maps. Personal Finance Hour had a great show on couples and finances with Jim and J.D sharing their differing opinions on how they handle their family's finances. ......

Here are Some Great Thoughts on the Topic

• Is Credit Card Insurance a Scam? The following guest post is from Tisha Tolar.  Tisha is a freelance writer providing content for CreditCardAssist.com, where she regularly writes about credit cards, rewards programs and general consumer finance issues. Credit cards certainly are not what they used to be. There is so much competition in the industry it......
• Getting The Most Out Of Your Credit Card Reward Program. If you are not carrying any consumer debt on your credit cards, there are tons of ways to make them work for you other than by playing the credit card arbitrage game. Sure, you can take 0% interest "loans" from your cards, invest them in savings accounts, and make some......