Stop living paycheck to paycheck

I have always been a frugal person and I really had to put it to the test when I quit my job to stay at home with my daughter about 10 years ago. My husband and I discussed how long we thought we could survive. We decided that it was time for me to go back to work when we had to start dipping into our savings account. Well believe it or not 10 years later we have not dipped into our savings account. We’ve actually saved more money. I am working a small part-time job but I’m home in the morning to get my daughter off to school and I get home right around the same time she gets home.

It can be done but it takes discipline and a mindset change.

What I’m trying to say is that we have money in the bank for an emergency fund. We have money in the bank for retirement. We are saving money for college. There is money in the bank to go on a trip or buy a car. It can be done with discipline, we live off my husband’s full-time income and my very part-time income but we do it. We do everything that I talk about in all these money-saving articles and probably even more. You can’t always fix money problems with money. Sometimes it’s our mindset that gets in the way and keeps us from achieving our goal.

I recommend you read Transform Your Negative Relationship with Money. It really explains why some people have a negative mindset about money and how it translates into their everyday life. Once they figure it out they can stop living paycheck to paycheck.

You’ll notice there is not one affiliate link in this article. There are referrals to 3 different apps that I use and absolutely recommend. This article and the articles linked to it are purely to give you tools to start digging yourself out. I know that every situation is different and there are different circumstances and debts and loans and unemployment. However, there are strategies in these articles that you can use, maybe not all. I invite you to go through and read through all the links and see what you can start doing to stop living paycheck to paycheck.

Start an emergency fund!

I’ve worked as a financial counselor teaching women how to create a budget and stick with it. The first thing I always emphasize is to build a $1000 emergency fund at least, and here’s why. I’ve worked with women that are just barely surviving. But they are working and keeping up with the bills. Something as small as a dead battery or hole in a tire can totally throw off their entire budget. It can set them back months because of missed work and unplanned expenses.

If you had $1000 in an emergency fund you would be able to replace that battery or get that tire fixed or pay that bill that just came up. Without turning your life upside down for months trying to get back on track. Unfortunately, it’s not always less than $1000 to fix things but it’s a start or it’s a down payment on something.

So how do I actually do it?

So how do I stop living paycheck to paycheck and put $1000 into an emergency savings account? The simplest thing is to go to your bank if you have a bank account. Set it up so a fixed dollar amount comes out of every paycheck and goes directly into your savings account. Even if it’s only $5 or $10 to start out with. It’s painless and you don’t have to think about it and before you know it you’ll have a substantial amount and you’ll want to see it grow even more. LEAVE IT ALONE, DO NOT TOUCH IT! Don’t dip into it to buy anything else unless it’s an absolute emergency, pretend like it’s not there.

This is a good article to read: Questions to ask yourself when you are tempted to buy something. You have to avoid those impulse buys that can throw you off track.

If you don’t have a bank account, force yourself to take $5 or $10 and put it in a separate envelope. Hide it or put it away somewhere that you won’t take it out and use it. Get some kind of side hustle whether it’s selling stuff on FB pages or doing door dash. Whatever you have to do to earn a little extra cash. Promise yourself that you will put that money into savings if you can’t put it all then put half in.

You have to start now! There is no better time than now, having emergency savings is the difference between surviving during tough times and not surviving. When you are tempted to use it, think about how tough it is right now and how stressed out and worried you are every month.

Start making cuts:

Having emergency savings is just one small step. You will have to make cuts and when I say cuts I really mean cuts. I’m sure you’ve cut out a lot of things already but you can always take another look. A no-brainer is coffee, everyone always says stop buying coffee every day and make coffee at home but think about things like energy drinks or sodas.

Are you stopping every day at a convenience store to buy an energy drink or soda? I can guarantee you are paying at least 3 times more than if you bought a case at the grocery store and brought it with you every day. Look for sales on cases of energy drinks or your favorite soda. Keep them in the fridge and just grab one on the way out the door. Stop buying juice, when I’m at the pediatrician’s office they tell me that juice is no longer on their list for healthy foods for kids. It has just as much or more sugar than soda and it’s not providing any nutritional value whatsoever.

Pack your Lunch

Lunches are another huge expense that you might not think about. Even if you get cheap fast food you are still spending more than if you packed your lunch and it’s better for your health. When I say pack your lunch I mean make your own sandwich, not a premade sandwich from the store. If you don’t like sandwiches, get a can of soup from your cupboard and pour it into a microwaveable bowl. Get a baggy and pull out a handful of chips instead of having single-serve bags.

Gas prices are increasing and there is no end in sight. You will end up saving on gas and wear and tear on your car if you aren’t leaving work every day to go buy lunch. Where I work I don’t have enough time to leave and get lunch so I have to pack my lunch every single day. It takes extra planning and time in the morning or the night before and it’s a pain. However, I like the feeling at the end of the week when I can say I didn’t spend a cent all week long.

Shopping

Shopping could be an entire post of its own, the price of food has gone up so much but here are a few of the highlights. Stop buying convenience food and pre-packaged food. Save money by doing things like cutting up your own carrots instead of buying single-serve bags. Cut up your own apples instead of the single-serve apples. Buy the big tub of yogurt and put it in a small reusable container. Buy big bags of chips, and make your own snack bags instead of buying the single-serve bags.

Anything that is in the single-serve packaging is way more expensive and fills our landfills with tons of plastic and packaging. I wrote a couple of great articles with lots of money-saving ideas. 25 Tips to Make your Fruit and Veggies Last longer and Simple changes to your shopping to reduce your grocery bill.

Eating out is a budget killer!

Let’s talk about eating out for dinner, I know the struggle is real. Some nights I just do not want to cook and it’s so easy to go get takeout. If you are expense tracking and added up all the takeout and eating out, you would be appalled at the number. Eating out is a budget killer so you need to stop. Maybe those nights that you just don’t want to cook have a frozen lasagna in the freezer. Have a frozen pizza or some kind of convenient meal that you can make at home so you don’t cheat and eat out.

Eating out one night could cost you $50 at the very least. That is $50 that could have gone into your emergency savings fund. If you do have to eat out don’t get drinks, just get water. If you know your meal is huge, share it with your child. When it’s just you, only eat half and save the rest for lunch tomorrow. Don’t be afraid to use coupons, we have used coupons many times. Buy one meal get one free, or half off. Find out where kids eat free and plan to go on that night. Don’t have it delivered, between the delivery fees and tip you could be adding another $20 to your bill.

Cook at home:

Cooking at home is the best way to save money. When you are cooking meals try to use real ingredients instead of opening up packages. Something as simple as roasted potatoes and chicken thighs and a steamed vegetable, not canned can cost $5-$10 depending on the size of your family. You might even have leftovers for someone to take for lunch the next day. When you are shopping look for deals on chicken breasts and thighs or whatever meat you use a lot of. If it’s in a larger package bring it home and divvy it up into meal sizes for your family into plastic bags and put in the freezer. See how I Cut up a whole pork loin and make meals for $5 or less for an entire meal.

If you need to stretch your meat, add in a can of black beans or pinto beans. I do that with taco meat, shredded pork, regular ground turkey. Consider making a meatless meal as often as you can. Rice and beans and lentils go a long way and are way less expensive. Red Beans and Rice is just one of the meatless meals I make for less than $5.

Here are more articles with great ways to save money:

Grocery Shopping

When I grocery shop, I look for deals on items that I know I’m going to use eventually so I stock up when it’s cheap. I always have it on hand so I don’t run out and have to go pay full price for the item. I’m not always a brand snob, some things I might be picky about but if it tastes the same and I can get it cheaper by purchasing another brand then I will do it. If you use a lot of peanut butter, buy several when it’s on sale. Buy canned tomatoes or whatever shelf-stable item that you use a lot of then you always have it on hand. Don’t go shopping and pay full price. Wait for the next sale and buy more when you are running low. Read my article about grocery shopping. Some simple changes you can make to your buying habits can save you money.

Eat Seasonally

I also shop seasonally, in the fall apples and different kinds of squash are in season so I buy those, I don’t usually buy items that are not in season and are really expensive. In the summer, berries and watermelons are fresh and inexpensive so we eat a lot of those. Some things like bananas and broccoli and celery and onions are year-round so I buy those every time.
Download the grocery store apps, most stores have them now and they offer additional savings and coupons that you can load ahead of time, some of them start tracking the items that you normally buy so they send personalized deals for those items.

Legitimate Apps to save money:

There are a lot of apps out there that you can use to make extra money on groceries, the 3 that I use most of the time is ibotta and Checkout 51. As of 01/2023, I’ve earned $1182.93 in cash back from ibotta, go ahead and give it a try, here’s my ibotta referral link. I’ve earned $199.70 over the last couple of years from Checkout 51, I can get cash or pick out a gift card.

The newest app I’ve been using is Fetch Rewards where you can scan any receipt anywhere and earn points towards a gift card. You can read our article Free Gift Cards from the Fetch App, Is it Real? I know when it comes to Apps I want to know if it is legitimate or not and how many hoops do I have to jump through the get my ” prize”. I have enough for a $10 Amazon card right now but I’m going to keep saving my points.

Save on your utility bills:

Whether you live in a house or an apartment or a condo, you still have to pay utility bills. Electricity, natural gas, propane, water, sewer, garbage. Those bills are all rising out of control and it’s something we all have to deal with. If you are having trouble with your electric or natural gas bill, talk to your provider. Most providers have a program called budget billing or maybe a budget payment plan.

They look at your bills for the last year and then they average it through summer and winter. They come up with an average dollar amount you will pay all year round, summer and winter. So in the winter when it’s cold, you aren’t hit with a super high bill, or in the summer when it’s hot, you aren’t hit with super high bills running the A/C. The bill is the same every month, there’s no discount you are just paying the average of your yearly bill every month.

Looking for more ways to save on utilities, read my article 25 Energy Saving Tips for your Home. It is loaded with everyday things that you can start doing right now to lower your electricity or gas bill. I also wrote an article about how we Reduced our Garbage to once per once-per-month pickup and how much we are saving by doing that. That’s another thing you can check on if you are paying for garbage service. When I am looking for ways to save I go down every avenue!!!!

What can I live without?

Start thinking about things that you don’t need to absolutely survive, you don’t need paper towels….yes they are nice to have but you could survive without them, start using rags and washcloths and see how much you could reduce your paper towel habit. Paper napkins are another thing you can live without, fortunately, I can sew my own napkins and I used inexpensive fabric from the thrift store so I use very few paper napkins, I could probably quit using them all together I just have a few on hand for guests.

Stop buying bottled water, unless you live somewhere that you can’t drink your tap water then you should be buying the big jugs of water. Buying the little bottles of water for convenience is a waste of money, you may as well be throwing dollar bills into the garbage and it’s adding to the huge piles of bottles that will never biodegrade, they will just be buried in our landfills for 100’s of years. Get a good insulated reusable water bottle and just keep filling that thing up. I take my bottle everywhere we go, in case we are eating something in the car I have something to drink and I don’t have to go buy something, we should all be drinking more water anyway. Reducing electrolyte and protein drinks is another way you can save. I’m not a doctor and everyone has different needs but I personally don’t need any of those as long as I’m drinking plenty of water and eating a halfway healthy diet.

Stop buying expensive cleaning products, most you can make with 2 inexpensive ingredients!

Fabric softener and dryer sheets are other items that you can do without, fabric softener is not good for towels anyway. Use vinegar in the wash, it doesn’t leave a bad smell and it softens clothes without leaving all the chemicals in your clothing. I don’t use or buy fabric dryer sheets, I just don’t need them. I only use about 3/4 of the recommended amount of laundry soap, my clothes come out just as clean and my washer isn’t working so hard to get rid of all the suds. You can try this with shampoo and conditioner, try to use just a little bit less when you pour it in your hand, it may take a few seconds longer to lather up but it gets your hair just as clean, more doesn’t always mean better or cleaner.

Baking Soda and Vinegar

Cleaning products are expensive all you need is vinegar and baking soda. Both are very budget-friendly. Don’t buy foam hand soap, make your own foam soap. Make a window spray with equal parts vinegar and water, clean your microwave with a small bowl of vinegar and water, heat it until the liquid boils and it makes all the stuck-on food particles soft and easy to wipe off.

Stop buying air fresheners, you can make your own chemical-free air freshener with items you probably have in your chicken. Freshen stuffed animals and pillows that can’t be washed by putting them in a large plastic garbage bag with a few sprinkles of baking soda, shake well, and let it sit to absorb odors. Shake off the excess when you are done. Make little sachets, take a coffee filter and fill with baking soda and tie it closed, put them in places like shoes and closets to absorb moisture and odors.

I can give you tips but you have to do the work!

These tips are not going to make you a millionaire but if you can make it a way of life you can start putting the extra into your savings account even if it’s just small amounts it will give you the incentive to try to save more and before you know it you could have your emergency fund. After that you can work towards paying extra on your school loans or paying off a car loan, pay for braces or buy a house…..it’s your money to do whatever you want with it.

You need to read this article: Questions to ask yourself before you make that impulse buy

Here’s more of our fabulous money-saving/thrifty content:

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K McD

January 9, 2021 at 8:52 am

I knew a married couple years ago. The husband said, "I work hard every day to bring home a paycheck. I deserve to be able to go out for lunch every day. Ka-Ching 20days/mo @ $7.50 a day=$150/mo. The wife said I need my iced latte everyday to function. $3.50 + tip = $5.00/day x 30 days = $150/mo. They had other expensive habits too. So just the lunchs & lattes were at least $300 a month plus everything else. Needless to say, the wife couldn't afford to stop working long enough to have a family, and they still live in a rental. Sometimes our priorities and what we think we deserve get in the way of financial success. Great article, "Sisters With Stuff".

Sisters with Stuff

January 10, 2021 at 8:16 pm

Thanks for reading the article, you are right about priorities, sometimes you have to stop and think is this really something I need or is it just a want.

John McD

January 21, 2021 at 4:45 am

Years ago, when I was in debt up to my eyeballs, and I was moved to do something about it, I categorized my spending for the past month or so, and found that the "eating out/fast food" category was larger than the rest of the spending put together. It was a real eye opener, that if I limited this one category, almost everything else would come into place.

January 21, 2021 at 7:56 am

Thanks for stopping by, you are so right, eating out can be a budget killer. I don't think some people realize how bad it is until they see the actual numbers on paper and it's shocking.

Tabitha Guthrie

May 25, 2021 at 9:00 am

Food is definitely my highest expense! I keep making excuses for myself like “oh, its just me and eating out for just one is less expensive than buying all these groceries in bulk”.
I really need to stop with the excuses and just do it. Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement!

Kathleen Wonders

May 25, 2021 at 6:10 pm

Ooh, love these tips, especially the baking soda and vinegar hacks at the bottom! Vinegar is such a wonder and I love how it also gets rid of mineral deposits on the sink, glass, etc.! About the finances, it is definitely possible! Sticking to a budget and planning your meals definitely goes a long a way!

sisterswithstuff
May 26, 2021 at 8:37 am

I know, vinegar is the best for everything.